All right.

Um Katie Nolan, I'm gonna call this meeting to order.

The other people here are Anne Courtney and Lauren Lehman and Meetread both on the phone.

Liz Edwards election administrator.

Thank you.

And what are we waiting for?

Oh, we l we lost Anne for a moment.

We had slushy roads getting here.

Oh, did you?

Well sanded.

Well said, slushy roads.

I yes, my car is filthy.

I have to stop at a gas station and clean the backwood shield off.

And you try to avoid the windshield wipers are just not effective.

No, not on this stuff, no.

All right.

Um meeting, two items that I have on the meeting, and the first one is going to be frustration.

Sorry about that, you're gonna get stuck with that after day.

I apologize.

But the main purpose is to understand our role and how we're functioning, how we're doing our role.

Um I when I joined this commission, I did so with a full knowledge of what I was doing.

I I've I served on the animal control advisory board under uh Mayor uh Mark Begage.

Um that was during the rewrite of Title 17, the animal control laws.

And we worked on that for a year trying to make a good product.

Um, and I'm talking about like sometimes there were every week meetings.

So it was a lot of in-depth work, completely rewriting it, but I'm very familiar with writing code and the importance of making it gel with state and federal laws.

You have to be able to pull all of that together.

The responsibility that was to me it was really incredible, but my language that I actually wrote about dangerous dogs was upheld by the Alaska Supreme Court, so I think I did a pretty good job on it.

I'm not bragging, it's just we worked hard on it.

Um so when actually it was I think it was Kai said, Kai Holland said challenged us to look and see what boards and commissions had vacancies and what we could do, where we could contribute, where we could be an asset to our community.

And I went down the list and and the election commission just it seemed like it was a natural fit for me because I've worked a poll location for decades uh now.

Sorry, then decades, um, including being the chair at South High for the last number of years.

Um I thought the this way of working in, I can understand both sides of what's going on, and maybe I can contribute something.

And before I applied, I read everything I could find on Title 28 and what the responsibilities were, what our duties were.

And part of our duties I think we're doing, but part of our duties, I don't think we're doing, and I feel like another failure in part of our duties.

When you look at the first two duties, and there's under 2812060, the election commission shall have the following duties.

Act as an advisory capacity to the assembly and the municipal voice clerk, and study and recommend to the assembly and municipal proposed ordinances relating to elections.

That's our job.

And I don't think I've done my job.

After it's very frustrating to look at the duties that are assigned in code and know that I'm not living up to them.

And when people, friends call me and say, Katie, what's this new change on in election?

And I'm going, what new change?

I don't have a clue what they're talking about.

And that's so embarrassing.

It feels like I'm falling down on my job.

But somehow we've got to establish a better relationship, a better understanding of what our job is and how we can better perform our job or perform it to start with.

By getting knowledge of these things and being able to advise and study and recommend these changes to our codes.

Well I don't know that you're way off base, but I don't know that it's as bad as maybe you are suggesting, or you think maybe you think it is.

Okay.

Maybe we haven't done as well as we should in advancing some of our thoughts to the assembly.

I will acknowledge that maybe we we haven't.

We've had work sessions, we talked about it, uh but it's possible that over time we just haven't haven't done quite as good a job.

But it's not for lack of trying, and we I think this has been a diligent uh commission.

Uh if you are referring to the most recent uh you know new us two I maybe I understand it a little bit more because you know I was overall in charge of elections, I and I recognize that there's some things like that.

There was I think a fairly decent explanation for what happened.

No, it's it's possible that uh you know I hate to say it too badly of you know for staff, but maybe in talking to the media it was might have been handled a little bit, I don't know if I say clumsily, but uh media has a way of getting in and twisting things to sell articles, I guess, uh and you know the explanation as I understand it with what's going on is pretty decent.

In fact, uh within my own family, we have used some of those techniques of uh if when you're abroad uh sending in your ballot by facts or I forget what all again, maybe by uh uh email or phone.

We have that ability, and it's quite frankly, it's just a few ballots that uh that that impacts, but for those voters, it's important to you know, it's important to my children, uh they want to vote every time.

Okay, we've instilled in them the that we need to be responsible citizens, part of that is to vote in every election.

So we've used that uh and I don't think it's um inappropriate, or I don't I don't sense any breakdown of uh you know our whole theme with here is we want honest delivery of elections, uh you know.