Good afternoon.

Welcome to today's Rayleigh uh regularly scheduled board of registration and elections meeting.

Can I get the roll call, please?

Good afternoon, board members.

Can I call your name?

Please respond by saying here.

Vasu Abiramen?

Here.

Travis Bowden.

Here.

Gil Lee.

Here.

Dele Lohman.

Here.

Carly Swift.

Here.

Madam Chair, we have a quorum.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Okay.

So there you should, board members, in your packet, you should see the uh minutes of the April 8th special call meeting and the April 13th, 2026 uh scheduled meeting.

You're on pages two and four.

Um if you have if you have any um, I don't believe that there are any edits, but can I get a motion to approve both?

Madam Chairman, I make a motion to approve both the April 8th and April 13th uh scheduled meeting minutes.

Second.

All right, all in favor?

Aye.

Thank you.

We are ready for public comment.

Public comment may be made in person or by submitting or sending an email of one printed page or less in a minimum of 12 font to elections public CCMT at DeCAP County GA.gov, which must be received between 35 and five minutes before the schedule start of the meeting.

The body of your email must include your first and last name.

By submitting an email for public comment, you agree to have your name and email broadcast in the Ustream and entered into the record are minutes, record and minutes.

The DeCav Board of Registration and Elections Reserves the right at the board's sole discretion to add your email to the record or minutes without reading any of it into the broadcast, or to read it all or a portion of your email into the record or minutes.

All public comments will be limited to two minutes.

Abusive, profane or derogatory language, holding up signs, clapping, yelling, standing, or laying in the house to show support or opposition to a speaker will not be permitted, but a show of hands or quietly standing in place will be permitted to show your support or opposition to a speaker's position.

Thank you.

Hi, good morning all.

No, seriously.

Um I want to thank again the DeCab Election Board for again supporting democracy.

Um I want to thank the bravest people in the world to me right now are the poll managers and workers who um I have a good friend who was a manager at a poll place, and she it was like working 12 hours a day, never leaving the building, making things sure things are safe.

So it's getting a little uh disconcerting that uh some folks on the other side want to claim otherwise.

Um my only other thing is for the future.

Again, uh not so much again.

I know they're gonna be probably a lot of changes after this runoff election, but please please be uh cognizant of the fact that um not only for the election in November is there going to still be concerned for ice because while all of our attention has been on other things, um the ice is still around.

Um so again, with um a temporary attorney general who is not ruled out sending those folks to polls, and then again, one of the sides having some kind of I guess something they did a long time ago, putting signs up uh again trying to intimidate voters.

I know that the CAB will do a go above and beyond, thankfully, um, to make sure that we have still have a democracy in this country.

Thank you.

Janet Grant Good afternoon.

Um my name's Janet Grant, and I serve as an area poll manager here in DeCAB.

First, my thanks to the department and to this board for the support provided for a successful election last week.

My precincts had the second highest election day volume since I've been tracking with virtually no lines or issues, in large part due to the department's preparation with appropriate staffing and equipment allocations and excellent training and support.

I'm really proud of my poll managers and their teams who rose to the occasion and provided for an excellent voter experience, and we'll be ready to do it all over again for the runoff in June.

Given the nine runoff races between the two party ballots, I encourage you to again provide for ample early voting access and support for election day.

Second, I ask you to weigh in on the issues planned for the special legislative session called to begin on June 17.

As a former board chair of Fair Districts, Georgia, I'm alarmed to see this plan for blatant partisan mid-cycle redistricting.

A statewide poll conducted by Fair Districts in March confirmed that the majority of voters of both parties want fair nonpartisan redistricting process that supports competitive districts.

The recent Supreme Court decision does not require any action in Georgia.

Instead, this is only appears to execute further partisan advantage in our maps.

The second issue on the agenda is to address the quandary posed by Senate Bill 189, which outlaws the use of QR codes as of July 1.

At this late date, there's no reasonable action other than delaying this ban, either outright or with a plan for transition away from QR codes at a future date with ample time and funding for the transition and implementation of another solution.

My six polling locations had 36 combo codes for a May election.

A move to that emergency system of handmark paper ballots would have created absolute chaos in the polls.

Use your voice as one of the largest counties to encourage rational actions in this legislative session.

Thank you.

I'm a registered voter, Briar Vista.

And I'm here to share my experience voting at Imry, early voting on Monday, April 17th.

I wish to underscore the previous speaker that for the most part the check-in clerks were top-notch.

Unfortunately, Madam Chair, members of the board, that positive momentum stopped at the ballot scanner.

The worker assisting voters there at that polling place was cold, terse, and spoke to voters as if they were children.

I don't bring this up lightly.

Now I have served as a poll clerk in two other states besides Georgia, Kentucky and West Virginia.

I was a dual poll manager for several years, a poll watcher and a vote review panelist in Fulton.

I deeply understand election management, but I also know what good customer service looks like.

Every single voter from Dunwoody to Ellen Wood from East Atlanta all the way to Stone Mountain deserves a positive respectful experience.

And any time that is less than that, you board members need to know.

A voter's final interaction at the scanner should be a seal of pride when they handed you the button, not leave a bitter taste.

Simply asking you as a board to do two things.

Number one, reiterate customer service, remind all workers of the importance of basic courtesy of during briefings.

Number two, strategic placement, identify and place workers who generally enjoy communicating with others.

Thank you for your time.

I appreciate your consideration.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

Betsy Jacqueline.

Once again, congratulations on a smooth, well-run election.

There were lots of happy voters at the precinct where I worked.

And one small aside, the red seals for provisional bags, they break.

One area that is always a challenge, voter education, especially around the nonpartisan ballot as it occurs in Georgia.

We had to repeatedly tell voters at check-in that the nonpartisan ballot only included judicial races, races, and had some occasional slip-ups that resulted in having to cancel a voter's check-in and redo because a voter pulled a nonpartisan ballot and thought that meant they could vote both both parties in all races.

Since the legislature is preoccupied with making voting harder, we stand little chance of being able to change that.

And the legislature, I am quite worried about the special session.

Whenever I make comments at legislative meetings about voting processes, I tell committee members that they should all serve as poll workers to get a bit of understanding of why it would take at least six to nine months to do all the tasks required to implement a new voting system.

And no matter what voting system we use, whether paper, electronic, or pickup sticks, there will be errors.

Humans make errors, but errors do not imply fraud or conspiracy.

Thank you.

Good afternoon.

I'm uh learning.

This is probably my second or third time ever coming to one of your meetings.

But I wanted to say that um I'm an activist all over DeCap County.

And I speak with people and I try to educate people on voting.

Uh I came here twice to get some sample ballots.

And I did make the statement to someone, I bet if I go check the trash can in front behind the building, it's probably more sample ballots out there in the trash than I was able to get.

I need ten and one time and then six another time.

I come down here because I'm trying to educate the people in the CAP county on voting, especially reading about the issues that they have to vote on.

They say, well, that's not really that important.

But if you vote for it to me, it's important.

I just want to see that I'm not so limited, and people are not limited.

I don't know how you can do it or how many of those sample ballots you print out, but it needs to be, and I'm educating the people because I had quite a few people that came that never heard about a sample ballot, didn't have a clue what it might mean.

Um in the trainings, let the folks in the training sessions that come to train to work in the precincts know that people know that they can come and get sample ballots.

We need to educate our communities.

That's the main thing I want to say.

Uh that redistricting mess, that I don't know how we can uh get a handle on that, but that Salamander is alive and well.

I know when I ran for office a few years ago, December the 31st, the governor signed off on a redistricting.

I have been campaigning in my district, and then people went to vote for me, and I wasn't even there because of what they did December the 31st.

So we need to educate and put more education out when we're training our people to work.

And I need more sample ballots next time.

Thank you.

Michael Beach.

Thanks everyone for being here today.

I just spent the weekend playing Candyland with my four and a half-year-old granddaughter, so I'm really pleased to be here.

But it does it does teach you patience, and I think that's what we have are in short supply sometimes.

So I'm Michael Beach, poll manager here in DeCab County.

I wanted to make a couple of comments.

Um, first of all, is you're here to certify another successful election.

You know, it's a reminder that our elections actually are well organized, transparent, free, fair, and secure, and that turn was actually high compared to similar past elections.

I'd still like to see it higher.

I also wanted to thank the staff for the new online training, but actually, this time upping the ante, basically a last minute training session on Sunday afternoon before the election for managers.

That's the sort of thing that really helps because our training actually is a month and a half before that.

So I think that was really helpful for me and for my assistant managers and everything.

So uh please do that again.

Um, our elections have become extremely complex with so many rules and requirements, particularly required paperwork, that it's great to have this just-in-time training.

So, lastly, on a more somber note, as you've heard, um, I hope many of you are going to be attending this special legislative session to bring a much needed voice of moderation to the QR code reconciliation work.

Let's face it, we had a compromise solution that was not passed by the Senate on purpose.

And so let's try and do something reasonable out of this instead of going crazy on us, as I've heard some of the plans.

We also need to voice your voice to push back on the redistricting request, which is just a blatant power grab.

Governor Kemp is well aware that the recent U.S.

Supreme Court decision does not compel the state to of Georgia to redraw any district maps, so that nothing in the Supreme Court decision, and I have actually read through it, unlike many other people who are saying things about it.

Um, it does not render Georgia's map illegal.

Oh, really?

We have we have a timer now.

Oh, okay, that's right.

It's not unconstitutional by any means.

Thank you.

Wow, I was speaking too.

I appreciate we appreciate all the public comments.

Thank you so much for your uh feedback.

We are we hear it, and we um definitely continue to want to hear from the public.

Okay, with that, um, just as a reminder, we're going to for it for decision.

We um are going to certify the election.

We're going to take a break to sign it.

We'll come back into session after that.

Okay.

So and also just a quick note.

Um, you may notice that we have our two great deputy directors sitting us sitting with us today.

Um, and that is because their fearless leader is not feeling well.

She is very sick, and she was unable to make it today.

Um, so we're gonna send her some positive vibes.

But we have uh deputy director um Henry and Deputy Director Dr.

Harris with us who are going to step in and help us uh get through this get through certification today.

So with that, I'm going to turn it over to the dynamic duo to my right to walk us through the certification for the board is on page eight of your pack, starts on page eight of your packet.

Good afternoon, madam chair and board members.

You have before you the actual report for this election, and you can just follow it on page eight and nine.

So our post-election report.

The overall turnout was 35.25%.

On election day, 84,434 ballots cast.

Early voting, 87,194.

And she can turn the screen.

Thank you.

And absentee by mail, 2,721, and provisionals 142.

So that was a total of 174,491 ballots cast.

So in early voting, the turnout was by far the highest of any general primary um in our history, and you can see that on page 12, where we had 87,000 early voting ballots casts.

Countywide early voting turnout um spiked in the last few days.

This is our daily report.

And as you can see, on the last two days, it went from on the average less than total less than 5,000, but we went up to 10,000 and close to um 20,000 on the last couple of days of early voting.

And that was total, the all 20 precincts.

Memorial Drive was the most popular location, and the last day at Memorial was the busiest day in our history, including the presidential elections.

So on memorial in May 15th, we had over 2,753 voters passed their ballot.

So absentee by mail, ballots accepted, 2,721.

Domestic, 2,578.

Overseas, 143.

Rejected or spoiled, 23.

Total received, 2,744.

Provisional absentee ballots, electric signatures, 28 missing signatures, 28.

Incorrect date of birth, nine, missing data birth, 68.

Incorrect ID, 18 missing ID, seven, a total of 158, of which 102 were cured.

Rejected absentee ballots, missing signature for incorrect ID, seven missing ID for a total of 15, of which six were cured.

Election day turnout has been declining overall in favor of early voting, but traffic in this election was the highest of any general primary since 2012.

On election day, there were 191 precincts, 147 polling locations, 1,245 poll workers, equipment tested and deployed, 416 poll pads, touch screens 1,727, and scanners 182.

Election date provisionals.

Registration and question one, 23 rejected, one accepted and 23 rejected.

Missing IDs, three accepted and seven were rejected.

Other four with zero rejection.

A total of 142 provisionals were accepted for election day, and 61 were rejected.

We want to again thank all of our county partners who worked alongside us to facilitate another successful election, and our staff as well as all of our poll workers.

Thank you.

Okay, thank you so much for that comprehensive report.

Um I will start with Ms.

Lohmann.

Do you have any questions for Deputy Director?

Thank you.

No questions.

I just wanted to um just for the benefit of the public uh who may or may not know that what cured means in the uh context of a provisional absentee, if you could explain.

Sure.

A cure ballot is a ballot in which a person has to come in and provide additional information, be it an ID or a signature, and once they have completed that, then that ballot is cured and and it is counted.

Okay, Miss Lee.

With the high attendance on the last couple of days in early voting.

Um were there any long lines that were your unusual?

No, ma'am.

Okay, that's my only question.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Mr.

Bowden.

No questions at this time.

Mr.

O'Broman.

No questions for me.

Uh I don't have any questions either.

I just want to again thank uh the staff uh for the time that they spent.

They spent some very, very long nights here getting prepared and ensuring um that we got we have a report.

I'll just remind everyone that we also have a meeting on the Friday before this meeting, which is particularly useless because we actually received the certified results at today's meeting, but I will digress there.

With that, could I get a motion to approve?

Uh Madam Chairman, I'd like to make a motion to approve.

Second.

Okay.

But do we need uh sorry?

So we need a specific motion here.

Yeah, I would just say I that you were voting to certify.

Five, thank you.

Uh Madam Chairman, I'd like to make a motion that we uh certify.

Um is that the proper order?

Yes.

Okay.

Okay, so there's a motion on the floor to certify the May 19th, 2026 election.

Um it's been seconded by Mr.

Arbor Raman.

All in favor, aye.

Okay, thank you.

All right, so we need a motion to recess.

Uh, Madam Chairman, I'd like to make a motion for us to recess.

Okay.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Okay, we're gonna take a five-minute recess.

We'll be back to finish the meeting.

Thank you all for being here.

You know, we have a few more items, but you know, we'd love to see you stay.

Thank you.

Motion to resume regular order and exit recess.

Second, all in favor.

All in favor.

Aye.

I agree.

Thank you.

Okay, so we will go go back to our last items for decision.

For the public's knowledge, as you know, we have a runoff on June 16th, Jane June 16th, 2026.

Board members on page 55, you will see a list of the proposed voting times and locations.

I want to highlight if you if you didn't notice, um, we we've had we had the most number of voted early vote locations.

We had 20 this year.

Um, you'll notice that we removed one voting location.

Um, and the reason that it was removed is because um it wasn't large, it's not large enough um for the uh there was an issue with the location that I can get the director just to speak to it.

But so we have 19.

I just want to flag that in case anyone noticed it.

Which location was removed?

It was living grace.

Living Grace Church.

Um, and if you look at the map, thank you also for putting this map together.

Um it was on the eastern part of the city, sort of between Tucker and Clarkston.

So there's still um locations there.

Okay.

Um okay, so with that, I I want to just uh first see if there are there any questions or comments uh related to the proposed times and or locations.

Yes.

Okay, we'll just we'll start with you, and then I think did you have a question as well?

I think so I need to formulate.

Okay, no, you could go ahead, Mr.

Batter.

Um, just for my point of clarification, I totally understand if it was a if it was a smaller early voting precinct, but just for my point of reference, I'm unfamiliar with Living Grace.

What um what city was that in?

Like was it I well no, I I heard that it was between Tucker and Clarkson.

I was just curious.

Um I I would ask the a member of the department if they could it's in Tucker.

Okay.

It's in Tucker.

Okay, that was my question.

Okay.

Great question.

Mr.

Aboraman.

Yes.

Um first uh an observation, of course, is that we only have one week of early voting before election day.

And the first day of early voting is Saturday, June 6th.

Um the hours are 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

And I believe that's just consistent with uh what this department and what we've done to provide early voting on Saturdays in general.

Um just wanted to get this on record.

I'm not asking for it, um, but wanted to make sure that if early voting hours were extended from seven to seven on that Saturday because it's the first day of early voting, that the department doesn't anticipate that that's going to materially increase the amount of early voting provided to our voters based on the numbers.

That would be no problem.

Sorry, so just are you saying you bet we could extend it?

We could extend it.

Well, sorry, I didn't ask that question well.

Um I think I know the the question.

So the the question is not so there are two questions.

First, we can is do we we b I and I believe that the proposed times are based on your expertise and your experience with the number with when people come to vote.

So the question is do we think extending it from seven to a seven would increase the number of people that come to vote?

And then separately, if there's no issue with expanding extending the hours, then my vote would be to extend the hours, but that that's that was the question.

Well, I know that 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

has been the time in which we've had historically, and I think that is the reason why we've always kept it nine to six.

But I don't think it um I don't know if it's going to increase the number of individuals.

Um, because on Saturdays, as you can see, based on the the election results from that's our one of our lowest voting turnout dates, but it again with it being one week, it may very well increase the number of voters.

So it would not be a problem.

Okay.

Yeah.

I'll um I'll actually say I'm I think I'm agnostic to extending the hours on that day, and I also um understand that keeping the hours um as they have been for every Saturday that we provided early vote, that that could um make it a little easier on the department for training for finding the right people to work, uh etc.

Um, and given that it's a primary runoff, um, I would be okay with keeping the hours the same.

I would say if it was a general election runoff, I would absolutely want them extended on the first day.

Um I remember in 2022, the Warnock Walker runoff, how long the lines were that Saturday.

Of course, there was a fight about whether Saturday voting was gonna be even allowed.

Um I believe the right side won that fight.

Um, but given that this is a primary runoff, I would be okay keeping these hours the same.

I just want to make sure the department is tracking this really well because it is the first day of early voting.

Ms.

Lee.

No questions, Ms.

Leman.

Um, I agree with that whole line of thinking.

Um if I were to make a recommendation, it might be just to um add to make uh Sunday 12 to 6 instead.

Um I agree that I don't I don't know that we are gonna get much um added value by extending Saturday.

Um the seven to seven usually accommodates people who typically have a nine to five work schedule during the week, so it may or may not um get us much more uh on a Saturday, but that's that's all I had.

So if I'm in and I believe we're we need to vote on the both the hours and the location, so I think I just want to make sure we have a consensus on the the actual hours that we're voting on.

Um so I think we're all everyone is comfortable with Monday through Friday, June 8th through 12th, 7 to 7.

Um, this on the 6th and the 7th on the 7th, I think there's some uh sounds like some folks are agnostic, but potentially moving, increasing by one hour the Sunday time from five to six.

Um, and then that that's also consistent, more consistent with Saturday's time.

So that makes sense to me.

So are we is everyone comfortable with that with those times?

Um, and I agree for the general runoff, we should plan to do seven to seven for all the days that we're open for early voting, including weekends, um, both for the general um and if there's runoff.

Um with that, can I get a motion?

And sorry, and there are no questions about the early vote locations.

Okay, seeing none.

And and again, thanks.

Thank you to the department for working really hard to get these locations just for the public's information.

We are limited in the types of venues that we are allowed to use for early vote.

Um I don't want to get this wrong, so I I don't can I can Deputy Director Henry, can you just remind the public what are some of the parameters?

Um, because it'll I I we've gotten feedback about using elementary schools, et cetera, but we really have no other option to ensure that we have a very wide range to be sure we have a wide a large number of locations, which I think we all agree is very important.

So for um early voting, we cannot use the schools because it's Monday through Friday.

Um, and there's the schools are in session.

Um the we can use churches, any type of government building as well, and um the churches, and basically we're limited, and then also you know that the that would include our libraries as far as um government buildings, so and so and then obviously they have to have availability during the period we have early relocation.

So again, it is a it's actually a very complicated task to try to figure out how we can get as many locations as we've had we have had.

Um okay, so with that, I'll get off my soapbox.

Can we get a motion to approve?

So moved.

Sorry.

We want to make sure we need to.

Yeah, I guess I was gonna say we should make the motion because okay.

Um, so I I move to approve the proposed early voting locations and the early voting times as amended uh on Sunday, June 7th from 12 p.m.

to 6 p.m.

for the June 16th general primary runoff.

Second okay, all those in favor.

All right, great, thank you.

Okay, we'll move into the director's report.

Uh Dr.

Harris or Deputy Director Henry.

Okay.

The registration updates um as of Friday, May 22nd.

There were 568, 239 registered voters.

Total number of active registered voters, 495,655.

Total number of inactive registered voters, 72,584.

Total applications left to be processed as of May 22nd, 12,329.

Broken down DDS 8,612.

Oliver 1,233, MVP 100592, handwritten 827, and manual voter registration cancellation for 2026 as of as of May 22nd is 918.

Okay.

Um will are there any questions related to the to this portion of the update?

I have one question.

Um the number of of applications left to be processed or stand at 12 a little over 12,000.

Um what is the plan to how quickly will that number get to zero?

And are any of those will be impacted by the runoff or any of those votes?

So registration opened up again, and we typically we are able to process approximately 5,000 registration in one week.

And so we should be able to get what we are able to register as far as it opened up for new voters only, and so we will be able to get those entered in prior to the runoff.

Okay, so just so I'm clear.

Individuals that registered during that window are able to vote in the runoff.

New voters, new voters, new voters, correct.

And these will be processed before the start of early vote.

That's correct.

Okay.

Now that is not the full 12,329 that you see, but the ones that are that we are able to process because it's because it's a federal election, we can only process the new voters up until the close of registration.

And the it closes on what the election window closes after the approach.

Right, so they're not gonna be able to vote in in the runoff.

Locations they move.

Sorry, I'm not following.

I I think maybe somebody explaining um the federal versus state distinction about who's eligible to vote in a runoff could really really help.

Help us here.

And also, so the sorry the 12,000 to be processed include registrants who are who may be able to vote in the runoff and and individuals that will be processed but are unable to vote in in the runoff, correct?

Vote in the general that's correct.

That's correct, yes.

Okay, so then of the 12,000, you don't have to give me the exact number, but can you explain why some will be able to vote in the runoff and some will not?

Correct.

So some will be able to vote in the runoff in the CAB county because they are new Georgia um registered voters.

Um will be able to vote in their current county of registration due to state law and our differential between state voter registration deadline and federal voter registration deadline.

So if they're transferring to decab county, but they're already registered in another county, it's possible that they can vote in the runoff in that county.

Yes.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

All right.

Okay, we're gonna move on.

Um other questions?

Seeing none, please continue.

All right, madam chair, members of the board on page 59.

You have the BRE operating budget summary report through May 14th.

We are looking good as far as budget operating operations um and trending high at this time of year.

Um, and we are projected that always as our director put money back into the general fund at the end of the year.

If you have any questions, okay, I'm gonna start with Ms.

I'm gonna start with Ms.

Leman.

Do you have any questions?

Mine is not directly related to the budget, it's more on stakeholder engagement.

So I don't know if I if you want me to wait or just um we can we can wait if it's not on the budget.

We're doing this a little different, but okay, Ms.

Lee on the temporary personnel services in April.

Um the numbers were higher for what has been expended in purchase orders than what is on May.

Um we're missing about uh I guess 525,000.

Um can you tell me what happened there?

Yes.

So there was a budget adjustment for that line item because we needed to, and director Smith I talked about this a couple months ago, it was money put into the budget, was loaded into the budget under a different line item for um poll workers because they're paid from a different item, and so we had to make a budget adjustment.

So that's why you see that difference there.

Um so where did it go to?

It went into call center zero two nine twenty-two, and that would be for temporary salaries, um, which is at the top.

Um third line down five one one two hundred.

Yeah.

So as you can see, there's a budget, but there's no expenditures because we did a budget adjustment for that item to properly fund the correct line item.

Okay, I missed the line.

It's what which line is it?

It's it's a third from the top, third from the top.

Okay.

I don't think that it accounts for the 525,000 in April.

I'm sorry, my voice is going for some reason.

Excuse me.

In April.

The expenditures were uh 107,000 and in May, it's 141.

So I guess that's about 35,000, but doesn't account for the 525,000 that moved 525,000 that was moved.

Those are um chargebacks for 2025 as well, and our team is working on um reorganizing that so the budget um does properly load for the right item.

We have a meeting with the budget department to help us through that.

Okay, thank you.

My pleasure.

And then other professional services.

Umcluded in other professional services is the transportation for the equipment during elections.

Um that's my understanding.

Yes, ma'am.

Um, is there a contract with that?

Is there no bid that is done?

So the bid was concluded, and we do have a contract, and that constitutes for about 120,000 and the um purchase order section, and then once we get invoice, we spend that down.

So that's why it looks inflated, but the expenditures don't when I don't recall the board approving the but the contract.

Uh so this was a county um department um purchasing that we have to go through.

Okay, thank you.

You're welcome.

That's all.

Thank you.

Ms.

Rada.

Yeah, um, my colleague Miss Lee um asked much of the stuff I was um curious about.

One thing, um, and I know that you know reversals happen.

Um, can you walk me through um line item 51 to 101, which is the uh group insurance reversal?

Um I see you know 77,048 dollars.

Um that looks like that was a clerical error that was amended, but could but just for the sake of clarity, would you mind just walking me through that, please?

Absolutely, board member.

So for object code 51, all of those line items are the responsibility, if you will, of the budget office, and so we in HR, so we do not have any uh ability to move monies between those accounts.

The only items that we can touch are 52, 53, and 54.

Any other okay, great, Mr.

Oberaman?

Nothing for me.

Nothing for me either.

Thank you.

Okay, so we'll move into the next section.

Okay.

So for um key stakeholder and general um communications as we come up with the runoff, we will be doing communication such as the flyers that were in your proposed packet um to stakeholders, as well as we are gearing up to promote the July 28th U.S.

congressional district special election, and that outreach effort would include a one per household miller with a dear voter and then the address so that if it's returned, we're not erroneously removing people from the rows, and then we'll have a one or two town hall in CD 13 that explains why this election is happening, why voters will see this election in July and in November, um, educating them on the terms when this term in July is to be completed and when the new term begins, as well as um and that's pretty much it.

And so that will be the outreach effort for that.

In addition to our communications, we'll be doing press releases and also constant contacts.

Okay.

Okay, thank you.

Thank you.

Um, thank you for that update.

Would you mind uh Dr.

Harris repeating?

I I think I just blacked out briefly.

Um when that mailer that you talked about is going out.

That's for the special election.

Yes, ma'am, the July 28th special.

Okay.

Um, so my question was going to be um to Miss O'Neill's um public comment about getting sample ballots.

Um I was in Florida, we actually mailed a sample ballot to every voter.

Um at the time we had about 1.7 million residents.

I don't know how many registered voters, and it's much greater now because that was a long time ago.

So um it was something that we prioritized in the budget.

I I'm curious if there's any precedent for that.

I'm not aware of any during my time on the board, um, but just if you're aware of any around the state, um, or if there's some other way that we might be able to get those into the hands of voters.

I know it was extremely helpful for me as somebody who's very active and engaged to go to early voting site, get the sample ballot, and take it back with me before I went to vote, and everybody's not able to do that.

Um, and it uh is also very difficult to predict how many to print out to hand to people.

So I I guess I'm wondering if there's some way around that, and then I'll have another question.

Okay.

At current, the state of Georgia does not have uh universal since we are a universal sort of um system, if you will, there is new law governing the submission or the mailing of a sample ballot, but then again, there is no law telling us that we cannot.

And so I have been in conversation with Director Smith about a voter guide in sample ballot, particularly for the November election that will list the offices on the ballot as well as candidate statements so that we can get more information because when we go out to outreach, um, we hear a lot of I don't know what I'm voting on, and I don't know about this candidate.

And while it is the candidate's responsibility to promote their campaign, our office would like to augment if you act you know, amplify that if you will by um providing a sample ballot guide for November, and so that will be um drafted and submitted to board for approval.

That's fantastic.

Um okay, great.

I'll I uh look forward to having that conversation.

Um as we're talking about voter education.

I observed um the same thing that one of the other members uh of the audience brought up in public comment on the confusion around nonpartisan ballots, um, as well as just a broad unsurprising amount of misinformation on social media around the election.

Um, specifically the um, in my opinion, illegal and unjust law that was just signed around uh making um races in Metro Atlantic counties, um nonpartisan, uh not making it universal, and so there was a lot of chatter about that and confusion around the nonpartisan ballot.

So people saying, oh, well, you can't, you're not gonna be able to tell who you're voting for because the governor just signed this into law, and that's why you didn't see this.

I mean, it was just utter confusion and nonsense.

So I I'm curious how much we have and if we can uh increase the amount of social media engagement, um, and combining that with voter education and um around things as well, like if you voted this particular ballot in the um general, then if there's a runoff, you're gonna vote the same ballot.

Um, but just being able to sort of frame those in a way that's easily digestible and easy to share and hopefully cut off a lot of that because it just creates paranoia and you know, um, we don't need any further impediments to people wanting to come out to vote.

So that was the other thing.

Thank you.

Okay, great, thank you, Miss Lee.

We're on comments, right?

Uh, we we're still responding to the yeah, stakeholder meaning general communications.

Okay.

Um, I do have uh one question for uh it's not Dr.

Hill Harris, thank you.

Uh, for Dr.

Harris.

Um you mentioned getting these flyers out for November.

Um are you going to be sending statements from the uh people who are the candidates in November also?

So the voter guide, yes.

So there will be direct outreach to those candidates who are appearing on the ballot for local offices only, and then once the board approves, that can be readily available to the public.

It's just the local offices.

Yes, ma'am.

I see.

Okay.

All right.

And the candidate will make the statement that you publish, is that correct?

Correct.

So there has been a policy drafted um that would allow, let's say, 300 words or less no um gross or negligent comments to other candidates, and only speaking about your platform.

All right, thank you.

You're welcome.

Oh, I'm sorry, I was looking at Miss Rowden.

No comment.

All right, Mr.

Aberrahman, and I don't have any comment.

Okay, great.

Is that the end of the director's report?

Yes, ma'am.

Okay, thank you.

Is there a legislative update?

The only thing I would say is that as has already been referenced, the governor did call a special session of the legislature to be held on June 17th for the purpose of addressing possible redistricting and the QR code issue that we're all aware of.

So that was the only update.

Okay, thank you.

And is there a need for executive session?

Yes, madam chair, there is for the purpose of discussion discussing litigation.

Okay, great.

Um, so at this time I'm going to ask for a motion to do we need to recess for executive session or do we need to so moved.

Okay, all in favor.

I thank you.

Okay, so for the members of the public, we're going to enter into executive session.

I'm not exactly sure how long that time period will end.

So uh just to give you a heads up, um, it may be a little bit longer than the um the recess that we just took.

Um we have finished all of the the majority of the business for today's meeting, and we come back, we'll just be doing bird board comments.

So if you would like to hang out, please do.

If not, I understand.

Thank you so much, and we appreciate you coming out today.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to reconvene to so moved?

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

Okay, we are ready for board comments.

I will start to my left and we'll just go around.

Thank everybody for being here today.

Sparked by a lot of very good public comment.

Um and always appreciate that.

Umots do help voters.

Um we do have some things that involve a voter education gap when it comes to primaries.

I'll just express a quick opinion.

I don't think nonpartisan general elections should be on the same ballot as party primaries.

It's will always be confusing.

I don't think we can just blame the voter here.

Um I, as a voter who is on the more educated side of the fact that we had a nonpartisan general along with the primary, just felt it weird for my brain to go through that exercise with the ballot.

One is choose your fighter, and then the other is choose the final result of who's going to be sitting in the seat that you're you're voting on.

These are all the candidates that are in the race.

I don't think that makes sense.

I think nonpartisan general elections should be at the same time as partisan general elections.

It's best practice, it's easier to understand.

You obviously get more voters that way.

Um I look forward to the day that that changes in Georgia.

We're always going to have an issue in Georgia if we have nonpartisan general elections at the same time as party primaries.

Thank you.

Uh, just want to thank everybody for coming out.

I want to thank the the faithful for attending past our executive session.

And I want to uh thank the uh staff for all their hard work.

I can tell you that uh there is a there's a very dedicated team that handles the affairs of this office, and we're very grateful for that.

And I look forward to seeing you next time when we discuss more about election integrity and election security.

Thank you.

On the um elections for nonpartisan when I was knocking on doors, um people were they just did not understand that this is the final election for these people.

They said, Well, I'll do it in November.

No, they won't be available in November.

So there is a big misunderstanding about that.

Um for those who were here at the last uh general meeting we had in April.

Um I submitted uh a resolution for uh going to the backup system if they don't fix something in our uh through our uh legislature, and uh I have withdrawn that just for your information, uh just to see what the legislature does because they are meeting uh before our next election, and before excuse me, before our next um meeting, so that we will be able to make a decision at that time anyway.

That's all uh just uh thank you to the uh staff and to all of our uh poll workers.

I joked uh coming in on election night um that I almost couldn't tell that we were having an election because we everybody was just you know doing their thing, and you know, I'm sure it was like ducks with the you know, paddling underwater, you can't really see what's happening um above the surface, but um it really just speaks to the level of preparation and professionalism with which we approach our elections, and I it makes me very proud um to say that I am from DeK.

So thank you.

Thanks everyone.

Uh again, thank you to the staff for all the work they're doing to uh continue to to run an excellent um election.

Thanks to the the community again.

Again, all of your comment was greatly appreciated.

I think we at the county or at the elections board truly believe in excellent customer service, so we will continue to be improving that.

So any feedback that you have is greatly appreciated.

Um we look forward to uh seeing you guys next month, and with that, I'm going to ask for a motion to adjourn the movement.

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Thank you.