Good afternoon and welcome to today's regularly scheduled board of registration and elections meeting.

Can I get the roll call?

Good afternoon, board members.

Vasu Abby Rahman?

Here.

Travis Bowden.

Here.

Gail Lee?

Here.

Dale Lohman.

Here.

Carly Swift.

Here.

Madam Chair, we have a quorum.

Thank you.

Board members, you should have the agenda in front of you.

Can I get a motion to approve the agenda?

So moved.

Second.

Okay.

All in favor.

Madam Chair.

I would like to I would like to amend the agenda.

Okay.

Um, I would like to add a resolution for discussion.

I mean, for uh decision.

Okay.

So you'd like to add um a resolution under items for decision.

Okay, great.

Madam Chairman, do I need to amend my initial motion for this friendly amendment from my colleague?

I'd like to amend my uh my motion so that the amended agenda can reflect the uh it was an item for discussion from board member Lee.

Is that correct?

Item for decision.

Item for decision.

Okay.

Um all right, all in favor.

Aye.

Okay, all opposed.

Aye.

And so I think it's three to two on that one.

So then we need another motion to improve the agenda.

So moved.

Okay.

All in favor?

Aye.

All right, thank you.

Um, so we have two sets of uh meeting minutes to approve.

Unless can I get a we can just take them separately?

Can I get a motion to approve the May 22nd special call meeting minutes?

They should be on page two of your um the docs in front of you.

Uh I'd like to make a motion to approve those minutes from uh May 22nd, please.

Second.

Okay, all in favor.

I would like to make a oh hold on one second.

Motion to amend that.

Okay.

Um the on May 22nd, under the items for discussion, uh, there were various questions asked about the election that took place.

And one question, there's a whole bunch of questions listed, but the one question that I think is probably the most important is not on there, and that is were any ballots rescanned.

Um in light of the issue with Fulton County.

I think the and I think the uh it's important that the executive director's response be recorded.

Um where she gave our reason for doing that.

Okay.

Um I don't recall the exact question that were asked, so I'm wondering.

Oh is I apologize.

Ms.

Smith.

Ms.

Loman.

Thank you.

I just want to clarify whether um Miss Lee is sorry, I'm hearing myself twice.

Uh I just want to clarify whether Miss Lee is referring to the pre-certification meeting from last week or from or to May 2nd.

It is on the May 22nd minutes.

Okay.

Um I think so.

What would be helpful?

I think is maybe we we're talking about just to confirm we're talking about the May 22nd meeting minutes.

Yes.

Okay.

Um I'd like to table and have the office go back, review the meeting minutes, update accordingly so that we can be sure of what was discussed, and then we can just and then approve these meetings, these minute meetings at our next meeting.

I agree.

Okay.

So Mr.

Patty, do we need to do anything specific to table the vote on the May 22nd?

I would just defer.

I would make a motion to defer it to the next uh board meeting.

Point of order.

Would it be necessary for me to withdraw my motion or would that be unnecessary in this case, Mr.

Petty?

You could uh either withdraw it or you could amend it to just defer it.

I would feel more comfortable withdrawing that motion and letting someone else uh make another one.

So I withdraw my motion to approve those minutes.

Okay.

Motion to defer the motion to defer the approval of the May 22nd pre-certification minutes to the next meeting.

Okay, all in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay.

The next set of meeting meeting minutes are minutes from the May 26th meeting, and that was the is the that was the certification, the actual certification meeting.

I'd like to make a motion to approve those uh minutes for May 26th.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Great.

Okay.

Um we will now have public comment.

Public comment may be made in person or is by submitting an email of one printed page or less in a minimum of 12 fonts to elections public CCMT at DeCab 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 on Ustream and entered into the record in minutes.

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

All public comment will be limited to two minutes.

Abusive profane or derogatory language, holding up signs, clapping, yelling, standing or laying in the aisles to show support or opposition to a speaker would 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.

Cheryl Dudley.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh Cheryl Dudley DeCab County, President.

Um, I just wanted to say that uh I guess I was inspired to come up here, not really to say something specific about elections, but uh when I was watching the House Committee, I'm sorry, the state senate on Thursday, and my own state senator got up and made a very very good uh personal whatever they call those things, privilege remarks first about elections.

Um again, um I truly grateful that I can stand up in front of the DeCAB election board and and not some of the other election boards in the other states, and definitely not the state election board.

But um while we're doing this, I think the state senate is probably passing this uh bill that contains the QR codes until 2028, but also contains a lot of uh questionable items, uh one of which will probably apply to the election in November, which is a shame.

Um, again, I told someone a while ago I was in kind of like an outfit of the 60s.

I don't want to go back to the 60s.

We seem to be going back further than that.

Um don't think it's a good look for Georgia or any state when one party creates everything and the other part, the minority party doesn't have access to anything, and it looks like some of that bill is uh pretty frightening for democracy.

So anything this group can do to continue democracy would be appreciated.

Thank you for all your hard work and everybody have a great day.

Jackie Malcolm, how y'all doing?

Yes, um, I'm Jackie Malcolm.

I'm a DeCab County residents, and yes, I kind of want to backdoor she said, but I come to talk about the election that we just had, and I appreciate the election because it was 60 percent versus 30 percent.

That was the commissioner election for Nicole Massaire and for Kiana Jones Moore.

I am a supporter for Kiana Jones Moore, but what I want to say is that I think DeCab County has spoken because with 60 percent of the people voting this way, we're just tired of uh backdoor deals, people not the people that's in the in a position to represent us, they're not representing us the way we would like to be represented.

Yes, I did just come from the BOC, and it's all of this is on my mind because y'all are the ones to certify this election, and this is why we're here so we can kind of see everything that's going correctly, but we do not want to go backwards, and that's including the Senate bills that are trying to get passed or the ones that already been passed.

So, with that been said, um, I'm a supporter of the the new commissioner elect Keanu Jones Moore.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We have an online comment.

And following the online comment, the last um commenter will be Beth Ann Frellman.

We have an online comment from Nancy Arnold, DeCab County resident.

I urge the DeCab Board of Registration and Elections to immediately transition to handmark paper ballots counted on optical scanners under OCGA 212-281.

The current Dominion BMD system produces unverifiable QR code ballots that voters cannot confirm will be counted as marked, violating Hava and Georgia law.

Even after Senate bills recent passage delaying fixes until 2028, core issues remain unverifiable records and flawed audits.

The July 28th SD 13 special election.

I'm sorry, the July 28th CD 13 special election is a perfect low risk opportunity to implement the lawful paper backup now and restore public confidence.

Please vote to protect the election integrity in DeCab County.

Nancy Arnold.

Hi.

Looks like we have a resolution to the QR code issue for the fall.

None of it makes a lot of sense, but at least at least we have a resolution to the QR code.

I hope that means that we can now focus advocacy and efforts on elections in DeCAB.

Um and because we're so efficient and so fast.

Um I'd like to talk a little bit about early voting now before we've even certified the last election for the fall.

Um there are a couple of pretty big gaps in the county that don't have access to a local early voting site.

The city of Decatur, the area around the Fort South to Cab Mall, um, the and the west side or the east side of the county.

Um the east side of Chambley and the area east of Stone Mountain near Wade Walker.

I know the department has worked on filling these holes, and that there are a lot of restrictions on where the early vote sites can be.

I think City of Decatur might agree to it.

I think that would work with New Life, and we can find something in Chambly.

So that is my plea.

Okay, thank you everyone uh for your comments.

Um today's meeting uh is one of the primary focuses of today's meeting is the certification of the June 16th um election.

And um, and so just for the public's understanding, we're going to go through the certification update, then we will take a short break, which will allow us to actually sign off on the certification, and then we'll move back into the meeting.

Okay, with that, I'm gonna turn it over to Madam Chair.

Yes.

At the last meeting, uh, the pre-certification meeting, there were some issues that were unresolved on the individual uh precincts, and I would like to hear the resolution of them before we do certification.

So, what we're gonna do is have the director give her report, and if there are any questions, we can raise those at that time.

Director Smith.

Thank you.

And I'm gonna ask my team to bring me the updates from the pre-cert um reconciliation while I'm doing this team.

Thank you, um, Madam Chair.

On page eight of the packet, the slide um is the beginning of the post-election report.

Today what you have in front of you are the unofficial and incomplete results on page 19 of the June 16th, 2026 election runoff.

Um for your consideration, and before uh you um take action on the certification.

I will just go through the pre-cert um sorry, the post election report.

Okay, so we have on page 11 the turnout.

Um slide 11 shows that for this election there were a total of 495,000 76 active voters.

Um 69,329 cast ballots in this election, and the overall turnout was 14 percent.

The uh totals below show that election day 38,511 uh turned out early voting 28,818, absentee by mail 1,957 voted by that method, and then 43 voted provisionally.

Next is the map that uh displays the early voting locations, and of as with each election, a major election um memorial that have statewide and uh county races.

Um the memorial drive location is the busiest, and we saw that to be true on June uh for the June runoff.

13 reflects the ballot absentee by mail ballots.

There were 1,957 accepted out of the 1981 received.

You will see the breakdown above that domestic one thousand nine hundred and fourteen overseas 43, and then the rejected or spoiled total 24 further on page 14, you will see that uh provisional absentee ballots.

Um there were uh seven electronic signature um that issues missing signatures six.

There were three missing data births and two that were missing IDs, out of which nine were cured, and rejected absentee ballots totaled 28.

Nine of those were missing signatures, ten were incorrect, had incorrect IDs, and nine missing IDs, and of those eight were cured.

Slide 15 shows election day total totals or information, 191 precincts.

Um we had 147 polling locations again.

Uh 963 poll workers helped us during this election, and the equipment tested and deployed totaled 400 in poll pads, 1,160 in touch screens, and 166 scanners.

I'm gonna now just talk about election day provisionals on slide 16.

You will see that a total of uh 51 were um received, and out of precinct, there were 40 accepted, four of those were rejected.

Um registration question, uh there was a registration in question, there was one rejected there.

Um missing IDs, uh three were accepted and two were rejected, and then there was another that was rejected for another reason.

Um you see those totals there.

Okay, as always, um I just want to thank my staff, the the VRE team, the poll workers who work alongside us, our poll watchers, um, the board, of course, um, for your guidance and leadership, um, our county partners.

We can't do this work alone, and we've been doing it a lot this year, right?

We've had special elections and special election already.

We have another one um next month, and so the work that my office does without vacation, without much time off is no, you know, small effort, and I just really want to extend um my thanks to them for helping us facilitate an accurate uh transparent um secure election again.

Thank you.

Okay.

Thank you.

I'll answer questions.

Okay, all right.

So um I guess I'll start to my left and then we will go around accordingly.

No questions from me, thank you.

No questions.

No questions from me.

Okay, Miss Lohman.

No questions, thank you.

And I don't have any questions either.

Okay.

Ums Lee, did you did you want to answer to your questions?

Yes.

Yes, I do.

Okay.

Okay.

So for the pre-certification meeting, of course, we always say that we that is our opportunity to reconcile um the discrepancies that we have on election day, and there are many several reasons for discrepancies.

Most the uh most of them come from sinking issues.

Um what we found and staff reported is that there were um well, of course, the error absentee that we reported was zero, um, and there that remained the same.

Um election day one voter left without voting in that precinct, and I think we mentioned that, and that was confirmed during early voting.

There was one unknown uh Winbrook, which was the WN voter at Memorial, and on June 11th uh that did not have credit credit.

So one unknown Winbrook voter at Memorial on June 11th did not have credit.

One known Cantler Park or CX at on the report uh voter at neighborhood church on June 11th did not have credit, and one voter registered in the Farrington or FA precinct received excuse me.

Yeah, when you say they didn't have credit, do they have credit now?

No.

No.

We weren't able to we don't know who that individual we weren't able to identify the that makes sense, and then the last um issue was that one voter in the Farrington FA precinct received an MF.

Somebody scratched that out, but it is Mick Williams Miller Grove ballot at Panola Sale and Polo Panola.

And so those um were the only issues that we needed to report on from the pre-certification meeting.

And just to confirm the purpose of this is that these were all resolved between they were not.

No, the ones that did not receive credit, they were not able to receive credit because yeah, they weren't able, we weren't able to identify them in the reconciliation internal auditing process.

And and there was three of them, is that right?

Or two.

It was two.

Two not enough to sway in a vote in an election.

Thank you.

All right, great.

Um so that leaves us with I think we're ready.

Can I get a motion to certify?

So moved.

Second.

Okay, all in favor.

I can we get a motion to recess.

Motion to recess to certify the election.

Second.

All in favor.

All right.

Okay, we're gonna take a 10-minute recess and we will be right back.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to re thank you?

Motion words.

So moved.

Second.

All in favor.

Sometimes words are hard.

You know.

Okay, we have one more item for decision.

Um, and that relates to the July 28th Congressional District 13 special election.

Um, just for the public's awareness, uh, there are several districts or several precincts in DeCab County for Congressional District 13.

There are four.

There are four precincts, and so we will be holding this special election on July 28th.

Um, and as such, we need to um to um approve advanced voting locations, early voting locations and times.

Um you will note for the board's awareness that the on page 24 are the um are the times that have been proposed as well as the early voting location.

Um and the and staff has recommended that we have one early voting location.

Again, we have four precincts, and I believe that they're about 10, 14,000 approximately 14,000 voters in the cav.

Okay.

Who uh 14,000 voters in decav that are eligible to vote in the uh July 28th Congressional District 13 special election?

Uh point of inquiry, madam chair.

Um, if you will allow me to ask, um perhaps the audience would like to know what cities and municipalities or in are in the uh 13th district into Cab County 14.

Okay, so it's library unincorporated Let's have Deputy Director Henry come to the lecture and just provide that update for the public good afternoon.

It is unincorporated all four precincts on the lower south south east side of the county.

Okay, thank you.

So um I'll start with Mr.

Fowden.

Do you have any questions about the proposed early vote location and dates and times for this special election?

I do not, and thank you for your indulgence in my asking that clarifying question a minute ago.

No problem, Miss Lee.

Would you okay?

Miss Loman.

No questions, thank you.

Okay, Mr.

Alberahman, nothing from me, nothing from me either.

I think Miss Lee, okay.

Um, okay, while while we're waiting uh for Miss Lee.

Um we also want to just remind you that the runoff date.

Oh, so so the the actual special election would be on June 20 28th and on the back July 28th.

Thank you.

Um so that's on page 24 of your packet on page 25 of your packet is um are is in the event that there is a runoff, uh these are the early voting times or early voting location and then the times um in the event of a runoff.

You'll note that there is not a weekend date, and I presume that is because um we're not allowed to based on the timing of the um run runoff date.

Okay, Miss Lee.

Sorry.

So the just to clarify, the reason there are no no weekend dates for the runoff to in the event that there is a runoff, there are no weekend dates proposed because um voting has to end the Friday before the runoff, and so based on the timing, there is not sufficient time.

I'm gonna ask the the office to confirm that.

I'm not looking at a calendar, but we have confirmed that.

I mean, I know that law, but what about the other before Monday?

Right.

The weekend before okay, so let's put a the rec apologize for having this lovely conversation.

Like while as we're sometimes you get to see the sausage, how the sausage is made.

Um so for the runoff, if there is a runoff for the special election, the office is proposing that we do not have weekend voting.

We can table that because I have some questions about that one.

Miss Lee.

I may have my elections confused.

But it seems like we decided that Sunday voting should go on to 6 p.m.

Also.

Um I'm not sure if it was on this election or the last one.

I believe that you are correct.

And I think that the re the I agree with that.

So the qu we'll have a question for the office.

I suspect that the reason that they proposed it, proposed that it ended at five was because of the number of precincts that we have and um the ability to staff them and turn out.

However, I agree with Miss Lee that we should have as many times and dates as we possibly can.

So I would like us to go back and look at weekend voting on the runoff as well.

Mr.

Aborman.

Just to quick observation based on that dialogue.

I think we uh made the closing time for the poll on the Sunday for the runoff, the primary runoff, 6 p.m.

instead of 5 p.m.

because it was just one week of early voting, whereas two Sundays are covered here.

Um I'm I'd be happy to take the offices, just my personal vote.

I would take the office's recommendation on this because um there's so few voters, um, and there's multiple Sundays, so I don't I don't feel compelled to see that extended until 6 p.m.

Ms.

Lohmann.

I concur with Mr.

Abaram and I had made that motion last time to extend it to 6 p.m.

That was the reasoning uh behind it, and uh I concur on the recommendation that the office is make their sign.

Did we not vote on it last time?

It was just for that particular election, it wasn't since we we change, you know, we have to vote to adopt them every single election.

So it was just for that one.

So just so that I'm I want to make sure we have a consistency on what we're we're moving forward with.

We're talking about the gent the early voting for the July 28th special election.

The dates and times would be Monday through Friday, 7 to 7, July 6th through the 24th, Saturday, July 11th and 18th, 9 to 6, and it sounds like there's a consensus around July 12, 12th and 19th from 12 to 5 p.m.

So that's one set.

Okay.

Then we also need to vote on the in the event that there is a runoff.

Thus the office has proposed that we have a week of um early voting, which would be August 17th through 21st, 7 a.m.

to 7 p.m.

That does not include any Saturday voting or sorry, any weekend voting.

So my question to the office is can we have a weekend voting the the weekend before?

Yes.

Okay.

And then what days, what times, because it would be only one weekend to to Miss Lee's point, should can we do 12 to 6 on those days?

Oh, nine to six on Saturday and 12 to 6 on Sunday.

Okay.

Would that work for everyone?

Okay, Mr.

Aberrahman.

Um my question would be um, let's say we approve approve the current proposal for the runoff for the special with no weekend voting today.

Um if we were to revisit that at our next meeting, would it still be tenable to pull it off?

It's a yes, okay.

Okay.

Um I I guess I don't know why we wouldn't just vote on it now because the office is saying that they can, but I just want to flag one thing.

I'm a little concerned about us having these different times for Sunday, because it can get confusing.

So my position is that we do 12 12 to 6 both days.

I know that it is not a significant amount, or we stick with 12 to 5.

Um sorry, no, I'm just talking about Sunday.

Or we stick to 12 to 5 for both the special election, both the the first day of special election and the runoff.

So 12 to we would just stick to 12 to 5.

We stick to the same dates times, that's all.

I think there's some value in having uniform time so that people are not just aware of it this year, but moving forward, they know roughly when the budget time to attend.

Right.

And so we have generally done 12 to am I incorrect in that we have generally done 12 to 6 or 12 to 5?

Okay, 12 to 5.

Okay.

Well then I think we should try to be uniform because it is confusing, and we don't want people to come between five and six one day and think they can do that the next day, or vice versa.

Quick question.

Okay, so Miss Lee had a question then, Mr.

Barman.

No.

Go ahead.

Just to be clear, Saturday would also be uh no Saturday.

Saturday five.

No, Saturday would stay nine to six because it's always been nine to six on Saturday, but keeping Sunday 12 to 5.

That's that's what's the suggestion.

Mr.

Roberoman.

I was curious about how many people voted between 5 and 6 p.m.

on Sunday for the primary runoff, but I'm I'm guessing it's a very low number because not that many people turned out, period.

Um, and I don't know that that's um something that should be material to our decision.

So I uh will take that inquiry back.

Leave it an open question.

Just a reminder, we vote for these, we will vote for these hours for every election.

So if we want to have 12 to 6, which I think we would have for a general in November, we should, but for purposes of the special election, we just want to be consistent.

Um, I think for for the general and the runoff is what I'm suggesting here.

Ms.

Lohmann, Madam Chairman, yes.

Uh thank you.

Uh so two things.

I wanted to um uh double tap on what you just said.

I um just in terms of sort of general guidance as we make these decisions.

My recommendation would be as you just said that for um the larger uh elections, especially in a year like this where the staff are constantly having to conduct elections.

Um I think where we have these uh smaller ones where there uh are fewer voters and typically will be less runoff, uh less turnout, but really the driving factor for me is the number of voters that we would stick with 12 to 5, and that when we have the major uh elections where there are more participants that we would default to uh a few more hours just to give people more opportunity.

The other thing that I wanted to ask about was the previous question on uh weekend voting for a potential runoff for the special election.

If we decide to adopt that, does that mean that the first day would be a Saturday?

Um Ms.

Loman, you can't see, but I'm I'm seeing in the back of the room that the staff is saying yes, or could I get someone to come up maybe and just provide an answer to that question?

And I can pull my calendar out so that we so the dates currently are we we're for the runoff for the special election.

The first date would be the 15th.

That's a Saturday, August 15th, the runoff, yes, ma'am.

Okay, so August 15th and August 17th will be the new dates that are added to the early voting days, and Saturday would be nine to six, and Sunday would be 12 to 5.

Correct.

9 to 6 and 12 to 5 for Sunday.

Okay, Miss Lohman, does that answer your question?

It does.

Thank you.

I just want to make sure that that's um manageable.

I know I believe that we've done this before, but I just want to make sure that that wouldn't present um any special challenges or anything to be starting on a Saturday.

Thank you.

I I'm I'm seeing no um that there aren't gonna be any challenges for that based on the department's shaking of their head.

Okay.

We are I'm going to be asking for a motion to approve early voting locations and times for the July 28th Congressional District 13 special runoff.

The first set of times will be for the runoff on Julie July 28th with one proposed location.

July the regular election with one proposed location, which is county line Ellenwood library, and with dates from July 6th through the 24th with four with two weekend voting dates for the July 28th special election.

So moved.

Okay.

All in favor.

Second.

Oh second.

Sorry.

Thank you.

All in favor.

I okay.

Now I'm requesting a motion to approve early voting for a potential runoff in the Congressional District 13 special election with the location remaining county line Ellen Wood.

And the dates with the to include two weekend dates beginning on August 15th.

Yeah.

August 15th through August 21st, with the times for Saturday being 9 a.m.

to 6 p.m.

And for the Sunday to be 12 p.m.

to 5 p.m.

with the date with the other times remaining the same as what was proposed.

So moved.

Second.

All right.

All in favor?

Thank you.

All right.

Okay.

Okay.

So moving right along, we have two items for discussion.

Um director Smith is going to provide the director's report.

And then we'll follow up with the legislative update.

Thank you.

And your packets on page 26 is the director's report template.

And so as you will see at the top under general operations updates, registration vote um numbers totaled as of June 22nd, 569,626, of which 497,141 were active, and 72,485 were inactive.

Total applications left to be processed as of June 22nd was 12,963.

And you will see that DDS, the Department of Drivers Services, totaled 8,026.

We have online voter registration or Oliver applications totaling 515.

My voter page applications 1,991 and handwritten applications totaling 200.

I'm sorry, 2,431.

I was told by staff today that we have uh lifted or the secretary of state has opened Jarvis back up.

So registration team members are processing again as of today.

Some just election updates we just talked about, the upcoming registration upcoming election and congressional district 13, the special election there.

So once we have the RLA for the risk limiting audit for this election, which is I think begins on the 29th, we will quickly pivot to prep preparing for the um special election.

Okay, and so with that I also just want to mention that as part of the uh election that was certified, there was a recount that had to take place because of the um PSC race uh that the margin um was less than the margin of victory was less than a half a percentage point, and so um there was a statewide recount uh that the counties had to participate in, and we did uh our we started our recount last week and last Thursday last week and concluded on Saturday.

Um there was no need to recertify that election because the total uh number of ballots that were counted during the recount matched the total number that was certified for that election.

So thanks again to my staff and the uh and poll workers who assisted with that recount.

I will move um forward with the budget report.

Alan page 27.

You'll find the budget.

Um I do want to make uh an update um regarding um well two things.

One, I want to thank uh my deputies for standing in um at the last uh board member board meeting.

I was sick, I had a vir a 24 hour virus that I thought was gonna take me out of here.

Um, and I appreciate them standing in for me.

Um I it was mentioned at that meeting that I like to give money back.

I want to correct the record um against um I guess uh popular belief.

I do not like giving money back at the end of the year.

Um I prefer to have a balanced budget, but in elections, every election is different.

Um I do want to mention that uh my team has done an excellent job with uh controlling cost of how we operate elections, and so each year we we're streamlining processes a little better, we're um hiring less temps, and so the most of the funds that we see as a kind of um surplus at the end of the fiscal year are in the categories related to personnel, and so again that just speaks to the improvements that we've been able to make over time.

Um, and so that's one thing that we will consider continue to monitor and refine.

Um, but with the passing of this uh new bill and the hand counts that are required, the funding that we that we may have available right now could be used to underwrite the cost associated with hiring additional staff to perform you know the necessary um counts and what have you in the fall.

So um, with that being said, you will note with the format of the um budget that's in front of you, um, there's a new column added.

Uh up until this report, the previous reports displayed um the budget column, requisitions column, purchase order column, and then there was a column that was entitled Expenditures.

That expenditures column contained both the purchase order and the expenditures in one.

So there was some redundancy there that caused you know questions, right?

And so we when we met with the uh budget analyst uh last month um she recommended just using an actuals column, and so that's how we will be presenting the report going forward, and so this new actuals line is the amount that we have spent that's gone out the door instead of having an expenditures uh column that you know some of those purchases made, I mean, some of those uh amounts in that column may drop off if the purchase orders are closed and we you know don't use that money.

So this will give you a more accurate picture of you know our our actual budget.

And as you can see, we are uh maintaining these costs and some line items you'll see that we have only spent 20 percent of the budget, and here we are at mid year, right?

And so in a perfect world where you burn the same amount uh every month, you would be able to budget, you know, that way, and we would expect to see half of the budget left for this year at this juncture in this point in time.

Uh what you will find is in November because it is a the major election with the most turnout, we will see an increase in the cost to you know pay the poll workers because we'll have more poll workers.

We have um unlike the runoffs and uh special elections, we will have uh 20 uh locations for early voting with more staff, and so we expect to have a uh larger spend in the third and especially fourth quarters of this year.

Um but I'm happy to answer any questions you you know may have about the budget and and the particular line items that you are looking at.

Thank you so much for for that report.

Um I'm gonna start with Ms.

Lohmann Do you have any questions?

I don't thank you for the report.

Mr.

Moroman.

Thank you, nothing from me.

Ms.

Lee.

I I find the new column for actuals to be helpful.

Thank you.

That's all.

Mr.

Broadham.

Uh I also uh appreciate the work the team did to implement the actuals.

I think that uh reflects um you know modern accounting practices, uh, not to speak ill of anybody that was uh director Smith's predecessor who may have used the uh previous format.

I don't know when that was implemented.

But uh this does work very well, and I uh commend the team on their initiative on it.

Um I actually have a couple questions on the registration update.

Um so the registration deadline for congressional district 13, I believe is June 29th.

They're about 12,996 applications to be processed first.

What is the plan to make sure that all the C D 13 electors are registered before the election?

And then do we expect to be um what is our plan to ensure that anyone that registers up through the 29th is fully registered by the election?

And so um you may recall uh after 2024's uh fiasco um where we weren't able to uh process all of the registrations before the Friday before um election early voting, we implemented some safeguards, we increased um oversight of the registration process, and actually we have some new team members now as well.

We have a plan to not only complete the the uh registrations for that special election, but we've already staffed up to take uh big chunk of this um backlog out um by the next Saturday, by next Saturday.

Okay, so we'll see the regist this number come down in our next meeting.

Absolutely.

Okay, great.

Absolutely.

Okay, and then I had a question on the budget, and this is more just for I think publics.

There are a couple of line items where there's a negative number.

And can you just walk through why that exists?

I assume it's because we're moving money around, but I'll let you know.

Yes.

So under the um object code 52, which is one of the um object codes that we do control, there's one negative um number, which is uh under the rental of equipment.

No, that's the least purchase of equipment.

And that is our quad contract.

And what we had budgeted before aligned with our goal of transitioning away from quad-int before the end of this uh well, actually, first quarter, but we continue to use Quaddient, which is our mail machine.

We uh use it to mail letters, um, it has a postage component, um, and then we also use it to mail absentee ballots when we have smaller elections or have a small number to mail at the end, and so we are working with purchasing to bid that out to a third party.

So the large mailings that we have, whether it's you know, notifying individuals of um precinct changes um or polling place changes or any other uh mass mailing that we will do, uh we're gonna outsource that.

We're also able to print a lot of our things now internally because of the print shop.

And so we're we've built internal capacity, um, and we also know that you know there are only a handful of times where we will need to um utilize you know a mail machine of that size.

It was per it was initially uh ex the the contract was initially executed in 2020, when of course you saw more absentee ballots, more mailings um because of the pandemic, but um things are different now, and so out of our uh effort to um work more efficiently and and seam line processes, we've identified uh the need to cancel that um agreement with QuadIn.

But what you will we've already uh uh facilitated a budget adjustment so that that line item will be come out of you know red, so it won't be negative on the next report.

It just it's not reflected in this.

This is um as of May 31st.

And so under the 50 five um object code, those are things that we don't control and their chargebacks, and so even though uh well we kind of know what the budget should be based on um trends and uh prior uh spending um we can't put that in as budgeted, and so that's accounting on the back end and it's always reimbursed.

The same with uh 51, which is uh the object code that is controlled by finance, so it's a reimbursed amount.

Thank you.

And are there any key stakeholder meetings or general comms that you'd like to update us on?

So I outreach um has been very, very busy, of course.

Um this is our year to increase awareness.

We have the additional funding for voter engagement and voter outreach.

Our calendar is online.

Um there have been efforts around increasing awareness uh about the runoff that we just had as well as the congressional district um race that's coming up.

Um we're anticipating the delivery of the mobile unit next month, um, and it will need to be wrapped with the wrap um design that was voted on by the board.

Um, and so that's going to increase our presence in the community um leading up to you know our registered and ready event um that will be a week-long event in the fall that we'll be working with the different municipalities and uh community um entities to uh facilitate um registration drives across the county as well as a host of other activities that will be planned by our uh outreach team around registration, madam chair.

I do have a another question or two okay.

Um executive director Smith on page 29, you've got an interesting thing here saying on special election details.

Why is C D 13 on two ballots?

Would you explain that to us, please?

I'm gonna ask the deputy of communications to answer that.

Thank you.

Thank you for the question.

That's a good question.

That is a good question.

And so our efforts is to educate the voter um and anticipate their questions.

So since um David Scott passed away, we have to have a special, but this election is also on the November ballot.

So the voter will see it again in November.

So we wanted to educate that this special election feels his unexpired term, and then the November winner will begin the new term.

I thought they were getting two ballots, and one more question.

Uh in speaking about the bus that we got coming, it's going to go to the neighborhoods.

And I saw on the uh emails put out by the CEO that there is a shuttle that carries people to advance voting locations, and my question was are we involved with that?

No, that was my first time hearing about that.

Okay.

So no, we're not involved with any with that um initiative as we don't um provide or coordinate transportation from this office.

Okay, great.

Um okay.

We are is that does that in your report, Director Smith?

Yes, it does.

Okay, thank you.

Um I will ask our uh illustrious attorneys, I think Ms.

Petty, you're gonna make this to give us a legislative update.

Yes, I I assume everybody is aware that the General Assembly has been in session for special called session to address the QR code issue that was um created by SB 189.

Um they were actually in session this morning, and my understanding is that while we've been here um both the Senate and the House have passed a bill to address it, and that they are now adjourned, and that bill has been sent to the governor's office.

Um I have not seen the final version of it, so I don't want to get the nitty-gritty, but I do understand that uh the couple of things that it does.

And number one, it delays the implementation of the QR code issue until January 1st of 2028.

It creates a committee that would make recommendations uh moving forward about the election system, and as to the issue about the hand the manual recounts, um, it does require um a manual recount for the top two races on the ballot if the margin is less than half a percentage point, um, and it provides that the state would um reimburse counties for the for reasonable costs associated with that recount.

Umce we get a there may be a couple of other little things in there, but um we need to look at the final bill.

Okay, thank you.

All right.

Um is there any for executive session?

There is.

Okay.

Um so we are going to to adjourn again for executive session.

Um just for the public's awareness.

Um, I'm not sure how long that session will be.

You're more than welcome to stay and hang out.

Uh the maj the actual those substantive parts of the meeting have ended.

You'll just be waiting for our board comments, which you know I don't know if I'd wait for those, so it's up to you.

Uh, but we love to see you back.

Um so with that, um, please feel free to stay here.

We're gonna head to um a conference room and have executive session.

Totally understand if you decide that this is your opportunity to take a quiet exit um as well.

So with that, I'll ask for a motion to recess.

Motion to recess.

Oh, sorry, Ms.

Lohmann.

That's okay.

Uh may I ask if we can do our closing comments now?

That is that possible.

Yes, that's a great great idea, great point, because again, if I were in your shoes, I would exit stage left.

But you certainly say.

Um, okay.

So Ms.

Lohmann would you like to start?

Sure, sure.

Oh I just hold on, hold on one second.

Was that did we actually approve?

We didn't move to to recess.

No, I'm saying the uh the agenda.

Oh, do we need a motion to move this in the agenda to move it up?

Yeah, that would be best practice.

Okay.

So move.

Second.

All in favor.

Aye.

Aye.

Okay, Ms.

Loman.

Thank you.

Uh just want to thank uh our team for another uh well-run election.

And uh note that we I these I statements uh don't expect uh perfection.

I expect transparency and accountability and solution orientation, and I am um once again pleased with um the way that our team continues to step up and uh deliver on behalf of the voters in this county, and just want to um highlight uh the unfortunate way in which the uh Supreme Court continues to chip away at voting rights um and how that uh makes the role that we play here uh on this board even more important.

Uh it gives me great pride to say that this board works hard to protect the rights of all voters in Decaev County, uh, regardless of their uh orientation in any way politically or any other way.

And uh I'm pleased that I work with colleagues who are equally committed to that.

So that's all my comments and thank you.

Mr.

Bodden.

I'd just like to thank everyone for showing up today and attending.

Um, you know, the fight for election integrity and election security is a vital and ongoing one, and I look forward to seeing you at the next meeting.

Thank you.

Ms.

Lee.

Thank you.

I had prepared a resolution uh today.

And uh I don't follow so much my my fellow board members for not allowing it because they thought I was going to be delivering a different one.

But anyway, the the resolution was going to be that even though they fixed the QR code by kicking it down the road for two more years or a year and a half, we still are out of compliance with federal law.

As far as which requires that the systems permit the voter to verify the votes selected by the voter on the ballot before the ballot is cast and counted.

And they can't do that with a QR code because they can't read the QR code.

But other than that, um thank you for a good election.

Mr.

Arboroman.

Thank you to the staff.

Um especially having to run election after election.

Um doesn't seem like there's going to be a month without an election anytime soon.

Uh I'm glad that the legislature came up with some solution today that's not going to put some super ridiculous burdens on our staff starting as early as next month for the C E 13 special election.

Um I'm just uh I'm hoping that this period of these constant changes to the system being thrown around by the legislature ends sooner than later.

Um I have a feeling that it has to do with um actual election results more than the policies that govern how we run our elections.

Um objectivity and subjectivity seem to be um deeply blended uh at in this time period for our election system.

But again, thank you to our staff, and um I'm glad that we are not going to see immediate chaos in our election system starting July 1st.

Um again, I want to echo uh the comments of of the board.

I want to thank the staff, including our legal team for all their their support.

Um yeah, we we're gonna have to see get the full readout of the actual bill that was passed.

I think um I am glad that the legislature was able to recognize that we needed some to delay this in order to come up with the real system, and now you know the devil's in the details.

So I think it's important for the public to be a part of whatever this solution is.

Um as the the lat the latest draft that I saw seemed to really be a one-sided committee that's gonna provide um recommendations to the legislature.

So I hope that the legislature understands the importance of getting a variety of opinions that are from actual experts in security and in elections rather than uh the favored uh personalities that are going to be providing them with um recommendations on the next um voting system.

Uh but with that, I again thank everyone.

Thank you to the public for being here, and I'm gonna ask uh again for a motion to recess.

And if we see you all here, we know that you know you truly believe in the work we're doing, but it's okay if you're not here as well.

So moved.

Okay.

Oh just a motion to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing litigation.

Okay, so I'm asking for a motion to reset to go into executive session for the purpose of discussing litigation.

So moved.

Second.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Thank you.

Can I get a motion to resume the meeting?

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

And can I get a motion to adjourn the meeting?

So moved.

Second.

All in favor?

Aye.

Aye.

Thank you.