The meeting began with a brief Election Board session at approximately 20:42 UTC, followed by the regular Board of Commissioners meeting held in New Hanover Township. Both meetings were chaired by Commissioner Winder. Key topics included mail-in ballot procedures, polling location changes, a financial update for the 2027 budget, modifications to the First-Time Home Buyer Program, and multiple routine approvals.
Note: The meeting also included a brief Salary Board session immediately following the Commissioners meeting, which approved personnel actions with no public comment.
Okay. Good evening. Um, we will call to order the September 17th, 2026 meeting of the Montgomery County Election Board, seeing all three uh commissioners present. Are there any opening election board comments? Uh we will start with the Pledge of Allegiance. Frank Dean Filipine. Okay. Um I'll just make one brief comment. Probably make the comment again and when the board meeting starts, but uh the US Supreme Court uh decided to uphold a stay. Lawyers, am I saying that correctly? Uphold a stay in the federal district courts of uh the president's executive order concerning the USPS and mail-in ballots, and so that executive order will not be in force for this election. It could theoretically come up again in the future, but it is unlikely given the indication from six members of the court who supported the stay. So mail-in ballots will be sent this week, and in fact, might we'll get an update from Frank, but maybe in the mail in the coming days, and we expect voters to get them as usual uh starting this Monday. So uh we'll have in each of those mail-in ballot envelopes uh a uh an insert which indicates where the drop boxes are, which will be helpful uh in getting voters to the fastest way to return their ballot to us, which is through a drop box at one of our satellite offices. And yeah, we'll get more information on that. But I'll bring Frank up in a moment uh before we get into our polling location changes. Are there any other comments? Commissioner comments, any public comments? Yes, uh, Liz Ferry. Go ahead. All right, good evening, thank you. Uh, my name is Liz Ferry. I'm from Upper Dublin Township, and I'm here representing uh the Montgomery County Republican committee. Uh so commissioners, uh, to promote a fair, transparent and secure election process in which all voters can have confidence in the results. The Montgomery County Republican committee respectfully requests that the Board of Commissioners limit the hours of operation for bot ballot drop boxes during the 2026 general election to normal daytime hours. When ballot drop boxes were first introduced in Montgomery County for the 2020 election, there were five drop boxes available for 32 days. At that time, there were only 11 drop boxes throughout the county. And the boxes were made available for 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Furthermore, based on our observations, the positioning of some cameras do not provide a clear view of the front of the drop box or allow for reliable observation of the number of ballots being deposited. During our canvassing efforts in connection with the 24 election, our volunteers observed 14 drop locations where no ballots were deposited during the hours of 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. Given the limited apparent use of drop boxes during these overnight hours. We respectfully question the necessity of maintaining 24-hour access in the absence of on-site security or personnel. Voters who need to return a mail in ballot outside of the proposed hours would continue to have other lawful lawful options for returning their ballots, including the U.S. Postal Service. Accordingly, we respect respectfully request that the board establish consistent daytime operating hours for all ballot drop boxes during the 2026 election. We believe that establishing reasons reasonable hours of operation would provide voters with continued access to ballot drop boxes while also allowing for more effective oversight and helping to ensure that all voters have confidence in the security and integrity of the election process. Thank you. Thank you very much comments. Any other comments? Okay, thank you. Um next we'll move on to approval of the minutes. Is there a motion to approve the August 20th, 2026 minutes of the Montgomery County Election Board? Move by Commissioner Winder. Is there a second? Commissioner De Bello, any board comment? All in favor. Aye. Minutes are approved. Next we'll hear from Frank Dean on the authorization of polling location changes.