- All right, there is the 1.30 bell we are waiting for. I call the September meeting of the Monroe County
- Election Board to order. Our first action would be the approval of the August 2025 minutes. Move approval
- of the minutes from the August 7th 2025 meeting. There's a motion and a second. Those in favor, aye.
- Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
- I would like to change up the agenda because we have a guest speaker, so I am requesting that we move
- under new business, we move the accessible polling presentation by Michael Shermans up and move item
- number three, which is the clerk's update, down to just before or just after new business.
- with that objection. Mr. Shermish, please. May I also add one thing? I thought last time we also said
- we would discuss how and when to take public comment on different items. My plan was to at the end of
- every individual issue if there was public comment to allow it.
- unless there's an issue with that. I thought we were going to discuss it, because I raised the issue
- at last meeting. I just want to make sure. Mr. Shermas, you're on pause for just a second. No,
- we're good. At least we're going to add that to the agenda. We're going to add that. Now you're on.
- Go ahead. Michael Shermas is the special projects coordinator and human rights liaison for the city
- of Bloomington. And some of you may remember a coordinated effort
- make sure that all of our polling sites were accessible. This was several years back and Mr. Shermans
- was a huge, huge part of the success of that. And so he is addressing us today and we welcome you. Thank you.
- Yes, thank you very much. So many people around the county would know me as directing the Bloomington
- Monroe County Human Rights Commission, but the other half of my job is to be the liaison to the Council
- for Community Accessibility and the ADA coordinator at the city. And we train volunteer surveyors on
- how to do accessibility surveys of businesses, generally
- restaurants and retail kind of locations. But we have been asked in the past to do things like the Monroe
- County Community School Corporation and the county itself asked us to do several of their facilities
- as well as to work with the election board about
- five years ago or so, to do all of the polling sites. And we greatly enjoyed that. It increased the
- interest of our volunteer surveyors getting to do something that was really about civic engagement.
- And so we appreciated that opportunity. And we worked out several things to help us make the polling
- sites more accessible and feel good about that contribution.
- Since that time, in the last year, we have purchased a software to help us with that. And I'd like to
- say the difference is almost night and day because the surveys that we've done in the past, I would
- have to say it lacked professional look to it and didn't really show it well in terms of
- what we know and what we can do. This software, which is called Blue Dag, is a software that allows
- us to do this on an iPad or a tablet or a smartphone, and a volunteer surveyor can be quickly trained.
- We can train them within one hour, and then they can go out and
- do sites fairly easily. We've been working with it for a year and have learned how to customize it to
- the purposes that we are interested in, which is, yes, ADA compliance, but it's more about functional
- accessibility. So how can people who are blind and people who use wheelchairs get into
- places that they need to get into, and what kind of barriers might they run into if they're not been
- addressed. So this software is fantastic at being able to do that. You don't show anything that's fine.
- You don't worry about that. What you see if you see a barrier is you take a photo of the barrier. So
- say something is like paper towels are
- 54 inches high. You'll put them tape measure and you'll take a photo of it showing that this is too
- high. And then when you compile a report, it comes up with
- This is exactly why it's too high. You can see the photo. And here's the diagram of what it's supposed
- to be. So it offers the ADA rule and a diagram and an explanation of what it is. Included are like Indiana
- building codes and whatever other kind of regulations and laws are relevant to this. So what I want
- to do is just hand you a copy of a report that we did
- This report is for Showers North. That is what we understand that the election central is going to be
- ran out of in the next election where polling workers will be there, poll workers will be there, and
- people who would come to do early voting would come. And so this report shows you all of the barriers
- that are there in that site.
- Primarily, it's focusing on parking lots. Now, the difference between the software that we have and
- the software that I would suggest that the county might consider purchasing is that that software is
- more customized for voting centers slash polling sites and takes into account HAVA as well. It will
- also offer mitigations.
- People frequently like, what does that mean exactly? My quick response would be something like, so let's
- say that a bathroom has the soap dispenser that is too high. It's too many inches. It's above 44 inches,
- so it's too high. A mitigation for that, there can be several possibilities. One is just to place a
- soap squeezy thing that's there on the counter.
- That's a mitigation. There are several other mitigations involving parking, path of travel, bathrooms,
- the common areas where people might be signage. There are things that they can offer and say, here's
- the suggestions if you can't fix this barrier. And the idea is that we potentially do these surveys
- in the next couple months, and then you can prepare all of those locations by the time that they
- would need to be addressed for the next election. So this report kind of shows you what it in general
- would look like, but it would be even better. So in terms of the actual software, let me
- explanation of the actual software itself and what it does. I won't go into detail into it, but this
- is the different things that it would do for you. Finally, I'm going to offer you a
- This is a quote from Blue Dag. So they're quite a bit more expensive than we at the city can afford.
- But when I went and told them how we were going to use it and what we were going to use it for, I got
- a really big discount. I've been looking at this software at the National ADA Symposium for the last
- five years. And they've been pushing me hard. And I've said, I would love it. It's amazing software,
- but we can't afford it. But when I kind of talked about what we were going to use it for, for these
- kind of surveys,
- They generally have contractors and developers using this to ensure that full ADA compliance is done
- when people build new things, and we were using it for these kind of surveys. Well, they don't generally
- use it that way, so they wanted to work with us, and they gave us a discount. When I said, hey, there's
- a chance that maybe the county might consider this for voting, and they have this implemented in California,
- but not beyond in terms of voting. All the other software is everywhere else, but in California, it's
- the only place they have
- their polling sites and voting centers. And so it would probably be in the realm of $30,000 to $40,000,
- which is like, wow, it's kind of expensive, but it's amazing software, and it's worth it for what most
- people use it for. And I said, yeah, I don't think the county is going to go for that kind of figure.
- That seems pretty high. And I said, yeah, maybe $12,000 to $20,000, given what it is and what it could
- do and all that kind of stuff like that.
- And they came back with $36,000 for three years, once each year you would pay. And I said, yeah, I'm
- not sure they're going to want it for three years because that's a long commitment. And I could see
- how they would want it for every other year to be able to prepare each year. And they said, OK,
- how about $12,000 a year whenever they need it?
- kind of thing. So that quote is for what I was able to talk them down into for a more reasonable price.
- So we would be honored to work with the county. We have a person who is my assistant who works closely
- with the software to ensure that it's been customized and easy. If you were all to want to do something
- like this, we would make
- potentially, like your election supervisor, the administrator for it, that you guys would work directly
- with Blue Dag to purchase the software and then help set it up. But our administrator, my assistant,
- could work directly with the administrator, saying it was the election supervisor, to set it all up.
- And we would provide the volunteer surveyors to actually do the polling site thing. So we would actually
- have them go out. And then you would have however many polling site locations, you would have
- blank amount of reports with here are all of your barriers and how to address those barriers specifically
- in plenty of time to make sure that it, of course, is accessible for everyone. I should probably take
- a breath and see if you have any questions. So is it required that this would be a long-term deal if
- we sign with them? One year. Okay. And so then you... Because it's, you know, like, once you get it fixed,
- If we don't change polling places, it wouldn't need to be fixed again. I would hesitate to say that
- just because people frequently remodel, change things up, and remember, I'm assuming, and you can correct
- me if I'm wrong in this assumption, that when you set up a site, you're
- customizing that site, you're putting up cones, you're doing different things, and some things can change.
- So I would say it would probably be smart to do it every couple years to make sure that it stayed accessible.
- But once would be better than not at all. I would say even doing it once every four years, like in the
- non-election years when we're
- able to have time to look at the polling locations, the election board see if they're planning on using
- the same ones and then the ones that we're not using update those with the ADA compliance with the software.
- I also want to say thank you for giving us the survey on the parking lot at North Showers. That's where
- early voting will be next year. So seeing that and seeing the things that need to be updated beforehand
- is great. Thank you.
- We need we need showers worked on before. Yeah, what it would be? Early voting will begin in January.
- Yeah, yeah. OK, that's why we thought, oh, we'll give them this so they know right off where they need
- to start. And this is the survey would be even more comprehensive than this. But this is a start for
- you to be able to see quickly what kind of problems that need to be addressed. So yeah, have you shared
- this report with Richard Crider who oversees the
- We did this report and got it done this day and a half ago and just got it all finished up this morning.
- I'd be happy to share it with him. The reason I raise that is that North Showers is used for a lot of
- other things besides early voting and I would think that the county would want that to be ADA. Yeah,
- I've had other complaints about that parking lot. Because I'm the ADA coordinator at the city, everybody
- thinks that I might
- powers extend far beyond that and so I get complaints all the time and I've had complaints about that
- parking lot before and it's never been kind of clear like why it's not being addressed but there are
- many issues with that parking lot. So who owns showers? Well the county has responsibility for that
- parking lot. I did talk to the building department and our public works person. It was the city, okay
- city you're on it. No it's the county in this case.
- but I think there were plans, too, for repaving that particular parking lot, but I'm not sure. Yeah,
- repaving and restriping are pretty much our minimum. I mean, there's some things that wouldn't be too
- difficult to deal with at signage, but that's the issue, is repaving and restriping. Yeah. And I would
- just say with that parking lot, I texted Richard Kreider while he was talking and asked him when we
- were planning on doing the lot, because I know we are planning on it, and he said,
- They're going to send some cameras through some storm drains on the 8th to kind of complete the engineering
- packet, and then it's going to go out the bid. So it's in process right now. Yes. Well, when do the
- asphalt plants close? Isn't that like, well, December-ish? Yeah, late December-ish. But assuming, let's
- pretend the weather has no chance of getting cold early, OK?
- We do not want them not to have that done when we start early voting in January. Do we? Early voting
- will begin in April, but we'll start having filing and individuals coming into the office January to
- February. All right. I can ask Richard when he expects that project to be completed. Okay. But I think
- the timeline we're on,
- is cognizant of this need and this use. Let me be sure that I understand because I appreciate the citations.
- The citations are this is what it should be. And then your finding is this is not it is not compliant
- compliant at this time. So if I read this correctly, Monroe County government has 12 violations
- not being in compliance with accessibility issues so that if we are going to use it for early voting,
- we have at least 12 things that need to be mitigated or brought as much as possible to put us closer
- to compliance. I would use the word mitigated height network because in some particular cases, some
- of those barriers
- we could negotiate. So, for example, there's a stairwell that you get up to the second floor, which
- I assume many of the people who are going to the second floor to do polling work would go up there.
- It's supposed to have a continuous rail, and there is a section that's not continuous. That is a minor
- violation and doesn't
- really affect most things because people can use the elevator. There's other things around. So,
- for example, that might be something that you could consider way down lower, and that's further down
- the line barrier. But some of the other things are definitely, yeah, you should get those fixed before
- you do this kind of thing. Yeah? Some of my work with veterans would say elevators are not for them.
- if they can work their way up the stairs so that missing place would make a difference. Yeah, exactly.
- I will say upstairs. That's where the training space will be. So all the poll workers will be going
- upstairs. They'll either be using the elevator or the stairs. I could ask for public comment on this,
- could I not?
- comment on this situation? And thank you, sir. You're very welcome. Let me know if you have any other
- questions or any other issues and I'm available all time for consultation to try to help figure things
- out. And what are there more information that you would need? I'll be happy to provide it. Thank you.
- Thank you. Now we're going to your update, correct? Um, actually, I had requested if we could go to the
- later missing CFA files. I recognize the person. All right. Then let's do that. Missing CFA files.
- Kylie you've got some stuff on that I believe. Yeah. So I updated your guys's packets with the new list
- of individuals. We are down to three filings that are still missing. We have now four that have been
- turned in but are considered late and then we have two of the individuals that were on the original
- list that did submit in time and one their document was just missing. So those two that are at the bottom
- that would be more of a
- decision for you guys if you would like to make a motion to void those and then their first late filings
- will their first offense for late filings will be dismissed and then The others will be if they are
- here to speak upon Why they missed or if they are still missing? So we have two that have been turned
- in and resolved do we have to do anything with that and
- So the two at the bottom, they are going to be, I would suggest, my suggestion would be to void those
- first offenses for those two individuals. One did submit on time, it was just in an email that was not
- received but then was forwarded to us showing that it was sent on time. And then the first one in that
- section was that they had filed, we just didn't have a copy of it in our office. Right, these two, go ahead.
- Okay, so Ms. Oliphant is here. Do you wish to speak to this? Hi, you know, I don't really have anything
- more to say. We had filed it back in May, May 25th of 2017. And because we never dissolved the committee
- and we've been filing CFA for campaign finance reports annually, since that time,
- requirement to file a new CFA one doesn't apply to me by statute. And we did verify that interpretation
- of the statute with the Indian Election Commission as well. So I reached out to Kylie Ferris and Ms.
- Ferris let me know they just didn't have a copy in the office. And so we had that record retained and
- we provided it to her office. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer them.
- The one that you're recommending, we avoid. Yeah, that is one of the two that I recommend that we avoid.
- I would move that we avoid those two late filings. I will second. Those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed?
- Okay. That is resolved. Okay. Those are settled. And then we have the four that are under the late CFA
- one filings.
- I just need a motion to either void or to give them their first offense to make the record official
- in our office for their late filing. So you got theirs but they didn't come in on time. Correct. I'm
- just being sure. What has been customary in this manner?
- So the policy states that the first late filing is a written warning. The second is 50% of the maximum
- fine. And then the third is 100% of the maximum fine. In the past, they have sometimes voided due to
- situations. With this one, we wanted to make sure that you guys were OK with giving their first late
- filing, since it was a law change and not everybody was informed. But we had sent out letters. The election
- board had sent out a letter to both party chairs for them to contact
- their elected officials in order for them to get them turned in on time. So these people would just
- get an email saying don't do it again? They are saying that they have been late or they were missing
- their documents. If you want to continue with the three that had turned in late that had not received
- that original letter then it would just be a letter hey this is your first offense and we'll make it
- official in our office.
- so that we can keep track moving forward if there is another late filing. I am happy to make a motion
- to send the letter notifying them of their first offense so that we have that paper trail going forward.
- I second, let me get some good idea. Is this just for those that were late? The four in the middle,
- correct? Yeah, the four in the middle. Have they had other
- Lateness with other forms that they've had to file whether it was so when we adopted the new policy
- for the CFA late filings last year, I believe or the end of 23 They had decided to wipe it clean and
- everybody was starting fresh So most of these this will be their first late filing and then they'll
- continue moving on from there So we have a motion in a second
- Those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, so they get the letter saying don't do it again.
- And then the three at the top, they are still missing their CFA ones. I have received delivery confirmation
- for the first two. I actually just received the second one as we were sitting here before the meeting
- started. The third one still has not shown that they received the letter. So we can postpone on those
- three until the next meeting or we can move forward with two of them to give them their second
- A letter saying, hey, this is now a late filing. We need to receive your document. Are these sent email?
- No, they are letter and they're sent certified. Okay. Yep. So you have not gotten anything back that
- the third one has signed? Correct. Two of the three, we have received back the card saying that it has
- been delivered to them. The third one, we have not received anything yet. And these were supposed to
- be turned in originally? July 11th.
- at noon. We're almost two months late. Ms. Kiley did I understand you to say this is the second letter
- they've already we will send the second letter they've already been sent a letter that you're late yep
- and and then you received back the proof so this will be the second you're late which I think is incredibly
- generous. Absolutely.
- I was going to say, I think Liz Fiddle, because the way she was caucused in, hers is a little bit different
- than the other two, I think. But I will say Courtney Daly was also caucused in. But I know that Courtney,
- Jeff, and I believe Dave Rollo had all had a conversation about this. And I've received one from Dave,
- but I've not received one from the others.
- I would move to send a second letter to them. Okay. They've had time and have it almost two months.
- Okay. I'll second it. All right. And I will get those sent out. Yeah. Those in favor? Aye. All right.
- Thank you. You want to do that first? Okay.
- chair of this committee. I have not followed it to a huge thing, but I was told that it is to rotate.
- I think honestly, I think that makes sense in every county because there are a lot of counties are just
- like Monroe that have mostly one party rule. I think it's fair to do it this way based. Now the law
- has changed. So it's a four year term. Is that what you're saying?
- Yeah so as of July 1st there was a change to this. It is going to be IC code 3-6-5-8. I did provide
- a copy of that for each of you guys in your meeting packets. It'll be the last page of that packet actually.
- And it now states that the chair of the board is elected and they serve a four year term that is in
- correspondence with the clerk's term. So the term that will be elected today will end on
- December 31st of 2026. And then on the first meeting in January, a new chair would be elected and serve
- a four year term. So from that, it is elected by the board. So it would be someone motions for an individual
- be the chair. And then it would only need a two vote count to be approved. But it would be by party.
- not the individual because that doesn't even coincide with when new party chairs take over and things
- like that to appoint somebody new to the election board. Has that occurred for example this year? Yeah
- so I mean today it's whoever is elected is elected. I do know that we were saying and we had looked back that
- The last time a Republican had been in the chair position was in 2021. And they only served from August
- to October. And then I know that we were just going to pick up from where it was left off. So it would
- have been a Republican this year anyways. But that policy is now voided as of July 1st of this year
- due to the law change. Tell me if your recollection is the same as mine from Mr. Kochivar that
- the same person could be elected, like they could serve as party chair for 30 years, they just have
- to be reelected. So it's not a party, it's a chair. Yes, so there's no term limit on it. They can be
- reelected over and over again, but they do serve a four-year term, and then there has to be another
- election for the election board chair. It was my understanding, though, that at a time when it would
- have been the Republican
- to take over that Judge Bankhart. Deferred to the other party. Yeah, that's what I'm looking for. Yeah,
- that she she didn't want to take on that role correctly. I called her to see what the thing was because
- I had heard so many different and she said to me that she did not want to take it to start 2025 because
- she wasn't going to stay on. But she had. She actually.
- Earlier than that, but I'm not sure she did earlier than that. She she just she didn't have an ego.
- She didn't think she was entitled to jump in there. She was new to the board and just was comfortable
- with the other party taking the chair. And so that's what we did. The way that it looks from the old
- policy, because down at the bottom of it, it shows where we were amending it, showing each time that
- somebody would go into the chair position, we would state who was in that position.
- The it seemed like every time that there was a new board member that came on that it was mostly a Republican
- that it was the new board member. So the Democrat just referred to stay in the.
- seat of the chair because generally it's if it's a new board member we give them time to get used to
- being on the board and then if they want to be chair then they would switch it over but by this it states
- that that person is chair until they resign or if they are changed out by the party chair themself.
- So after today the new next election would be in
- After 28, is that 26? After 26, okay. After today, the next election for the chair would be July,
- I mean, January of 2027. So the policy, I shouldn't say the practice that had been used here of the
- rotation could continue to be done if we chose that we wanted to continue that so that it was passed
- back and forth
- I asked that exact question yesterday when we spoke to Mr. Cochivar, and so yes, this is void. The new
- policy trumps this. However, if it would not be, the board member can say, I'd like to resign as chair,
- doesn't mean they're resigning from the board, but because of this new rule with the, it ending when
- the clerk's term ends, it would be on the honor of the person
- to say I'm ready to resign my chair and then the other person be voted in as chair. Does that make sense?
- Yes, it does. I'm kind of a fan of the thing that we have right there that passes it back and forth
- to be quite honest. That was what I was prepared.
- to do that we give back is particularly because we hadn't had that since Hal Turner, just to balance
- it out. The whole reason, just for the benefit of everyone watching, the entire reason was at some point
- we realized that if you just switched off every other year, one party would never serve as chair during
- a presidential election.
- this was the way that seemed most fair, you know, so that each person got at least one presidential
- election under their belt as chair. So once again, we were doing it well and the state messed us up
- a little bit. Well, that's off the record. Okay. You know what? Just as anything else, I probably comment
- on this. Anyone?
- All right then, okay, I'm sorry, go ahead, ma'am. I feel that because the voters in Monroe County elected
- a Democratic clerk that it should, a Democratic clerk and a Democratic board member that through the
- end of 2026, that the chair should be in the Democrats' hands. But that's because of what the majority
- of the voters had indicated with their choice of clerk.
- That's not the criteria that this new statute. I realize that. I'm just saying that based upon the sentiment
- that the voters have expressed with their votes, that's my own opinion. That's all. I kind of feel a
- little bit for the, I know this may shock some people, for the Democrats in counties like Morgan and
- Lawrence who would
- probably never get to chair their election board, just like it would be here. And I'm not a real big
- fan of that kind of stuff. So as much as it actually bothers me to do this, I will nominate myself because
- of the Republican year to be chair of the election board. Is there a second? I will second your nomination.
- They will do this on a roll call vote, Ms. Givens? No. I vote yes. Yes. Okay. So we have, we
- have accomplished that. Thank you. And I guess now we will move to the clerk's update. Okay. Um, I really
- just want to say are two things.
- Well, no, I got more to say. We do have candidate packets now, so if you are thinking about running
- for office, already have your plan, we're ready for you, and our candidate packets are available at
- Election Central. If somebody is just itching today,
- then you're welcome to take this one with you. It's very nice because it has the dates on the back,
- it has the calendars inside, your paperwork that you need to complete. And so we're very excited that
- those are ready ahead of next year. And then we talked a little bit about the new legislation and the
- bill regarding citizenship
- and voting and the clerk's role in if we should receive information that a person has been issued temporary
- credentials but has not proven, not demonstrated, something has been flagged to indicate that they may
- not be a U.S. citizen, that the clerk would then send out correspondence. It's generated
- some scenarios for all of the clerks, all 92 of us, but also in Monroe County that concerned me. So
- I am hosting a round table. I did not put it in the name of the election board, but we're happy to notice
- it publicly in case the election board board members would like to attend a round table on September
- 18th from one to four at election central.
- We've asked some people to serve as panelists. It's bipartisan. I have even invited some of my bipartisan
- clerk siblings to come and visit us so that we can have a discussion about this bill, address any concerns,
- issues. I've also asked members of the Secretary of State's office to come, their attorney and the election
- coordinator for the state so that they can answer questions at the legislative as to why this became
- a piece of legislation and what the intended objective is. So that's again September 18th from one to
- four at Election Central and I hope to see you there. If you guys can just give me a heads up if you
- guys are planning to attend so that I can get out a public notice. My plan is to get it sent out tomorrow.
- That way we have plenty of time to have it out.
- I would say go ahead. I can't guarantee it, but there's no reason not to have the notice. Absolutely.
- Absolutely. Um, so I've alluded to, but we didn't talk about, um, yesterday, uh, Kylie and I went up
- to Indianapolis for an election study publicly meeting. This was the second of three public hearings
- that the secretary of state is holding. So the first one was a couple of weeks ago in Muncie, Indiana.
- He's doing Northern Central Southern.
- So Ms. Kiley in my stead went to the northern one in Muncie. Then yesterday she and I both went to the
- Indianapolis one, which is central. And the next one will be on the 19th in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
- And it's a public hearing about vote centers. It's also a public hearing about
- moving municipals, whether or not the municipal should move to an even year. And so they did, I thought,
- a great job of making you stick to topics. Excuse me, if you had public comment, you had to register,
- but you could only do so on the topics that were being addressed. I did not see very many clerks there,
- but we had v-stop there. The secretary had
- two of his staff members present. And Monroe County actually got a couple of shout outs about as far
- as how much money we would save if we went to vote centers. And it was, I thought it was a good mix
- of pro, con,
- and you have one more opportunity. They don't answer the questions in real time. What they are doing
- is collecting those questions and then when they put their report out, they will answer citizens' concerns
- about that. And so that was really, that was a good meeting. They stick, it's two hours and they started
- at two, was it two? Noon. Noon and ended at two. Yeah.
- and they have it live streamed and I believe that link is on the secretary's website. Yeah, so there's
- going to be a link for on the secretary's website, but I'm also going to work with Vin from TSD for
- us and also have the link added on to our website for the election board page so that people can go
- there and view the videos from both of those meetings and then also have them add the third meeting
- on there as well.
- I also just want to say they have worked really, really hard on putting some data together and making
- sure that it's very easy for everybody to understand, not just election officials, but also we did get
- the shout out for the vote center plan that was put together by the vote center committee at the end
- of last year, beginning of this year, and they are really making it easy for everybody to understand and to
- get the word out that they're not for or against either of these. They are very nonpartisan on it, and
- they just want everybody to have the information. Was it your sense that the state is going to move
- to vote centers for all counties? Secretary Morales, he keeps his cards close to the vest. He was there.
- He did not indicate one way or another.
- As you recall from meetings with our vote center committee, two thirds of the state are already vote
- centers. There are some who expressed public comment yesterday that because the word precinct is in
- the constitution, that they do not see vote centers as aligning with the state constitution.
- The prevailing concern, and Kylie correct me if I'm not stating this correct, the prevailing concern
- is about the fact that we have electronic poll books. And so because electronic poll books are connected
- to the internet and that's how we have the most up-to-date information from the statewide voter registration
- system, vote centers make people uncomfortable specifically because of the electronic poll books. He
- appeared to be taking in all of the information from yesterday's conference.
- I believe that was the same for you and Muncie. I'm sure he will be the same. He's very attentive and
- participatory. Whether or not he's going to mandate it, I think he's going to hold those cards. The
- report I believe is due November 1st.
- I believe so. The legislators are the ones that asked for the study committee to be put together and
- they have been doing the election study on both of those topics, moving the municipal to an even year
- and for mandating vote centers across the state. There was a bill filed for that in the last session,
- I believe. I don't know if it got a hearing or not, but it didn't.
- Yeah, and then there's the House Enroll Act that's in right now for, I think it's 1366. Nicole, can
- you correct me if I'm wrong? It's a, I think you transposed the numbers, but- Probably. Okay. It was
- proposed legislation. That's why we're talking now. It did not get a vote. It went to the study committees.
- Doesn't that make sense? It's House Enroll Act 1633.
- I thought those numbers sounded the right number. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. All right.
- Thank you. Is there any comment on the clerk's update? We will move on to the election central update.
- Oh, I'm sorry. What's there? Oh, yeah. Just come to the come to the mic, please. Also, we still have.
- the budget part on the clerks update. We'll do that. We need a mic at the podium. There is a mic.
- Is there? Oh, OK. OK. I couldn't see it from my vantage point. Thank you. I am Sean Hannon. I am a Monroe
- County resident in Perry Township. I've worked polls in three different counties in the state, including
- Monroe County, and I would just say that
- And the experience of having vote centers in a previous county where I lived was outstanding. The thing
- that I would avoid, and it really was only a problem the first year, but if we go to vote centers, the
- county I was in had a vote center on one of the most well-known roads, one of the landmark places. It
- was the place.
- in the county where everybody had gone for basketball games. It was a big arena. The problem there was
- the lines got so long, and there was another vote center a mile away. So if it had just been a little
- less well-known, people would have looked a little... I mean, it wasn't far to get to a different one,
- but people waited in line a long time. But I would strongly recommend
- vote centers as being something to look forward to positively in my experience, both as a voter and
- as a poll worker. I want to thank you for serving as a poll worker. And I recognize some poll workers
- in our audience. And so thank you for your service. We had some poll workers at the meeting yesterday
- and they shared their experiences as well. Thank you. Thank you. Now the budget update. I'm sorry.
- Yeah, election central. OK. So then it will be I'm going to start off with the citizenship update. As
- you said, as Nicole said, we are going to have a roundtable to kind of discuss citizenship law a little
- bit more in detail. But today I just want to give you guys an update of what my office has completed
- so far. So as of
- Since July 1st, we have sent out 38 letters to verify proof of citizenship. Eleven have shown their
- citizenship proof. One has asked to be canceled due to them not being a citizen, and they got registered
- through the BMV when they went to get their identification card. And then we have also had
- Six that have came back as undeliverable. Those will stay in the 30-day hold until we are told to do
- anything with them at this time. They've kind of put a pause on canceling anybody until some things
- get straightened out at the IEC. But this leaves us with 20 open files at this time. And I will bring
- another update for the citizenship at the next meeting.
- And then I'm going to move on to the voter list maintenance update. Since July 1st of this year, a total
- of four thousand seven hundred and twenty two voters have been processed. Four hundred and forty nine
- of those voters have stayed active. Twenty one have been rejected and one hundred and sixty five have
- been canceled. A total of four thousand and eighty six voters have been moved to inactive status. The
- shipment of cards from the state will start coming to us. They will come in three different waves. Our
- first shipment will be sent out on October 22nd
- The next will be November 12th and the third will be December 8th. So within those three months we will
- be extremely busy at voter registration with processing those cards as they come back and then in January
- we will open up for candidate filing. I will also bring back another update to the next meeting for
- voter list maintenance update as well.
- And then I just kind of want to give a recap from the IVRA conference that I went to. Me and Laura were
- chief deputy. We both attended that conference, and it was a really good experience. They had the highest
- turnout that they've had in previous years for this conference, and we were able to bring back a lot
- of knowledge from other counties and also be able to provide knowledge that we've been able to share
- with other counties as well. Tippecanoe County, we got to talk
- to them quite a bit and it was both on the college ID side with the SB 10 and then also on the side
- with the citizenship. They're dealing with the same amount of income that we are and in fact here in
- Monroe County we're seeing more than what they are so it's really good to be able to have that time
- to communicate with other counties, see how they're doing things to make our elections better and be
- able to pass on things that we're doing as well.
- I actually got some wonderful feedback while Kylie and Laura in real time were in.
- in Tippecanoe County. That's the county I typically don't mention for obvious reasons. And so I wanna
- thank them both for attending in my stead. That's the one conference that I stayed back from and try
- to let them go and get ideas and bring them back without influence from me. And so I appreciate you're
- both going and glad you brought back some incredible knowledge from the conference.
- We appreciate getting those opportunities. And as always, we look forward to December as well to be
- able to bring back knowledge from more counties across the whole state. Absolutely. Speaking of Tippecanoe
- County, a skydiving bison is substantially cooler than a guy carrying around a sledgehammer.
- I would concur. OK, I mean, that's pretty simple. All right.
- I think we're at a point now, and I'm gonna save our comment to the end, okay? Okay, if there's public
- comment on any item that they wish to speak about. Hello, my name is Cheryl Langdon. I'm a Monroe County
- taxpayer and I'm a disabled Army veteran.
- The following events that I'm about to speak here are real and true. Not so long ago in a neighboring
- Indiana County, an elected corrupt sheriff bullied a nobody young housewife and mother. One morning
- she reached out to her local non-emergency police number, requested assistance to curb speeders in her
- neighborhood. She offered her driveway and any refreshments to make it pleasant for the police. She
- wanted to serve them while they served her community. However,
- She was met with arrogance and spite that the appointed communications dispatch person that she was
- speaking to. She was told to contact the sheriff directly. So the housewife called his answering machine
- and left a message pointing out the clowns running his corrupt, clickish, nepotistic clandestine circus.
- The sheriff's response to the powerless housewife's phone message came later that day.
- while she was making tacos for her family's Cinco de Mayo celebrations. The powerful sheriff sent two
- cruisers to falsely arrest her innocent husband. One cruiser had a female officer. The sheriff's intent
- was to bait the housewife and take her to jail with her innocent husband and put her children in CPS
- custody over the weekend. You see, he did this on a Friday night after banks were closed.
- Thankfully, the housewife kept her composure on the direction of her handcuffed innocent husband and
- took her crying children into the house. She raised those children to respect police. She later called
- the friend for bail money and got her husband out that evening. The corrupt sheriff's plan didn't work.
- Two weeks later, the county judge ruling over the innocent husband's case was forced to apologize to
- the innocent husband and return his money. The judge apologized twice.
- This event prompted an investigation by County Legal with the help of state officials into the corrupt
- sheriff's regime. He was found guilty of several crimes, fired, and others in his corrupt county regime
- were fired as well. He died a criminal and ruined his tyrant. The moral of the story?
- If you are an elected official who took an oath and bond to serve the taxpayers, do not weaponize your
- elected position and bully the taxpayers who pay your bills. The truth is powerful, and the only people
- who are afraid are people who have something to hide. It is a dangerous thing when words can empower
- a dangerous authoritarian to weaponize their elected office against the powerless and frail. Oh, and
- the housewife in the story is me. That is my story.
- And it's real. It is a timeless story of the underdog fighting tyranny. And my fight is never over.
- Thank you. Anyone else? Not sure if I have a comment until I can ask a question, please. I was following
- along on the agenda, and I was wondering if there is a budget-related item or update, then I'll just
- wait for that. OK. So I haven't missed it, correct? You have not. OK.
- Thanks. And I apologize because we had the guest speaker I thought I presumed that the budget conversation
- would take a little longer and I didn't want to hold up the guest speaker. So that was my recommendation
- to move that down on the agenda. But that appears to be the last one. We will do the budget conversation
- after we have one more. Yeah. And then we'll do the budget conversation.
- I'm Chaz Mottinger. I live in Bloomington Township, just down the road. I have worked the polling locations
- for the last, I don't know, probably almost 10 years, I think, actually. I just wanted to say I've been
- inspector, and I wanted to voice my support for the polling, the voting centers. I've done actually
- a lot of the polls farther out in Monroe County, Burgund, Baptist Church, and I've also done Fairview
- Elementary right over here.
- And there's a lot of different, because of precincts, the average resident here in Monroe County doesn't
- always know what a precinct is, and they don't always know that that's where their votes go to, and
- all of that. There's also a lot of students, there's a lot of parents with small kids, and I've just
- seen a lot of people go to the wrong polling location, and sometimes it makes sense. Like Fairview,
- they're supposed to go to Tryon North,
- very close, so it makes sense why they would be confused, but I've had to turn people away because they
- can't vote. We don't have their ballot at
- my polling place, right? And so I've had to turn away a lot of people. And I just think that the voting
- centers would help. It would be more accessible in lots of ways to people. It would be less confusion.
- I just think the problem of people going to the wrong voting place is always going to happen. And I
- believe in people's right to vote. And I think making it the location easier for them to get to by having
- larger voting centers would just help a lot of
- residents in Monroe County. So I just wanted to say from my personal experience that I hope you do consider
- that when thinking about all of our busy people with full-time jobs, kids, students. So yeah, thank
- you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your service as an inspector and poll worker. Okay, so we need
- to talk about budget stuff, correct? Correct. Okay. Whoever does that, let's roll.
- Just in summary, the budget session for the clerk's office was last week. And what has typically happened
- in the past, because I am the person who does the day to day overseeing of that budget in the office,
- is I've submitted my proposed budget based on a number of variables.
- The budget is provided to the election board and they have a chance to weigh in. If they attend, they'll
- come maybe early because it's been advertised that we'll be together for the budget hearing. Last week,
- one of our board members was on virtually, the other submitted a letter indicating support for the budget.
- And so I have one board member supportive of the budget, one not supportive of the budget. I believe
- if I understood them correctly, what they did is they motion to accept the budget, but they have, they
- wanted us to meet to discuss what was submitted. And then if there are issues, they will reopen the
- budget for discussion. So with that,
- I'm happy to talk about the budget. You all have received a copy of the budget and I am happy to answer
- questions. I think there's some questions that fit in with understanding how budget decisions are made.
- We're all aware of the fact that the county is facing a $9 million shortfall, and that the county council
- hopes to be able to provide a 3% COLA increase for all employees. And as you stated correctly, and I
- agree with completely last week, that we need to be able to pay our workers sufficiently to keep people.
- We need to maintain the people that you have on staff. We don't want them leaving for other jobs, which
- can happen if there's not enough money to provide that COLA.
- But I think before we even discuss budget, we need to make some other, we need to have other understandings.
- Like last year there were 29 polling places. Do you anticipate or does your office anticipate having
- 29 again or will that be expanded or reduced? So we absolutely anticipate having at least 29. We have
- had some offers from,
- sites in the community where they are volunteering to serve as a polling site in 2026. I don't want
- to, I just want to level set with every election is different and voter turnout is different at every
- election. And so we have a large one, a little less than large, and then a smaller one with the presidential,
- the off presidential,
- and the municipal. And so obviously the one where we typically experience the most turnout
- is our presidential. The one where fewer people are eligible to vote, so it's a little bit lower turnout,
- is municipal. And then the off presidential two years after, which is what 2026 is. So the people who
- have asked about serving as a polling site,
- I have responded and asked if Kylie and I could go and meet with them to see if it might be a polling
- site that would work well for us, that we could recommend be a voting site, but we haven't talked to
- the 29 to say, are you intending to continue to serve? Your question was about 29? Yes, I expect at
- least 29, but we also have had some other offers that I am open to.
- looking at. I raise it because it increases staffing costs when you have a lot more polling places.
- That's why I'm asking those kinds of questions. Of course it is. But what I would remind you is that
- the same number of people are eligible to vote in the off presidential as is the presidential, which
- is every single voter registered in Monroe County. And so, yes, because it's the same number of people
- to prepare for.
- But if we had more polling places, we would pay more for staffing. That is correct. They do have to
- be staffed. But then also, we haven't talked about this, whether or not there'll be early voting satellite
- locations in 2026. And I know. We've talked about it. Yeah. Because that increases costs also. It does.
- With budget constraints, I'm less inclined to think that's a good idea, just because of, you know, unless
- we did a rotating here, here, here, here, a week here, a week there, and I'm not sure that wouldn't
- make it more confusing. That would make it more confusing and we would have even more issues. So we're
- making the showers a really nice,
- they get finished with it, a nice place. I'm not sure that that won't suffice. I really have issues
- with cutting down polling sites because what's the most, what is the largest number of precincts at
- a site off the top of your head? It's six, and that would be election operations, which is the early
- voting location used on election day. I'm not advocating to cut the site. No, I'm not saying that. I'm
- saying we need this information.
- I want to make sure that people that have chosen to live out in the county aren't inconvenienced any
- more than they have to be. The lowest will be one precinct and that'll be both Burgoon and Meadowood.
- But they are small but mighty. And I think if we talked about taking away Burgoon, I think we have an
- uprising. I have no desire to take away Burgoon. If you're listening, Burgoon, thank you for your story.
- If you're going there, you're going there intentionally. Yes. Okay. And I would say, just because I've
- made that drive, the nearest polling site to Burgoon is a 15-minute drive, and that is
- Is that the Church of the Nazarene? I believe so, yes. The Church of the Nazarene. And so some of our
- Burgoon voters are older. They're longstanding members of the community. And so I would definitely agree
- with you that we should not take away Burgoon. So I went in and met with Kylie a couple of days ago
- and learned some things that I was pretty shocked about. She indicated that on election day,
- They have up to 80 people in Election Central. That is correct. Those ballots for people that have early
- voted and scanning them, which is which is a lot. Do you anticipate the same level of staffing needed
- for that and for early voting in general? I will say that on Election Day, it will be
- just a little bit less than the 80, but we had 80 in there last year and they started at 6 a.m. They
- did not end until I think it was 5 50 p.m.
- and they opened all 30,000 actually closer to 31,000 ballots to get those scanned through. The issue
- with that is that it's also taking the time of having to unfold the ballots that are inside of those
- envelopes to make sure that they even read through the scanners. So having a large number of hands helping
- with that on election day is highly important and that's one thing that I will
- stand by that we do not cut any of those and just lower it just a little bit like we did for the municipal
- election as well. And I absolutely would agree with that, Kylie. But not only would I agree with that,
- if we if we don't get as many if we didn't get as many mailed in ballots. So let's say we only got twenty
- thousand and they were done by noon. We would send them home and pay for a half day. We wouldn't pay
- for a whole day. But we don't know that. No. Until Election Day.
- I was just asking because you do have a lot of experience with these things and this is an off-year
- election and I didn't know what your experience had been so many years you've been as I said to the
- council when at budget hearings I learned a very powerful lesson in 2018 in a previous incarnation of
- the election board we we try to adjust for an uptick in
- voters, but not quite as much as a presidential.
- We learned a very powerful lesson that when we had better than expected voter turnout, I am certainly
- not going to present myself as someone who can predict the future, but I watch the news like many of
- you, and it certainly would not surprise me to have better than expected voter turnout, and so we want
- to be prepared. I would also just remind the board to really quickly, which I also said budget, this
- is a reverting fund. The election budget is a reverting fund, so the monies are put in there,
- there at every election, whatever we don't spend just goes right back to the fund. And so it's available
- for the next election cycle or it rolls over until we have an election cycle. I believe the auditor
- publicly announced that we typically do not go to the level of our budget. We advertise a little higher
- just because they won't go down. I'm sorry, they won't go up.
- they will come down and we've taken some haircuts on our budgets. But whatever we don't spend does revert
- back and that money can be used toward the next election cycle.
- I do agree with you, Nicole. At the IVRA conference, they were saying that we should prepare
- for a larger-than-expected turnout for this election. I do just want to note that I did give you guys
- a three-page packet that has, from the 2022 election, 23 election, and 24 election, the number of poll
- workers that we had, and it is separated by polling location with how much it cost for each of those
- polling locations to be ran on election day.
- For the 2022 municipal we had 250 poll workers on Election Day at the polls specifically. That's not
- including your workers that are at Election Central on Election Day. That's not counting couriers, travel
- board, any of your early voting staff. That's just the ones that were at the polls on Election Day.
- Overseas and military? Yep. They are not included in that either.
- And this doesn't include the costs of for meals either. I do have a copy of that one. I added that in.
- So if we look back at twenty twenty two for one election, it was fifty six thousand four hundred fifty
- dollars. That's including meals and training. And that's just for the general municipal in twenty two.
- So that would be doubled. So your expense for personnel to run the election, did I hear you correct?
- Fifty six thousand dollars roughly. Yeah. And so then for
- The primary and the general would be $112,900. I noticed when I was going through the budget and I do
- want to talk about a lot of several individual items in there. You have FICA included but you don't
- have costs for Medicare?
- which is 1.5%. So I believe that Kim Schell, you were on the meeting, I believe that Kim Schell explained
- that they put that money in another budget. I believe they put that in the human resources budget, but
- it is delineated for elections. That was not a choice I made. We do not touch the tens. We don't have
- to worry about it? That is what Kim Schell said. Okay, all right. See, at early voting, I know you have
- election leads,
- that for the work at the early voting site election operations and then for work at election central
- how many because they get an hourly rate how many hours per day would do each of them work. So the leads at
- early voting typically work a six hour, five to six hour shift, sometimes a little bit more. I do know
- that we have one lead at least in here if he wants to say how long his days normally ran during the
- election last year so that that can better clarify for you. But the ones at Election Central, they are
- there from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. with us. All four of them? Yep. Not just one per. No.
- All four of them are there. We have two of them, one Republican, one Democrat, that's working on military
- and overseas, and then the other two, one Republican, one Democrat, that are working on mail-out ballots
- and travel board. Sorry, I didn't think to ask you some of those things earlier. Then also you have
- some part-time people listed in here.
- many hours out of the year do they work? As you know, part-time is up to 28. It's one day less than
- full-time employees work. We have, it depends on the particular employee, so up to 28, but I would just
- remind the board that they step up as, everybody steps up all hands on deck, and so they do work more
- hours during
- early voting and election as we prepare for early voting and election. And in the same way that our
- absentee election days, in the same way that they are bipartisan, my office is bipartisan too. So there's
- a full-time Democrat, a full-time Republican, part-time Democrat, part-time Republican. Everything is
- times two. And that's at all 92 counties. That's not Monroe.
- but I guess what I wanna know is you have in here 35,000 budgeted for each of the two part-time positions.
- If somebody were working an average of 30 hours a week all across the year, so 15, 1,560 hours, that's
- why I was asking how many hours they would work. So it's not an average of 30, it's an average of 28.
- that's the max, even though you said that they work more? They can get more, they can get more, but
- it typically average, because they want time off like everyone else, and if they don't work, they don't
- get paid. Right. And so they take vacations, they have classes, you know, they get sick, they want time
- away, and so it typically averages out to that 28, but they do work more during election seasons.
- I met with Kylie and with Molly Turner King. They said for part-time people, folks are paid $17 to $20
- an hour. It's a range. Yeah. So if they are earning the $20 an hour, that would be, well, I used a higher
- number, but for the hours worked because of the extra for
- voting season, I guess I'll call it. That would still work out to about 31,200 and you've got 35,000
- budgeted for the other position if they were at 17, which is what Kylie said the one is at now. That's
- less than 26,000, but you're budgeting 35. I don't start out at the $20.
- unless I have seasoned poll workers. So you may remember Bonnie and Jack, they made at the higher end.
- So again, you don't know what projects, like right now, voter list maintenance is coming up. There's
- something to do whether or not we have elections. And so certainly I have allowed for a little bit of
- wiggle room,
- And that's what we have asked for in the past. I'm sure my part-time employees, as they get experience,
- will come back and want to renegotiate a higher wage. And Kylie and I work together to determine. I
- typically take steps, but if I have an exceptional worker, I'm not above. For example, one of my part-times,
- she had some election experience in another state.
- she could very easily justify why she should not make at the bottom of the range. And with the experience
- she's getting here, she could very easily go up to a higher wage. Sure. But I'm saying that if they
- worked an average of 30 hours a week, that takes into account extra time for some of these special things.
- If they work 30 hours a week making $20 an hour, that's $31,200. You've got it budgeted at $35. I would
- like to bring it down.
- If they worked at the $17 an hour and they worked an average of 30 hours a week across 52 weeks,
- that's $26,520. Again, you've got it budgeted at 35. I think we should have a realistic number in here.
- So keep in mind, though, I can take some of that. If I have my full-time employees who are also working extra,
- and they work more than 40 hours, they get some comp time, then they would go into overtime. And certainly
- we try to keep that overtime money down, but they are required to work election day when everybody else
- is off. And so they get some overtime hours. That is an area where I might be able to move some money
- into that line without having to go back before council and ask for additional appropriations.
- to kind of park there, to use Liz Fiddle's terms. I would take objection to the phrase park there. We
- will not have time in 2026 to go back and ask council for additional appropriations. We will be incredibly
- busy, all hands on deck. And so I would not use the term park. I would simply again remind the board
- member that any money that is in the election,
- budget. Any money that is not expended returns back to the election budget. I don't want to be penalized
- for being judicious and just making sure that we have what we need to work with. And if it's not, if
- we don't need to spend it, all the better. It goes back and it will be used for the next election.
- Thank you. Well, one of the things that Kylie educated me on, as I said earlier, was that on election day,
- You have up to 80 people in Election Central. And she explained to me why it's important to have t-shirts
- and how it makes people really, really recognizable very quickly. So if it's just going to be t-shirts
- and you only need a few new t-shirts, why is it $500? That's $100 a t-shirt. I mean, we got, so we have
- some people who worked before who had t-shirts, but now I have new,
- people, and they don't have any. I did not order shirts for myself or anything like that. That is a
- place where I might consider taking a small haircut, but they are embroidered with the election symbol
- that is going to cost more. I believe Kylie negotiated a very good deal, but we do have more people
- who will be getting t-shirts this time than
- last time. Last time, are you saying you're going to buy more than six t-shirts? Yeah, there was six
- of us last time. And so did everybody get two? No. OK. And so we each got one. And because they're going
- through that, you know, every day you want a fresh shirt, you know, you want to you don't always collection day.
- Some of the staff does use it early voting, but it was majorly used on election day, but some of the
- staff would use them during early voting. I know I did because it was easy for them to identify me.
- A lot of the poll workers don't realize which individuals are part of the election office staff and
- which ones are just poll workers or leads. I'll move on to a couple of other
- topics here. One of the items in here says voting machines custom and it's $350,000 listed. Is that
- the contract that was supposed to be 150 this year and so it shouldn't be all 350 next year? So there
- was a contract we have and all I know is the contract with Bob is how I think of it. That's how I would
- call it too. Okay. Is that the one that's
- listed for $350,000 in the, what's there, it's under what I see is line 70. Yeah, that is Bob's contract.
- And so it was signed, so how much, 130, 150? I think it's not to exceed 100,000 in the year of 2026
- and not to exceed 250,000 in the year of 2026, sorry.
- Not to exceed 100,000 in 25, not to exceed over 250,000 in 2026. So that should, 100,000 of that should
- be in this year's budget and 100,000 less for next year. So the new budget starts in December and I'm
- sure that we will have year-end bills. We certainly will pay Bob with what we have. That contract did
- not get signed until
- I believe it was May. And we didn't have those numbers, but I'm sure we're going to get some year in
- bills from Bob. The budget starts in December, not January. So there is there are some bills this year
- that I'm sure we will have to pay and then not to exceed. And I would also remind the board that Bob
- himself admitted that he does. We do not go to the top of the budget, but we
- prepare for the fact that anything could happen and where he increases, he has to have more staff or
- charge us for something.
- And we cannot, I will say this for the benefit of every single person watching, we cannot do elections
- without Bob White and his team. If I have to go back and ask for what I need to make sure that Bob is
- taken care of, I certainly will because that has made all the difference in how well Monroe County elections
- are run. Thank you.
- But the contract is for next year is not for $350,000. So why is it missing the budget? We didn't have
- that number. We didn't have Bob's number this time last year when I was budgeting. So it needs to go
- back to council to put it in this year's budget. What you budgeted for 2026 is more than 21% higher
- than what was spent in 2024. What you are budgeting for 2026 is
- than four times what was spent in 2016 and during that time CPI has risen well between then and next
- year less than 40 percent so there's a four-fold increase in the spending so and this is with this in
- 2024 you paid rent for election operation we're not even paying rent for election operations so to increase
- it by 21 percent just seems
- off the wall. I would just say not one vendor, but every vendor post pandemic when their cost increase,
- I end up paying for those costs. They passed them. And I have explained that to County council software
- and licensure increases, how much you pay people increase. We could, what I, whatever I asked for just,
- I just to be clear, we could hire a vendor to come into Monroe County and run it all.
- run elections from January 1st to December, obviously coming in for early voting in election day. That
- is substantially, they are three to four times higher than what I am saying. And again, yes, there are
- some areas where that money is higher, but it reverts back if we do not need it. But those costs are
- passed on to me and they are very real. And we are right now looking at where,
- finishing up, even in the off-election year, we've had election bills. We still pay vendors. And so
- that's what I'm trying to explain, is that the budget actually starts in December. It's not the end
- of the calendar year and the budget year. Bob is going to give us bills for the end of the year. And
- that money is there. We can start paying him to finish out this year. I don't know what that money is
- going to be.
- you know, especially if we're moving from moving everything from election central to to the showers building.
- I will also say with the House Enrolled Act 1633 we have to remember that if the vote centers are mandated
- we're going to have to have money somewhere in our budget to put towards equipment on top of having
- to ask for additional money so having the money that's in there if it's not spent with the immediate
- response that it's in the line for then that money is going to be moved in order for us to afford this
- equipment that we're going to have to buy if the vote centers are mandated.
- happen until next year and it wouldn't go into effect in the middle of it would go into effect in July
- 1st 2026 is what we've been informed. And then it would go into where in the general election of next
- year we would have to be a vote center if it is passed.
- violates current law which says you have to have the same polling places. It would be the same polling
- locations because it would be the same polling locations because if it's the 26 that the 29 that we
- have right now those same 29 would convert to vote centers. Ranchers and stuff to be able to operate
- for all 29 of those locations. So another thing that's in here and Kylie again explains some stuff to
- me that you have to have
- the number of ballots for, if you have 80,000 people registered to vote, you have to have 80,000 ballots.
- And I understand that. And there was some of the cost from 2024 for the ballots came through not until
- 2025. But you've got $100,000 listed for ballots when the total that was expended
- in 4-20-24 ballots was less than $85,000. In fact, it was less than $84,000. Why that huge jump? Did
- the cost of paper go up that much? As the vendor's costs go up, they pass them on to me. I don't know
- what the price of ballots is going to be, but it will go up. I will say generally, HART will send us
- a list of how much each thing will cost.
- in the beginning of the year so we'll probably see that about January so I know that we always anticipate
- for it to be more expensive than what it's going to be because of the fact that if we don't have the
- money there we're going to have to take the time back to go back to the council to ask for that money
- and then it puts us in a short time crunch like I had explained to you when you came and seen me on
- Tuesday that
- Like last year we were printing ballots Monday morning that had to be sent out by Saturday afternoon
- because we didn't have the state certified list of presidential candidates yet until that morning. So
- it's having that money there to not have to worry about going back to pay for it in a time crunch of
- right there in the middle of the election is the best possibility for us, but also
- As Nicole said, that money goes back into the election fund. It's not going anywhere. It will be used.
- And if it's not used, it'll be there for the next election. I just find it incredible that the cost
- of ballots would go up 20% or more than 20%. That's what it feels like. Again, I agree with you completely,
- Clerk Brown, on the fact that we need to be able to pay people
- but I find some of these things disturbing for me. And I've done budgets as part of grant applications
- a lot of different times. So 21% increase just hard for me to swallow. So one of our viewers, one of
- our regular viewers is reminding me that we did not receive a value
- excuse me, a ballot invoice until the next year for part of the ballots from the previous year. They
- were paid this year for part of last year's ballots. That's what I'm saying. I said that, that it was,
- you didn't receive the bill for it until this year for part of those stuff from last year. But altogether,
- the cost for ballots for 2024 was a little bit less than $84,000.
- when you take into account what was paid in 2024 and 2025. I just think that there are places that this
- budget could be trimmed. I appreciate the fact that it goes back into the election fund.
- But I also appreciate the fact that we may be needing to save money for new equipment. My. I certainly
- took haircuts. I met with my council liaison. We took some haircuts ahead of even going to the budget
- and we certainly where we can hold. We try to do that. I am aware of the cost as well.
- but elections matter, and I will not, and I certainly would never ask my staff to make time to go back
- and grovel for money when we need what we need to run the election. We don't know how much of the increase
- is going to be passed on, but elections are a profitable business.
- and we don't have very many election vendors, we have to pay when the bill comes due, it has to be paid.
- Could we look at a couple of haircuts? Yes. And I was certainly prepared to take a small haircut for
- shirts, because that isn't as important as, say, paying our contracts.
- I want to ensure that we have money, sufficient money that we are not running back when we are all going
- to be busy, including you, Board Member Githans, because you're required to work too on election day.
- We are all going to be busy. I will not have time to get on the council's schedule. And I appreciate
- the shortfall that the county is in, but I would say that elections are not responsible for that shortfall.
- I also, as I reminded the council,
- My office is one of the few offices that actually brings money back to the council because we collect
- child support, the federal government reimburses. So the increases that I ask for, I try never to ask
- more in increase than what I have brought back to county funds for their unrestricted use and I have
- not done so here. Thank you. Just one other question and this is a general thing about the
- contract with Bob, does he not provide the transportation that's needed to move the equipment?
- So traditionally, the clerk has paid for the trucks and his team get that. He is now carrying the insurance
- on the trucks. And so that I understand some of his contract has
- has changed, it could include the truck rental. I don't know what is going to come up if we have to
- rent more trucks than expected or whatever, but we have that money available to us. That cost has doubled
- from 2022. Have you seen gas prices this week?
- How many U-Hauls do we have? Last year we had a total of four, and if it is to be that we transfer over
- to the vote centers, we will have to have at least two more for all of the equipment that will be going
- out to the polling locations. That wouldn't be until the general hit the primary. Correct.
- Truck rental is not the gas price, sorry. Well, you have to fill them back up. The rental price, they
- have to be full when they go back. The cost of renting a truck, I'm sure, is more than it would have
- been in 2022. A double is what I'm looking at. Honestly, that wouldn't surprise me from moving kids
- around. The double, that wouldn't surprise me at all.
- That doesn't surprise me that it would double. We've had a patiently waiting comment. So I've worked
- at Election Central, and I did the job similar to Bonnie for $15 an hour. And I understand the wanting
- to reward someone for their experience. But I saw my job, and I also did poll work and so forth.
- As a service to my community, I didn't expect to get paid a lot of money. I appreciate from being a
- taxpayer that taxpayers are fatigued and they're sick of bureaucracy and just more money, more money,
- more money. Yes, our elections are important, but elections do have cause and effect.
- And I witnessed many times where there was money spent for people that weren't doing anything. So from
- my perspective, I witnessed waste. So I appreciate any kind of scrutiny on anything that is considered
- waste. And t-shirts to me is definitely waste. Thank you.
- anything here? Can you hear me? My name is Nancy Goswami. I've worked early voting and Election Day
- in various positions, and I disagree that some people do want to be paid for their time, and I think
- they should be paid appropriately. If you are okay with $15 an hour,
- That's okay, but maybe some people want to be paid more for their money for their time, and that's okay.
- I agree with the t-shirts. If you want to identify people, can you just do like a fluorescent lanyard?
- Maybe that would be a little cheaper. And I know we're just talking about a few hundred dollars. Also,
- too, I think that
- on Election Day in some places, if you have two judges, I think that perhaps you don't need a sheriff
- in addition to the two judges. Early voting, I think sometimes we do have too many people working early
- in the voting process.
- And then, of course, the later it gets in the process that we do need more workers, but I think perhaps
- cut down on early voting, poll workers early in the early voting. Also, too, just want to know with
- voting centers, would having voting centers and having printers
- at polling sites, would that lower the cost overall, you know, like eventually rather than printing
- ballots that you don't need because I see a lot of wasted ballots on election day. So thank you.
- Hello again, Chas Mottinger. I just want to say, I think that voting is really important. We don't have
- as good a voter turnout as we want all the time. It's been increasing per year. I think I'm correct
- in saying that in Monroe County, which is amazing. I think that I just want to say, you guys are, the
- clerk's office, the election board, you're all in a tough place where, yeah, you just don't know what
- these things are going to do.
- what's going to happen with the voting. But at the end of the day, I feel good as a resident and a citizen
- when I know that the county would be prepared to handle an election and to handle a lot of people. I
- understand what you're saying, Penny, with cutting down things, but also at the same time, I feel good
- knowing that Election Central and the clerk's office can get what they need if they need it. I don't think
- I think that waste can come if you cut something that's a little unnecessary and it's just saving pennies.
- It doesn't necessarily matter as much if it goes back into the budget already. There's probably some
- things to tighten up. I know for sure, sometimes sheriffs might not be a thing we need at all the locations
- for sure. I think there are probably things you could tighten up, save some costs there. But at the
- end of the day, I think that
- being an inspector, working the polls, also being a voter, I have to early vote. I wanna know that things
- have enough money, that there's enough staff. And at the end of the day, if we're giving people in our
- county money, I'm happy with that. It's been so hard. People are losing their jobs all the time. I'm
- in my 30s. Pay people $20 for sure. I want everyone to be thriving in our community. I want everyone
- to have the right to vote. I want things to work well. So at the end of the day,
- stand behind our clerk, Nicole, trying to make sure that they, her staff has an easier job. They can
- do what they need to do and not worry about money as much. It seems like if there was actual issues
- or, you know, something wrong with the budget that we did need to look at, that's another thing. It
- doesn't sound like that's what's going on. I'm sure there are things to do, but I just wanna say, I
- think you can, you're never gonna,
- appeal to everyone, right? So you have to do what's right. And I think that we could probably all agree
- on the fact that it's our right to vote is our literal right in this country. And we need to make sure
- it's efficient and it works and we all can do it. And if we're going to pay poll workers to do that,
- I say, let's do it. Let's pay our residents here. So anyway, thank you very much for your time. Thank
- you for your service. How much was each individual t-shirt?
- For the total of six of them, Nicole, I believe we spent $180, and that was almost a 50% discount from
- the company we wanted. In an organizational situation like that, when you have people who are in positions
- of making... If you can find out who they are easier, it's well worth your time.
- I'll say that a lot of the poll workers that were in Election Central on Election Day this past election
- said that it made them feel like it was very easy to identify who they could talk to about anything
- that they felt needed to be discussed. And on Election Day, when we have 90 plus people in that office
- and it starts getting cramped and we have Bob and his team in the back office scanning ballots, trying
- to get everything processed, it's easiest for them to identify. And it's not just our poll workers that
- are using those to identify us.
- It's also Bob and his team. It's voters who are coming in who have questions or concerns. It's easily
- able to identify them in a quick manner that's not trying to search for a lanyard saying, oh, this is
- this person. And I understand we have our county badges, and that is one way to identify us. But it
- is so much easier, so much quicker, and more efficient to just have the t-shirts that stand out from
- everybody else.
- You're not on mic. My point is, and I'm trying to drive this home, why am I, as a taxpayer, paying someone
- $20 an hour that can't and doesn't know how to identify the person they're supposed to go to without
- a t-shirt? A badge is fine. I don't understand why I am paying someone that if they aren't qualified
- to do this temporary position and they can't
- identify and they don't have enough training to know who they're supposed to go to without a t-shirt,
- a billboard. I mean, then maybe I need to have someone that's more qualified. This isn't a permanent
- job. This isn't you're not doing service community service to be a poll worker at election.
- to pay your cable bill. You're there to serve the community. And it's not your supplement. It's not
- what you rely on to feed your family. It is extra money. And I don't think that any taxpayer or voter
- should be held hostage with the PIRT string, with a blank check, just so that people can just extort
- from the taxpayers.
- We just want fiscal responsibility. That's it. And I was willing to do it for $15 an hour. I was happy
- to do it. I felt very qualified. I've done census work, military. I've done everything. And I was happy
- to serve my county. And I was very qualified for it. So I take issue with t-shirts and putting unqualified
- people in a position over our elections, very important.
- And they don't even deserve the money that they're getting overpaid for. That's it. I'm a little different
- than everyone. I won't get an applause. And it's going to be what no one wants to hear. But as a taxpayer,
- how I feel. Thank you. I want to let everybody on the election board know that has not been here for
- past elections.
- Every single one of the employees who are working in our office on Election Day have a lanyard on that
- has their name on it so that we can identify them. So if we all have a lanyard on that says that this
- is this person, it's harder to identify each of those people. Also, another thing is I lost that one.
- We'll go back to the public comment. Different taxpayers can disagree on whether or not
- an easy way to tell who's working there. One of the nice things about having elections in this country
- is you're allowed to have a different opinion, and I'm okay with that. A lot of people on my football
- game Friday night are not going to agree with my opinion, and that's okay. Yeah. All right. And then
- the other thing was that the poll workers that we have in there, they see us twice a year if that.
- It's hard for them to easily identify each of the individuals who are in the office, especially if there
- is a new staff. Like this year, I have three staff members who were not here for the last election.
- That's three out of the five of us. So only two of them are reoccurring from the last election. Okay.
- Go ahead, ma'am. Hi, my name is Laura Ward. I'm the chief deputy clerk in the clerk's office in Monroe County.
- And I just wanted to throw in, obviously, my two cents, because we've been through the trenches of elections.
- And I am so proud of my team. And they really have been amazing to work with. They have been on point.
- We don't agree on everything together, but that's OK. We all pull in the same direction. And I want
- to just state that. First of all, with budgets, I have a personal budget.
- I say, okay, here's an estimate, it's an art form, it's not really a science to a certain degree. So
- we need to have a little bit of wiggle room of, because you don't know what the lawmakers are gonna
- say, because they're constantly changing laws, like every, right before an election, and Kylie was even
- saying we had to wait to print out the ballots until the nth hour, and so it's like,
- No one has time to come running back in front of the council going, please, please, please, because
- it is a pain in the neck. Because then sometimes they say, ooh, we're not going to be there. We're canceling
- this. We do have emergency options. But man, that is just one more task load that we would have to think
- about. I say absolutely. Do the haircuts where you can. But just try not to hobble us, please. That's
- what we're asking.
- We have been fiscally responsible. Let's see, the cost of supplies, I was wondering, I was like, okay,
- because you had mentioned 20%, cost of supplies since 2000 have risen between 21% to 30%, depends on
- what it is. So that's very reasonable ask, if you're like, that jumps up 20%, that's very reasonable.
- I know my groceries per se have gone
- up to like 30%. I'm like, okay, so we have to have that wiggle room in our budget. So just keep that
- in mind, please. We respectfully ask as a team, as a crew who have been there, done that, will be doing
- that. Let's see. Most of the costs are in equipment, not necessarily the ballot paper. I mean, it is
- expensive, but it's the cost of
- the equipment, the printers, they are not cheap and they are not gonna get cheaper because it's just
- gonna be more and more population coming into the county. So just gotta keep that in mind too. Are poll
- workers worth every penny? Every penny. I just be, some of them are like, I don't even know how to explain
- it but when it comes down to it,
- the price you pay for quality people pays its return over and over and over again. And sometimes people
- are like, you know what? It's not a national holiday. They're taking their time off of work,
- regular work. And some of them are like, if they don't work, they don't get paid there. And yes, they
- want to do their civil servant, but we all got to pay the bills at the end of the day. So absolutely,
- I say what they earn now is 100%.
- So thank you very much for your time and consideration. Have a good day. I will point out that I didn't
- question how much people were paid. I was asking about why we're over budget from what they are being
- paid. I mean, I totally support salaries for people. I would like to see them hire. I would like to
- see them hire, too. And I would be honored to stand with you if you make that
- position with the council. Two years ago, I was the one that went before council and said, give our
- employees a 7.9% raise. And I thought that there was going to be a few people faint with that, but it
- happened. So yes, I do support that. Just for comparison, Hamilton County, their poll workers make $400
- for the day. I would say that they have a comparable cost of living to Monroe County.
- I'll also say that there is another county I can't exactly remember which county it is that is in my
- group email that we were talking earlier today, but they just had theirs set to that they have a base
- pay for their inspectors at $350 for the day and then they get paid an additional $150 for every precinct
- that they oversee. If we did that in Monroe County, we would be paying the inspector at election operations
- over $1,800 for the day.
- Any other public comment on this? Is there any just board comments? I am going to stand by the budget
- that I presented to the council last week. Certainly, you know, for some for some reason, what was intended
- to make sure that staff were easily identifiable, the T-shirts have
- that clearly there's been some resonance with the t-shirts. That is one place I'd be willing to take
- a small haircut, but they do cost. And I think a 50% discount, anybody in here who gets something on
- sale for 50% off, you think you are walking out hoping that they don't call you back and say it was
- a mistake. So I appreciate Kylie getting the 50% discount. And so they would have been double.
- And so I am willing to take a small haircut in that. But otherwise, I am very proud of the budget that
- I submitted. And I believe that it would ensure that we would not have to return to council during two
- very busy elections at which we expect better than expected voter turnout to grovel for money.
- Thank you. Anything else for the good of the order?
- I do believe that there needs to be an official vote on the budget from the election board so that it
- can be continued through the county council. Then I will move to accept a budget, to forward the budget
- as written. Second. In favor? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Okay, passes two to one.
- that handles what we need to handle. Am I correct? Does anybody else have anything you want to add?
- We were going to discuss how we take public comment, whether we're going to take it on each voting item
- or... Or all at the end? Yeah. I think that what I'm accustomed to is you don't take public comment
- on minutes. Obviously. That's something that we are responsible for. But anytime there's a motion
- but I'm accustomed to is you take public comment before a vote occurs and that you usually would make
- a motion and then the board discusses it. But that's a slight, but I would like to encourage us to take
- public comment on any vote. I don't really have an issue with that to be honest. I mean, when we have
- comment. So it's just adding a public comment to every item that is going to be taking a vote on.
- And you don't need to list it on the agenda. Correct. Yeah, I don't have any. Yeah, I can. Maybe I can
- remember to take public comment after every before we talk. I'll make myself a note. OK, OK,
- we can do that. And then the only other thing is, do we want to start doing like a public comment section
- for any items that are not on the agenda? I have no problem with the people have something that we need
- to hear about letting us hear about it.
- Do you guys want to, would you want to put that at the beginning of the meeting or the end of the meeting?
- Because right now it's just we have a public comment section. I would like to say at the beginning,
- because I don't want to make them hang around longer than they have to, but sometimes they might be
- a little bit long-winded and I don't want to keep people here that have business. So I would prefer
- it be at the end, just from the standpoint of being fair to everybody in their time. I think we also
- should specify that there's a three-minute limit.
- Absolutely, without question. Yeah, without question, yes. Mr. Cockrell, do we need to take a vote on
- that? I guess eventually I think the answer is going to be yes. I mean, I would, I guess if I don't
- normally handle these meetings, if this was a meeting I handled, I would want that all in like a resolution
- or something. So I have a piece of paper to refer back to.
- two years, four years, six years down the line, and so my suggestion is let's get it written up. Let's
- present it at the next meeting for a vote and have the vote then. That's better than me making a motion
- right now that we do that. If it's better to have a piece of paper, that's fine. That works for me.
- That's fine. I'll contact Molly and have her write up a resolution for that, and then we can present
- it at the next election board meeting. We don't have to make this rocket science. No. No.
- anything else from anyone I would entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn second those in favor
- aye opposed motion is adjourned we will see you on October 2nd