heard the bell, we wait, but I believe we'll go ahead and call the December meeting of an oral county
election board to order. First item on the agenda would be the approval of the minutes. I will make
a motion to approve the minutes from November 2025. I second and I would like to propose an amendment.
All right. In the October 23rd 2025 minutes that were approved at the at the November meeting,
It indicates that Ms. Farris indicated that the equipment needed for vote centers would not be here
in time for the primary elections. Further investigation has shown that they could be here easily within
sight of a month if we decided to go to vote centers. And I would like that added to the minutes, please,
to reflect that since it was, I believe, incorrect information in the earlier minutes.
So I reached out to Lawrence Leach to clarify ahead of this meeting, and I have not heard back from
him. It did not make sense to me that he would say one thing to the election supervisor and another
thing to you. And it's not to say that he didn't tell you what he said, but I would like for him to
put in writing exactly what he has said and then amend based on what he actually said.
or what he's actually, what he's written? Okay, but I would like for the minutes to reflect at least
what I said at the last minute meeting, and they do not. Also, it does not reflect the fact that Ms.
Ferris indicated they would be available within one to two months. I was told that they would be available
in two to three weeks, and I would like that included in the minutes. So I move that we,
Add information to the minutes indicated both what Ms. Ferris and what I indicated at the last meeting.
This is pertinent information given previous discussions. I don't know exactly where to go with this.
I'm not really sure that it's critical
information at this point, because there is still no change on our part on whether or not to go to vote
centers. So I don't have an issue with it being put into the minutes that this is what you were told
versus what Mrs. Ferris was told. I don't have an issue with that. My motion will be in a second, sir.
I'm not going to second it. I'm not going to second it. So then it will die without a second.
So with that. Can I clarify what I think is being voted on? So Clerk Brown made a motion to approve
the minutes. There was a second to prove the amendments, but then I believe entangled in that was a
motion to amend.
The vote on the motion to amend, I believe, based on conversation, fails. But then there's still the
underlying issue of, are the minutes approved? As is, without an amendment. That's where I was going
next, was for a vote on that, yes. I would throw in my second. Okay, then I will second. Those in favor,
aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye.
Okay. So the minutes are accepted. Election central update that would be. Vote central. Hey, I wanted
to give a update or less maintenance. Our team at voter registration has been working very hard on making
sure that these are all being processed. We will be receiving the third delivery of the voter
list maintenance today.
It will be a palette that will entail 30 boxes of postcards and two envelopes of postcards as well.
So from today, moving forward, we're going to be very busy with getting those processed. They do take
about generally two minutes per individual to make sure that they're put in the system, they have been
scanned in, and their information is up to date.
Once we get those completed, I will come back with a final update of the number of people who have been
moved to inactive, canceled, or stayed active and should have an updated number of registered voters
in Monroe County. Thank you. Is there any public comment on this? I see none, so we'll move on to new
business, the first being the election board's leading schedule.
So the reason that other, potentially other days rather than Thursday for the meeting would be mostly
to help Kylie with having more than just the Friday after a meeting to do the work that she needed to
do. Since we've talked about that, we see that there are issues with meetings on Wednesday. And I don't
know about,
We've talked about Tuesday as well. I do have a set list for both for all three Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday in the packets that you guys received. The Tuesday one was just drafted couple minutes before
the meeting in order for you guys to see what those days would fall on. Is this a discussion or are
you making a motion?
I'm not making a motion yet. We're right. Currently, I'm just discussing about what we're doing. So
I am just realizing today about the proposal to move the meetings up. I wanted to bring up the fact
that we move the time when another boards meeting was moved to third from Wednesdays to Thursdays, and
our voters are used to the first Thursday of every month and.
We then we move the time. So just in terms of called conferences or clerk meetings or legislative items
at the State House, those tend to be at the beginning of the week because the legislators go toward
the end of the week. And so I would propose that we leave the schedule on Thursdays. That's just my
perspective.
have a huge issue with it in any way as I mentioned if it's to make make it easier for Kylie to get
her stuff done so I would assume then that we need to a motion to which one of these calendars to take
is that correct I would recommend doing a motion to determine which calendar you would like attached
to the red resolution and I drafted a resolution setting the meeting schedule um this way
this resolution could be provided to the commissioner's office, and then the election board meetings
would be included in the annual notice for meetings. Right now, the resolution does have the Thursday
schedule at 1.30. So if you are okay with the resolution that was provided before the meeting, you could
consider a motion to adopt that as is. I will make a motion to adopt the resolution that was prepared
prior to the meeting. I'll second.
Okay, it was those of when he. Is there any public comment on it? I guess I should ask. Would you please
would you come to the mic, please? I just need to reiterate it again. What it is that you guys are approving
isn't 130 on Thursdays. That's the current motion. Yes, OK, I just wanted it. That's all I needed. Sorry,
I just that's fine.
Okay, those in favor of the first Thursday of the month, continuing, aye. Opposed? Okay, so we will
meet on the first Thursday of the month, continuing. All right, we have an election budget conversation.
I assume Ms. Kiley, that's yours as well.
Okay, so in your guys's packet at the very back, I attached a few handwritten documents that I have
been working on past couple of days got tied up during the commissioners meeting this morning so I didn't
have time to translate it over to PDFs or anything for you guys.
but I will get those transitioned over after this meeting. Those are going to be just numbers of how
many poll workers I intend to have at each of the polling locations determined on what we decide today
moving forward for election day and for early voting. Just trying to show and have an understanding
of where budget lays in
the issues of not having enough to get through the full year, but having enough to get through the primary
and how we want to proceed with that. May I ask how these numbers of workers correspond to the number
of workers in 2024?
They're slightly lower since it is a midterm, but for the general, it's going to be the same as the
presidential due to the expected high turnout that we are being informed to be prepared for. So do these
numbers are they for both primary and general combined? Yes.
And in there, I do have it also separated by primary. Once again, I will get it in a better format so
it's easier to read. Just wanted to make sure that you guys had the numbers so that you can review them
until I do have that completed. Thank you. So in layman's terms, we do not have, in my professional opinion,
the money to run the kind of primary early voting hours or general election early voting hours that
we are normally accustomed to. And so I am proposing the statute, the Indiana statute says that we only
have to have voting during the actual hours that the clerk's office is open, which is eight a.m. to four p.m.
And so
our money would stretch further to reduce those hours. It is not something that I want to do. It is
not something that, I mean, it gives me heartburn to even have to suggest it, but the fact of the matter
is, is that we do not, with the council having removed money from the election budget, we do not have
the money to run or the staffing or the overtime to run.
the kind of primary out early voting hours that we are accustomed to. I'm sure I know the answer to
this already, but you said your hours were 8 to 4. Yes, traditionally, our early voting hours have been
8 AM to 6 PM. Are you so I'm proposing the 8 AM to 4 PM, which still complies with the statute saying
that early voting hours at least have to be.
the hours that the clerk's office is open in the hours that the clerk's office operates are Monday through
Friday with the except yes eight to four with the exception of county holidays so that the Saturdays
are additional days are mandated the last two Saturdays are mandated okay which those would be seven
hours and would be the nine to four as they always have been and I'm again I know the answer to this
you couldn't have
and you maybe don't want to have, rather than an eight to four have a 10 to six. I'm sure that's probably
not acceptable on specific days. So people would have that until six o'clock when they customarily,
and I know what that means, are off of work in time to have some time after work. Because eight to four
is few people work
jobs that give them eight to four you're correct you're correct i am saying i would not have the staffing
to people people's hours their regularly scheduled hours are 8 a.m to 4 p.m and so and the statute says
you have to have early voting during the hours that the clerk's office is open this not only impacts
early voting in terms of the voters we will not be able to do evening poll worker training weekend poll
worker training many of the
accustomed to doing because the money was there. The money is no longer there. Didn't the county council
tell you on more than one occasion that you could come back and ask for additional appropriations? What
my liaisons and I spoke about is the fact that we are lucky to have jobs this year, that next year's
budget is going to be worse. The next year's budget is going to be worse than that. And so there
I did not hear anything from my liaisons that guaranteed me that the money would be there when we go
back. But it's on public record in the council meetings, at least two different times that they said,
you can come back for additional appropriations based upon how much you actually spent in the primary,
right? They have not said that directly to me. I am saying they removed the money that we had,
They did invite me to come back. I am saying that I have no reason to put no guarantees that the money
is there or will be there. Everything got cut. But we have to do in the general what we do in the primary
correct, which is why I'm proposing that that's why I'm saying that. If we try to run one that we're
accustomed to, there's no guarantee that the money would be there to do the same thing in November.
But I think that they would be compelled to because under statute, they have to meet the same hours.
Furthermore, one of the things that I have heard you say multiple times is that voters don't like change.
And in this situation, people expect to be able to vote until 6 p.m. in this county. And I think it would
that we're not going to be able to do that. I understand what the law requires but I also understand
what voters in this county are accustomed to having available to them. Okay and I understand what you're
saying I am saying. That. In the same you know the money is not there in the same way that you would
never. You could never ask a law enforcement agency stop
Their overtime was not touched. Their resources were not touched in that way. My staff leaves at four.
I have no one to supervise poll workers and staff that we hire if the office closes at four. So if the
money is not there, we have to stop at four. It impacts travel board. It impacts poll worker training.
We do not have the money to run a regular
primary in the way that we are accustomed to. Kylie, has this proposed schedule been taken to the council?
It has been given to both liaisons that we have for the clerk's office and a county commissioner. So
are we maybe a little bit ahead of where we need to be until we hear back from them? We have heard.
making a decision. We have heard back from them. I went to a PAC meeting about the hiring freeze and
how it was going to affect us. And what we were told during that PAC meeting is the years to come are
going to change. So it's best to cut services now than it is to lose employees in the future. If I may,
Mr. Chair,
I don't know that the information has been provided to full council. I have not seen an email to full
council with this. I think it's been provided to two council members, so I don't know if providing it
to full council would be a conversation starter. And in regards to the hiring freeze at the PAC meeting,
The policy that the county council passed allows for an exemption in the hiring freeze. It establishes
a process. Nothing prevents the clerk's office from asking the council to make an exemption. They didn't
make a blanket exemption, but if you submit a request prior to the primary saying we need this many
poll workers, council might have a discussion more in depth about that. So again, I go back to
Should we not take this and take what Kylie's put together with state statute as you've talked about,
send it to the entire council and say, this is what we're going to do with the money that we have. If
you want more than this, we need the dollars to be able to do that. I think it's worth the conversation
with the council. So yes.
that's what I would recommend. I think having a conversation with them. Does that work for you folks?
I mean, the conversation is certainly worth having. I feel like if it would resonate, if it were going
to resonate, we would not have lost the money in the first place. Because
everybody knows elections have to happen. Everybody knows what Monroe County is used to. And so, yes,
I spoke with my liaisons. I have no reason to believe that they would keep it a secret from their colleagues.
Do you have any thoughts on it? Well, I was in touch with my chair about this, and she felt that shortening
daily hours would disproportionately affect voters who rely on the flexibility of voting options.
such as working families, students, seniors, and those with transportation barriers. And so the position
of my chair and I also hold is that we should not cut those hours, that we should maintain what we've
been offering so that we encourage as many people as possible to vote. And we want, I know that you
also favor elections that are open and available to people.
and so I my position I would like to maintain the longer hours. I don't think anybody doesn't want to
maintain longer hours. The issue is we have to pay the people that work those longer hours and the council
has not chosen to give the money to work those longer hours. I've been into early voting at different
times where
there are more people working than there are in there to vote. And so I'm wondering about staffing levels,
whether or not it would be appropriate to for the first two weeks to perhaps reduce some of the staffing
there to help save some money. That's what I already do. The first two weeks were at a lower number.
And then the second two weeks of the full 28 days, we increase the number up to the full staffing.
Are there the times I've been down there, there's rarely a line of people waiting at all. So I'm wondering
if it's feasible, especially given what the clerk has heard about future years to perhaps reduce that
by just a little bit more. I did that with the numbers that I presented you guys today. We would normally
have more than what I have accounted for for this year.
We generally have about 12 to 14 clerks, and I have cut it down to, I believe, 10 for the general and
eight for the
Primary. So what do we need to do? I will say that having an election board that will be present at
the County Council meeting if we go before them to bring up the issues will probably be the best solution
so that they see that it's across the board, not just one individual coming to them saying we don't
have the money to do this.
Knowing that the election board all wants it to stay the way that it's always been, but we don't have
the money for it to be the way that it's always been. But also the staff in my office are constantly
working during early voting. At least two of us are there until 6pm every single night of early voting
and with the overtime hours being cut that's leaving us in the situation of
trying to figure out how we're going to balance schedules when we're very busy during that time, both
in the office and during early voting, but as well as training going on that month at the same time.
Do we surmise that the general public yet understands what you are being forced to do because of dollars?
We have a very select few people who do understand and then we have had a couple of individuals reach
out to us to ask how they can help us. So in the media sitting a couple of rows beyond, you could probably
help us with that. Yeah. This also relies on having 29 polling locations. Is that correct? There is
two setups there. There's one for having 29 polling locations and one for 22.
Myself and staff have worked the past couple of weeks on figuring out where the best numbers will be
to set 22 locations without disenfranchising anybody in the outer parts of the county, but also making
sure that we're not overcrowded on anywhere that is inside of the city.
And then there are a couple of locations that we are gonna have to look to replace, which are both on
those lists as well. One of which was Metalwood, they are having some construction that I have been
informed about that could potentially cause issues next year. So I've looked at replacing them and all
of those are on your guys's list of polling locations for next year.
There have been a number of elections where there have been zero sheriffs, both hired and trained. Can
I ask what the purpose of the sheriffs is for the general election? The purpose of the sheriff is to
keep general order in the area. It's not like police order, but just make sure that
think lines are running smoothly. And so we don't at our smaller locations. I don't recall ever having
one where we have zero sheriffs. The smaller ones we don't use. Sheriffs larger like our schools and
our churches we do just to kind of keep the lines moving and keep people who might be confused in going
on the path that they need to go on to vote efficiently.
And on the numbers that I gave you guys, I did do no sheriff's at all during the primary election and
have sheriff's at some, I believe almost all of the locations in the general again because of the feedback
that we're getting about potential higher turnout in the midterm than what we're expecting. So is it
just one sheriff per location generally?
Generally one, if it's a really large location like St. John's, that's our largest location in the county.
I think they have close to five to 6,000 people that vote there. We have two at that location. So at
22 locations, why would we need 41 sheriffs? It's again putting two sheriffs at the bigger locations
and one at the smaller locations. So you're only putting
one sheriff at three locations. The others all have to. If you've got 41 sheriffs in 22 locations. Don't
have that list with me. I'll have to. Yeah, I know I don't have that sheet with me.
can't schedule that for which you cannot pay. So the only option would seem to be visiting with the
county council with this and saying, this is what we can do with what you've given to us versus what
we've done in the past. You tell us what you want us to do and then we will make do with what you give us.
with the polling locations. I'm kinda needing an idea of which way we're gonna lean on that because
of having to reach out to these locations to make sure that they are going to move forward with continuing
to be a polling location with us next year. There is one location on there, which is the Boys and Girls
Club. They are completely new, so I just need them to fill out the survey of what we will need to bring
to that location since they have already said that they would be committed
to being with us. So that kind of moved into the next thing on the agenda was the locations. I know
we'd like to have lots of polling locations. I'd like to have one in each precinct, but we don't have
the money for that. How much do you, I'm sorry. No, you go, you're working, go ahead.
what do we save by doing 22 versus 29? Is that on here that I haven't actually went through yet?
So I see it. I see it. Yeah. Okay. That total out to the right is the total. Correct. For the whole
year. So we're talking $16,000 by going to 22. Okay. Because the same number of voters are eligible
to vote next year as was
the presidential, which is everyone. My preference would be the 29 polling locations because they are
the current voters are used to going there. When we were talking about reducing the number of polling
locations, that was because we were considering vote centers, which is not an option of which I am aware
at this time.
So again, I think that's where we are. Do we need to pick 22 or 29 today?
I don't think you have to approve a list today. I think you can provide guidance to Ms. Ferris on who
you'd like her to reach out to, whether it's 29 or 22, to see, have a conversation with them to see
if they're available, what the situation is, and then later you can approve, based on what Ms. Ferris
figures out, later you can approve the list. So you don't have to approve it today. So without looking
at it, if you have 22,
versus 29, 29, the same 22 were there, correct? Correct. We're talking about adding seven more. Well,
then I would think the best thing to do is reach out to your 22. And then we need to find out as quickly
as possible through the county council, how much money are we going to get? And then we can decide if
we need to go to 29 or get to go to 29, I think would be the term. Does that make sense to you? Does
that work?
I'll say I agree just because once we reach out to locations about being polling locations, they get
very excited and don't want to unreach out exactly. Yeah. Yeah, does that work? It's what we have.
You know. I'd like to go to Hawaii next week, but I don't have the money to do it, so you know how that
goes. It's kind of the same thing. Spacey was going to stay this cold. OK, so. Do we need a motion?
to do this? I think you could do a motion to provide Ms. Ferris that guidance. It wouldn't be a motion
to approve. So the resolution that I provided was actually approving, and I think we're not there yet.
So do we need to pass your motion?
I would propose no, do not pass the resolution passing the resolution is saying these are the polling
sites, and I don't think we're there yet. I think what I'm hearing is a proposal for a motion to provide
Miss Ferris guidance to reach out to the 20 the list of 22 and then you would have a further conversation
thereafter. That work. You want OK, OK. But I'll move that we do as we were just as Molly just said.
need to see the whole thing over again. It's on the record. Is there a second? Second. Those in favor,
aye. Aye. Opposed? Okay, motion carries. So Kylie, reach out to the 22 and then keep us informed. I
would like to know if we're going to actually meet at a county council meeting and say, hey, you know,
this is what your decisions are going to lead us to be doing.
I think to do that, procedurally, the clerk's office would have to submit a request to the county council
office, and then the council's meeting on the 9th, so obviously it wouldn't be on the 9th, but their
next council meeting is on the 16th of December. None of us will be here. None of us will be here. It's
election conference. I mean, you could do it the early January meeting of 2026.
I had to think for a minute what year it was give you enough time to do what you need to do. We do that
meeting the 26 it would give me enough time to get stuff turned around so that we're ready for the February
meeting for approval of the locations and then they'll have to be submitted to the county commissioners
for their approval. So why don't we that makes sense to me we will. We will.
visit that meeting and you said what date was that you said again? 12. The council meeting date. Yes,
the December one is. December 16th. I'm looking up currently the January meeting date since the election
board is unavailable for the 16th.
January 13th is the first council meeting of 2026 with an agenda deadline request of January 5th. So
you'd have to get your request in by the 5th of January. Oh, January. I'm sorry. I was not clear. OK.
Well, that seems to me that that pretty much is our option. All right. Thank you, both of you.
So do we need to go to the polling location discussion, or is that a kind of a new point until we find
out what we're doing? Agreed. That was you approving. OK. That was you guys approving me contacting
the 22. OK. Training schedule, then, would be next. So training schedule is, again, another conversation
to start for now and then move forward. It's probably going to tie into the
council meeting because of weekends and nights we would not be able to hold those training sessions
which are the ones that always fill up the first because it's convenient for all of our poll workers
so that'll just be tied into the conversation with the county council probably travel board as well
correct Kylie yeah so it'll essentially be all election
that you're going to put together for the- to present to the county council could you actually. Detail
out over time just for training as opposed to some of the other over time. In case they want to.
because I think it will hurt recruiting and training if we can't provide the training that has been
done in the past. I also will say that the training we're looking at having to do a reduction on number.
I'm not the training the recruiting. We're looking at having to do a reduction of days for the recruiters
to do their jobs for the election day process because the money is not there for that as well.
Is there any discussion on any of any public comment on what we've dealt with so far? I think the next
one kind of changes. Okay, then CFA for filings. I saw a list of that we're missing.
next is the CFA for filings. We have a few we've been doing some cleanup in our office to make sure
that we're ready to go for January and to get ready for the next election. We have found that we have
a few individuals who have not filed a CFA for and then we also have the last we have three on this
list as well who
need to close their committees because they either did not succeed in the last election or they did
not actually end up being in the election. So they just need to close out their campaign finances that
a way that they can move forward. I just need clarification from you guys that it's okay to contact
these individuals to let them know that these are the documents were missing and then
that a way they can get them submitted to us. Since some of these were found later on, I would suggest
that we just not worry about the finding process for them and just ask them to get us an updated copy
of their campaign finances. No reason not to just have you do that. I don't know if that has to be passed.
Yeah, I'll need to just do that. Yeah, I'll just need a motion for you guys to for me to reach out to them.
what you need to do to clean these up. I'll make a motion for the election supervisor to reach out to
the named parties regarding their CFA force. A second. Those in favor aye. Mr. Cassidy actually withdrew
from the race, correct?
No, so it was passed the deadline for him to withdraw, so he was removed. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Sorry.
That was all. Okay. So, okay. No, that wasn't it. Yeah. Where we are. Aye. Opposed? Okay. Reach out
to those people. Perfect. Okay. Blue Dag update.
Blue dog update. The contract was approved this morning at the commissioners meeting, so we will be
moving forward with them. We're just waiting on some conversation between county legal and city legal
to make sure that we're getting all of the partnership information down and will be good. Molly is still
working on that with them. So once that is signed, then we'll be good to go and start working on the
surveys at the polling locations once we have the set locations. Thank you.
and the vote center update is what do we have anything for that. The vote center update is from the
conversation that was brought up during the October meeting and coming back to it for the December meeting
because we had postponed it. So
With regard to the vote centers, both you and Mr. Grass, the Republican chair, said that you didn't
take the Republican Party was being treated fairly. That was part of your rationale for voting against
the vote centers. And one of them was that you were unhappy about an appointment to
City board you said that it was the county the City Council wasn't City Council was the mayor that that
was delayed in that, but also you were unhappy about delayed appointment to the health board. And. I
know personally that I was out trying to recruit people at the time, but also the state.
The Republican dominated state legislature passed legislation that indicated that in counties the size
of Monroe that we had to have one of the appointees be provided well that the mayor was to provide three
nominees for an appointment for the commissioners to choose from. It took a long time and more than one
Request to get the even just one nominee. And so again, it was the mayor a single individual who delayed
that appointment It was it was not Monroe County government it was not the Monroe County Democratic
Party and so I feel that saying something like these delays in these two appointments is it's actually
pretty petty and
and it's not relevant to providing safe and secure elections here in Monroe County. And I would ask
too that had these positions been filled in a way that you were complaining about, would you then be
in favor of vote centers? I personally am not in favor of the concept of vote centers period, but I'm
responding and voting based upon the direction I get from my chair and the leadership in the party.
So I'm not necessarily personally in favor of early voting, but I understand where that is. I'm a precinct
day of the election person, but I don't make those decisions. But I think it was made very plain in
a meeting in Kylie's office that the direction that our chair is giving us is that we are currently
not interested in vote center.
So, there's no point in having if you want to have a hearing, you're welcome to have people in, I'm
not attending. Our people are not attending. So we're just kind of. I hate to waste time so that's where
we are with. So have you read the.
analysis of municipal election time and the use of vote centers in indiana that was produced by the
secretary today so the answer is no i haven't read it yet okay well the letter from the secretary of
state that is part of the preface is dated october the 31st and in the part that deals with the use
of vote centers beginning on page one
that says, numerous studies on vote centers and election costs have shown consistent findings of savings
in the cost to administer vote center elections over precinct based models. And precinct based voting
on election day has been found to both increasingly be expensive, both in terms of cost and the labor
that's involved. They were not able to analyze the
equipment that was needed but in Monroe County because of the way that we do our voting it would require
fewer scanners perhaps even though it would require more printers so that there would be an offset with
that. They compared counties within Indiana that had switched both the general between 2016 and 2024
they had to omit 2020 because of COVID in their analysis and then they also compared
the midterm elections between twenty eighteen and twenty twenty two. And on page thirty two they say
the counties that switched from precinct based polling locations in twenty sixteen. In the twenty sixteen
presidential
election to vote centers in 2024, quote, utilized approximately 19% fewer poll workers in 2024 than
in counties that remain precinct based. And I think this speaks to the costs that we're talking about
and perhaps we would get better cooperation from the county council if we were to go to vote centers
on what the costs are. And then for
counties that switched between 2018 and 2022, the midterm elections. They said, quote, when considering
precinct based counties as a control group, counties that transition from a precinct based model to
a vote center model utilized approximately 22% fewer poll workers in 2022 than the counties that remain
precinct based. It goes on to talk about the cost differential and it's about $12,000 per
county per year. And they said that these findings are basically because reduced staffing which would
make sense. It also they also talked about the cost per vote. They said in twenty twenty four vote center
counties spent approximately four dollars and eighty cents per voter compared to six dollars and eighty
four cents per vote for precinct based counties. So that those vote center counties spent over two dollars
less per vote than
what the precinct-based counties are costing. So they said that the summary says after examining multiple
factors influencing the cost of an election administration, the findings align closely with existing
research. Vote center counties generally demonstrate greater efficiency than precinct-based counties,
particularly in staffing.
By operating fewer locations, vote center counties are able to conduct elections with fewer poll workers,
especially on election day. While the analysis of equipment-related savings was inconclusive, discussions
with county election officials indicate that most counties deploy comparable amounts of equipment usage
regardless of voting model. Therefore, the most notable cost savings are associated with reduced poll
worker pay, as vote center counties require fewer personnel to operate effectively.
And when examining turnout, there is little evidence to suggest that vote centers made a major contribution
to any increase in turnout during the time period study. So I still question your reluctance to go to
vote centers. They provide convenience, they provide cost savings, and they help with recruiting because
we don't need as many people
in those different operations. So again, I am in favor of vote centers, and I don't see why there is
a reluctance to move to them. Thank you. I'll pass it on to my chair. Would you please ask him also
if there had not been those other two minor conveniences? This is not the place to get into the- Well,
you talked about him doing something at a private meeting, not in a public meeting. Excuse me?
You talked about him meeting with Kylie Farris in the election office. That's not a public meeting.
He was requested to come to that meeting, which he did. Fine. It's not a public meeting what he said
there. Again, thank you. Showers project.
Good afternoon board members. Richard Crider, Monroe County Building and Fleet Department here to give
you an update on the renovations at Showers North for Election Central. Everything's going on as scheduled.
If you're ever in the area here soon, I encourage you to step inside and just have a peek in the window.
I think you're going to be blown away at the size of this place. I brought some some slides. Thank you, TSD.
If you notice in this image right here, this is the main entrance of showers. You used to be able to
turn left right there and go ahead and down the hallway, and it's been walled off now. That's the first
wall to go up. Next slide, please. All right, that's from the west side. And it just doesn't really do
Justice this the size of this place, but I kind of wanted you to see that next slide, please All right,
this is uh What am I looking at here? This is kind of if you're standing in the future voters reg office
next slide Just another angle
I believe right there, you're going to be, that's the maintenance area. That's Bob's area. Bob, if you're
online here, it's 11 feet from floor to the joists up above. It's spacious. Next slide. I just wanted
to kind of see what it looked like above all that ceiling tile that's been pulled away.
Those are the old floor joists and big support beam, thick lumber. Next slide. All right, that's again,
that's another view of if you were standing inside of early voting and looking over to what will be
voters registration in the future. I think that's the last slide I have.
Do you have any questions? I did have the opportunity for other business to go over to the north side
of showers yesterday. And I could see through the window the incredible amount of work that is being
done. And so kudos for everything that you're doing to expedite the project. It will be really nice
to have everything in one building. That will be a good thing.
Yeah, I agree. Schedule okay still? Schedule's fine. Okay. Because Kylie kind of has a bit of a problem
in her office now with flooding and... Yes, that's unfortunate. We had a hot water heater break at the
Johnson Hardware Building and it's just kind of thrown some wrenches and things. Yes. It's starting
to look a little normal in there again. So we don't need an update for...
It's looking normal. I will say that there's going to be some work that needs to be done just to get
everything back in place. Me and Kreider had a decently long conversation yesterday to kind of get some
ideas of where we're going to go from here. And it's going to be a lot of hours of trying to get stuff
done while also working on this voterless maintenance shipment that's being delivered today. And then
coming into the new year, ready to go.
for January 7th for candidate filing. So the sorry, you're fine. So as fast as we're moving a showers,
Johnson is moving like molasses right now. But when you get into something like that, you have insurance
companies and all types of things that you have to work with. So. That's that. At that. As long as she
can do what she needs to do down there,
staff that's works for us. Will this actually increase the size of the election office square footage?
I think it'll be a little bit lower than what we had combining early voting and voter registration but
it's getting close to right around the same size. It'll be definitely a lot better to have everything
in one place though because we'll also have training just right upstairs.
Yeah, I think there's a deep little decrease in office size, but there's increases in certain other
areas, you know, so I think it all balances out. Very thoughtful design. Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you, Richard. Thanks. Having nothing else, I think I will open to public comment.
So should I be signing this since this is the new little sign-up sheet? Yes. Yes, please. OK. I'm going
to do that after I'm finished with this. So my name is Cheryl Langdon. And I prepared a three-minute
comment. Every month since Charlie Kirk's murder, I have put aside a prepared statement because of the
constant disruption of our constitutional right to domestic tranquility being violated by the Democratic Party.
In the preamble of our Constitution, those two words have been the cornerstone for our Republic's stability.
The words, domestic tranquility, have been the key to our unity and sovereignty. And today, I'm putting
the common aside to remind everyone listening here that the Democratic Party continues to commit treason
against our nation, very similar to the time of civil disobedience during the Civil War.
No other time in our history has a party openly committed such treasons that we have been able to witness
it with our own two eyes and experience it until now. Joe Biden acted as a tyrannical king, and he is
the first president in American history to willingly leave our nation's borders unsecured by openly
allowing an invasion of anti-American foreign terrorists onto American soil with the help of his party.
overthrowing Americans' constitutional rights to domestic tranquility. He and the Democratic Party allowed
an invasion of foreign enemies to invade by air, land, sea, and by technological communications weaponizing
the internet against the American people. It was a full assault. A witness testified during the House
Committee oversight accountability hearing, and I quote,
President Biden is the first president to ever unsecure a border on purpose." The Democrats deliberately
committed treason against our nation's sovereignty, and every person hearing my words here today who
voted for Kamala Harris at the last November's election
are also complicit in this treasonous crime against our nation's sovereignty and our republic's election
processes. Even Bernie Sanders admitted in an interview that Biden did everything he could to avoid
securing our nation's borders. I support redistricting as an option to counter the damage created by
the treasonous Democratic Party. I furthermore call for tribunals with a complete investigation into
every person in and outside Biden's administration to be held accountable
and I call for a ban of the Democratic Party from any participation in our future elections. The disillusion
of a major political party has not occurred since Andrew Jackson's faction breaking away from the Democrat
Repub Party that today is formed as the Democrat Party. Also, the disruption of the Great Depression
and New Deal under FDR creating a political shift transforming the Democratic Party into the party of big
government. It's time to tell the Democrats to lead the political stage in the United States. It's our
constitutional right to ensure our domestic tranquility. Thank you.
Hi, I'm Ralph Shaw from the League of Women Voters. And after seeing those rather impressive pictures
of how much space the new voting center services will have, I just wondered, will there be noise suppression
in some way? The old voting operations was noisy, let's say. So can you say anything about how the space
will be used
finished. Thanks. I'm not completely sure on how it will be, but I do know that they are going to be
reinstalling the ceilings. So I think that'll help quite a bit with the noise since Napa was such a
large space that had the tall ceilings, everything just bounced off of the walls and it got very loud
in there. But
We did allocate for a larger office space for the voter registration clerk that will be there. So if
there is an individual who needs to step in to have a ballot read to them or just an instance that they
need it to be a little bit more quiet, they can easily step in there, close the door behind them. Also
that space will be used for any voters that need help with say their registration isn't showing up in
the poll books, then they'll go in there as well.
And for the one-on-one with people checking in people on the e-poll books, that will also be noise will
be less echoey. So there actually will be a wall there that will help with subsiding the noise. So it'll
kind of be in a smaller area there, and then it will open up to the actual voting booth areas. And then
the scanners will be down to the far end. Thank you. You're welcome.
Ceiling tiles will be much better than a metal roof with a bouncing back. Yes. I'm totally with you.
That's a good thing. Anyone else? Then I would entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second.