- All right, it's 1.30. I will call the March 5th, 2026 meeting of the rural county election board to
- order. We don't have on our agenda the minutes. We do have the minutes, so I'm just going to entertain
- a motion to accept the minutes that we have. So moved. Second. Okay, those in favor, aye. Can I? Oh,
- yes, sure, go ahead.
- Are these for the minutes for all three meetings in February? Yes. Okay. Chrissy Gales' first name is
- misspelled. It's C-H-R-I-S-S-I-E as a correction. And I would like to see attached to the resolution
- the number of polling places and early voting hours from the minutes for
- February 17th. It says it was included, but it was not attached to what was sent out to us.
- And then also, this is just, I'm not trying to re-raise an issue, but from the meeting of February 24th,
- 2026, in the office, they altered a Can 12 form of a candidate. And I was surprised to hear that because
- at our training that we all attended in December, we were told that
- a candidate cannot go in and change. So I was in contact with the Indiana election division and it is
- not allowed to, for anyone in any circumstance to change a form that has been filed in this situation
- where someone signs an oath so that they are not to have changes in the clerk's office on any forms
- even after the candidate has signed the form.
- So I realize that that may have been a policy in the past, but I want to ensure that going forward that
- that does not get repeated. And then also Matt did say that, of course, if there's time before the filing
- deadlines and you notice a mistake, you can always call or contact the candidate and ask them to come
- in and file an amended form. How many, and I know this is day to day, how many
- What filings do you get in a day regularly? It can vary from about 10 to about 25, 30. Again, I figured
- it was different every day. So it might just be best practice from this point on as to maybe have a
- staff member before it's accepted, look it over. Yeah.
- We have kind of talked about this in the office a little bit, but I am looking at creating a different
- policy than what we currently have for in the office of how we're going to handle the candidate filings.
- And instead of it just going through one person, it will have a first check and then a second check.
- And both of those individuals who check them have to initial. That would be before the candidate leaves
- your office. Correct. I mean, I realize when it's
- recent committee persons and there's a lot of names there. Yeah. But I understand and I understand both
- points on this. I just don't want fraud to be committed. I don't think anybody. There was no fraud.
- There was no fraud. According to a lawyer I spoke with that constitutes fraud. But it has happened
- What happened has happened in the past. Yeah, so in the past it has been handled that if an individual
- forgets a piece of information and it's generally a simple piece of information, not a, like for this
- instance it was a name. They forgot to put their name on it, but we had the rest of their candidate
- filings with those and had their signature on it, so it was added. Should have had an initial next to
- it in the past. That's how it has been handled.
- Also it has been that we will call the candidate sometimes if they leave off a piece of information
- and they will tell us to make the change and then we would just initial next to it. Those are both things
- that have been done in the past and then we had brought up during that last meeting that if we want
- to set a new policy I think it would be best to come from the election board to set that policy and
- then we can move forward with that. That way we have a set change and it can be ran from here on out.
- I don't want to make it any harder than it has to be, but I want to make sure that there are no questions
- when it's done. Correct. Okay. And I think even you last week time suggested a checklist, which I think
- would be a good idea. Yeah. Yeah. Because when you're doing a bunch of paperwork, you can skip things
- very easily. All right.
- I guess the question would be, do we want to accept the minutes with the changes, with the addendum,
- I guess? Does that work? It works. I'll motion to accept the amended minutes. I'll second that. So again,
- those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? All right. So now the clerk's update, I believe, with the legislative,
- which is. All righty.
- Um, on the house side, I wanted to give you an update that house bill 1342, which was the commissioner
- district bill. It was turned into a summer study committee, uh, house bill 10 55, which was about moving
- municipal elections to even numbered years. That bill died. So that is on the house side on the Senate side.
- Some have been signed by the speaker. Some have been signed by the governor. The ones that were not
- signed by the governor will automatically become law within seven days, and that seventh day is tomorrow.
- So Senate Bill 12, which is the prohibition of ranked choice voting in Indiana, that has been signed
- by the governor. Senate Bill 112, which was within that bill,
- If an individual files a notice of withdrawal and that is an address that is different than the address
- on the individual's voter registration record, then the signature on the notice of that withdrawal
- constitutes a request to the county voter registration office that the address on the individual's voter
- registration record is the same as the address on the notice of withdrawal.
- You can use that withdrawal form to update the address is essentially what the bill is and it has been
- signed by the governor. Senate bill 113. This is the one where there ended up being some compromise.
- The original intent of the bill was to say that
- We had to hold election material for 60 months instead of the required 22. It was moved to 34 months.
- And the last action was signed by the speaker. But again, if the governor hasn't signed it by tomorrow,
- then it will become law automatically. And that is all I have for the legislative update. Thank you.
- What happened to the 16 days?
- I was led to believe it. I think there was a significant amount of bipartisan pushback. I was surprised
- when I didn't see because of how much we've been told it was just going to go through, but whatever
- on that. Election central update.
- So in your guys's packets, you guys will have the early voting staffing numbers and the Election Day
- staffing numbers. Those are both in there. For early voting, I have it set by a schedule for each day
- during all of the days of early voting that will have a number of how many people will be working. And
- it will increase throughout the month. But we also do want to make sure that if there is
- a chance of us having a bigger turnout than expected, then we need to be able to increase that. So I
- have talked with Bob White on going ahead and setting up early voting at full capacity. So we'll have
- 10 poll books, six print devices, and five checkouts set up in case if they are needed at any point
- during early voting. That way, we're not having to try to set up equipment overnight, and it takes
- a good amount of time to get that set up. I want to make sure that we're making it as easy as possible
- and making it as smooth as possible for the early voting session. And then also for election day, I
- have those numbers in there for you guys. I have election day for primary and general. That is leaving
- us with backup poll books. And if we do decide after the early voting, if we need to increase some of
- the locations for workers, then we can do that as well.
- need to take any action on this? Not necessarily. It's more so for your guys' information so you guys
- can see what we're looking at. I've also already sent these to both party chairs, and they have them
- in their possession as well. Go ahead. Yeah, go ahead. So if I understand this spreadsheet correctly,
- right now you're not proposing to have any sheriffs for the primary? For the primary, correct. Okay,
- just wanted to verify. Thank you.
- and let's go to total registered voters data. All right. So as of today, we are currently sitting at
- 75,081 active registered voters, 14,659 inactive.
- bringing us to a total of 89,740 registered voters in Monroe County. On this information, I wanted to
- bring this up because we will be getting ready to print out postcards and sending those out in the mail
- with everybody's updated information for their polling location based on the 28 polling locations and
- reassigning precincts.
- And then the upcoming important dates. Today we actually had the review of the ballots. We had a number
- of 32 individuals come to check those. That is the most since I've been in this position and working
- in Election Central that we've had come to the review of the ballots. It was great to be in the new
- space so people can get to see what it looks like and to see how things are gonna be set up.
- Also, another important day is going to be the test of the ballots. So since we had the review of the
- ballots today, I will be sending out the certified list to the HART group, and they will make a couple
- of changes that we had. And after that, then they will continue to program everything, getting all of
- it set up, and then they will send us the V drives. Once we receive those V drives, we'll be able to
- set the date for the
- public test right now we're looking at possibly Thursday and that will be at 930 a.m. Which Thursday?
- This coming Thursday. Today's Thursday? A week from today. Okay, thank you. If someone has never gone
- to look at how many ballots and different things you have there that's honestly that's pretty impressive
- that you guys have that much stuff laid out like that and gee you miss somebody mistyped a name I mean
- Yeah, so there was 204 ballot styles. We had a couple of typos, and then we had one, no, two spots where
- a race somehow got backed off. When we went back and looked at our drafts that were sent out,
- they are there, so it's just, we have to contact Hart and let them know that one of them got dropped
- off when they were creating the PDFs, which the individual who we work with, she's amazing.
- She's very quick and very responsive. It happens. She is taking care of all of Indiana by herself. So
- we're constantly back and forth in communication with her, and she does a great job. That's what the
- point of the review is to make sure that everything is up to date and that we are good to roll.
- Thank you. Mr. Kreider, would you like to come tell us about your wonderful work in there?
- It's been a couple weeks since I've been there and it was like, oh, wow. Good afternoon, Richard Crider,
- Monroe County Building and Fleet Department. Yes, it's progressing. The last several weeks, I go in
- there almost daily to take pictures, to update folks, to realize the very next day
- pictures that I took the day before are old news. I mean, they really are speeding along. Aiden, can
- you please show the photos that I sent? I do have some photos. Well, okay. Oh, all right, okay.
- So here is the new early voting space. This is the view from the west end of the room. I really enjoy
- the old brick wall from the showers factory. I think that's a neat feature. Next photo, please. Okay,
- this is the
- The same room from the east view, if you were coming in off the east side of the building. Next photo.
- This is the open office space.
- I love it, the carpet, the big dry erase board, the windows. However, I do regret that I did not get
- in this photo the blackout shades. They're custom, they're installed kind of up under there and they're
- custom to each window there. And they do what they're designed to do. Next photo, please.
- This is the reception workspace just inside of voters registration. Built-in cabinetry. Next photo.
- This is the lobby to the future voters registration space. I want to point out on this particular photo
- You'll notice the large opening there. We actually have in the works, it's two, they're basically, they're
- called ticket windows. It's pretty simple. But they're prefabricated and our team's going to install
- those in that opening when they arrive next photo. And I have more information on those if anybody would
- like that.
- And this is the future entrance to voters registration. This is the entrance just at the main entrance
- of the building on the left. And I think that wraps it up for the photos. I have some notes that I'd
- like to relay. I've had several people ask recently about a delivery date or a completion date.
- So I wanted to give a quick status update. This week we completed the building inspection and it passed.
- We also completed the fire inspection. It also passed. The occupancy number has been officially determined
- by the fire marshal. That's an important milestone in this project. And it gave us the ability to host
- this morning's event. The punch list with the architect and contractor happened yesterday.
- Early voting area that space is it's very close to completion We're actually just a few doorknobs away
- from getting that finished up And based on where things stand today. I think we're comfortably on track
- for the April 7th target date Some current things happening the ballot room shelving is being installed
- today Contractors are working through
- HVAC components, electronics, access controls, and other punch list items. My next focus is preparing
- the absentee ballot work area and the new space so staff can begin occupying it and then completing
- the maintenance room so it can be turned over for operational use, maintenance slash IT. Furniture,
- the early voting order for tables and chairs has been placed.
- The next goal is to finalize the voter's registration area furniture order. And then right now, any
- furniture that you see in the new space that will be used, it's temporary until our forever furniture
- arrives. And in closing, overall, the project is moving well. The inspections are behind us. And we're
- focusing on the finishing details and preparing for operational areas.
- Thank you. It is a substantial upgrade. And we were talking actually from a little before the meeting
- how much we appreciate that pretty new shiny, but the brick walls and stuff and the old with it from
- the factory. So nice work as far as I'm concerned. When I started with the county in 2004, basically
- everything voting was down and like the bottom of the justice building. And it's really come a long
- way over the years.
- It looks really, really, really good. Thank you very much. Yes, thank you for all your hard work and
- you have been meeting with us regularly to keep us posted and I'm so incredibly grateful for that. I
- kind of just want to mention there are some glitches not to do with you, but glitches that
- could translate to the voting public. One of them is the phones. As I understand it, we have one phone
- line. So we have updated the county website to add a second number, but those phones, the two lines
- that we have, if a second caller comes in, they do get pushed to voicemail. So we're still working through
- those kinks, but me and Richard have been working together on trying to come up with some solutions
- for that. So and so right now,
- My recollection is I called 2612 and it is not operable. Correct. But so we're working on getting ABS
- up downstairs where phones will be able to be connected and they'll also have their computers connected
- to Internet as well. Once they are down there that line will then be operable again. But and that will
- be. Hopefully Monday. OK.
- And so I would just encourage voters who have questions to pack their patients You know in terms of
- the calls rolling over into voicemail. Nobody likes to get that But that's where we are and there's
- nothing that we can be doing differently Correct, correct Will that be true for Election Day also because
- of the information that's in the training packets and
- Yeah, so the numbers that we have put into the training packets, we added the second line, the 2692
- into the training packets. And then since the ABS line, the 2612 will be set up downstairs, those will
- also be active, which are also in the training packet. All three of the numbers that are listed will
- be active by election. Yeah. Okay. Thank you.
- It looks phenomenal. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Go fix some more. Thank you, Richard. All right. Poll
- location update.
- I've got poll location. Oh, that's right. Sorry. The order doesn't matter, but I've got that. Yeah,
- I know. OK, so the poll location update we have heard back from all 28 locations. They have agreed to
- be a polling location. And so from here, I just need to receive approval from you guys to go to the
- county commissioners for them to review these this list of polling locations. Motion to approve. Second.
- In favor, aye. Aye. Opposed?
- Okay, thank you. It's nice that they're all there. Now let's do a post-election audit conversation.
- We talked about it. I assume we're just at a point where we have a motion to adopt. I believe we stopped,
- yes, since the post-election audit. So is there a motion to accept that resolution? Motion made. Second?
- Okay. Any discussion?
- I will have that for you guys to sign after the meeting. We can do that. So those in favor, aye. Aye.
- Opposed, no. Motion carries. All right. Now some new business. CFA fours. I still have some
- So I gave you guys an updated list just before the meeting had started. There are some handwritten N1s
- on there of individuals who have filed yesterday and today. Those. So on those, the ones that are gonna
- be on the top portion of that
- and including the three whose names have been added. Well, sorry, I should say the first two on the
- bottom section who have been added to that filed list will receive a letter of a first warning. I need
- to receive approval on that for those letters to go out to those individuals. And I want to break this
- down that a way it's easier for us to understand if that's OK. Oh, go ahead. OK, so all of those individuals, they have
- missed one, this is their first late filing, so they would just be receiving a warning due to the policy.
- And then the ones that are on the bottom portion, besides our very last candidate on there, they will
- all be receiving a second letter saying that they have still not filed. And then for that last candidate,
- this was their second late filing, so it could be 50% of the maximum cost.
- I just need the election board to determine whether they want to move forward with issuing the fine
- or not. Can I ask a question before we get to that? Yeah, go ahead. On the second notice letter and
- call names, we have two individuals on there who are unfortunately deceased. Yep.
- law with regard to their filing. That was precisely my thought as well when I read that, so. So normally
- it would be the trust, sorry, the treasurer of their committee would be the ones that need to close
- their committee. If they are, if they did not have a treasurer, if they were their own treasurer, then
- we have been informed that it should be a relative of that individual to close out the committee, especially
- if there are funds still in the committee.
- looks like she's thinking, so we're listening. I was just inquiring who the notice went to. If it is
- the treasurer or the relative, was that person provided the notice? So it went to both the treasurer
- that was listed if they had one and then to the candidate themselves. The candidate's deceased. Yes.
- Did the notice
- that went to the treasurer and or the family member say that despite the unfortunate circumstances we
- still have to get this filed. So we have a regular generated letter and that's why I want to move forward
- with making the phone calls now so that a way we can contact somebody else that will be in correspondence
- with this individual so that we can move forward and actually be able to take an action on this.
- And I have no desire whatsoever to pound on somebody. No. We also need to get it cleaned up. Yeah. So
- you're going to make phone calls to the, okay. And I will motion to authorize the election supervisor
- to make the phone calls. Second. Okay. Any discussion? Will they also then, since the relative, will
- they need to receive a letter
- because they may or may not have gotten it. It may have gone back to sender as deceased. So, yeah. But
- that should come back to your office. Yeah, so for these two individuals, one came back and said had
- returned to sender. The second one did not come back, and we have not received the notice that it was
- picked up either yet. Well, the phone calls, I think, would be the way to go.
- and we'll deal from there if we have to. Anyone else have any comments on that? Mr. Chair, I do notice
- someone in the audience whose name is on the second notice. I'm not going to out them, but I assume
- that they showed up because they might want to address the board. If that's the case, please
- I am here to address the board, but I'm not here on a second notice. Can I address the board at this
- time? You weren't the person to whom I was referring. I just want to clarify. Thank you to the election
- board for the opportunity to be able to address you today. My name is April Wilson, and I do have some
- exhibits for you. I'm not sure how you'd like me to present them. Okay.
- I'm ready to proceed whenever you're ready to let me. I just wanted to- I'm ready to let you. Thank you.
- to start with my first exhibit. So I recently received a certified letter to my home alleging that I
- had a delinquent campaign finance report, specifically also identifying this hearing as March 5th at
- 1.30. And it says in part, a hearing is called to determine whether the committee has violated Indiana
- campaign finance laws by filing a late or having a missing 2025 annual campaign finance report.
- and if so, whether the imposition of a civil penalty pursuant to IC 39417 is appropriate under
- the circumstances. That is a selection of that notification. I did send an email to this honorable body
- on March 1st. I have included that as my second exhibit. That was addressed to Honorable Clerk Brown.
- I did CC election board member Giffins and election board member Shields.
- In addition, I see Seed Election Supervisor Kylie Farris.
- that email if I could just read it into the record. Honorable Clerk Brown, I'm in receipt of a notice
- of hearing for March 5th, 2026, alleging a delinquent campaign finance report for January 21st, 2026.
- I will be sure to be in attendance. Following the law is very important to me. Could you share with
- me which rule or statute is the basis for the notice? I think there may be a misunderstanding. As I
- disbanded my committee in 2023, please see attached.
- Attached to that email was actually my CFA4, which shows that I disbanded my committee. I have provided
- that as well as an exhibit to this election division. I did not receive any response to that email as
- of Tuesday at noon, and so I did stop by the election division, and election supervisor Kylie Farris
- was kind enough to speak with me.
- In the course of that conversation, she confirmed the paper file that the Election Division has, shows
- that my committee was disbanded and that it would be addressed today. I actually, the document you have
- in front of you, the CFA, was on the county website, so I know it's also in the Election Division's
- electronic filing system. I guess I wanted to approach the board today because,
- one, to address this issue with you. But also when election supervisor Ferris was talking about the
- list, I don't know what the list is. I didn't hear that my name was withdrawn and that that allegation
- was withdrawn. So all I heard is that there would be warnings. I don't know which ones. None of those
- should be applicable to me because I think there's been a misunderstanding on the election division's
- part. And I was just hopeful that that allegation could be withdrawn against me at this time. So she
- has been pulled off of that list.
- This was one of the situations where Clerk Brown remember when we had started revamping all of the CFA-4
- filings and we created a new record list in order for us to keep track of when people are filing and
- how many times that they have filed late. This is one of those where hers was found later at a different
- time and we had been updating the online versions. We had then scanned in hers after the list had been
- created. That would be the misunderstanding.
- And your name is not on the list that we were we were correct. OK, sorry. And I hadn't heard the allegation
- formally withdrawn, so I wanted to make sure that that we are all clear that this is not a mistake on
- my part. Miss Wilson, I will say I did not respond because I did not want to be. Upgraded for communicating
- with the other since you had had addressed it to all of us, I didn't want to be upgraded.
- for responding as though I were communicating with the other election board members so I'm only speaking
- for me. I'm one of three but that's why you didn't receive a response from me. Same for me. My mind
- as well when we saw that. And then I want to add to that also. I reached out to TSD yesterday. We are
- noticing that in our election email but then also in my email if there is an email that is not a regular
- email address that we're
- communicating back and forth with daily or at least semi close to being pretty much daily.
- The documents are not being attached to their emails and they're also being sent to quarantine. And
- so the more not seeing those emails in our office, we have quite a few that are in our election email
- that are currently being looked at to try to get those attachments that were sent with them back to
- us. And then TSD has been informed on that. They made some changes yesterday and we're hopeful that
- it's going to help with that. I thought I saw emails about that today.
- And I don't know anything about anything when it comes to tech, but I'm assuming this is like the white
- listing to make it so that it doesn't go to quarantine. I'm thinking it's some of that, but it's hard
- for us to do that, especially since it's mostly the public that's emailing us to that email address
- due to them sending in applications of vote by mail or sending in an FPCA or any of those situations.
- So they have been informed I'm working on trying to get some of those kinks
- smoothed out and that way we are able to continue with getting those emails in that we should be getting.
- But also I appreciate Ms. Wilson that you've come in and raised these issues and apologies for the any
- discomfort or anything that's caused you. I really appreciate that and I know you were talking about
- evaluating policies moving forward. Mistakes happen. I understand that. I know we're all being asked
- a lot as county employees right now and that's and that's challenging.
- It would be helpful I think to consider maybe a policy once it's been identified that it was just an
- error, a way of noticing them so I can know that I don't have to appear today and that it's formally
- been withdrawn would be helpful in the future. Thank you. I appreciate your time. Thank you. I do have
- another question too about this kind of a listing here that we have. For example, I know that Commissioner
- Jones has not filed to run for reelection.
- Will she be required to file CFA 4 for 2026? If it has not been closed, yes. If what she has filed with
- you, and that's dated February the 10th, if that is marked as
- So this one can't be marked as closed because she's still an elected official. So she'll have to keep
- hers open until she is no longer an elected official. That was an update. We had the law change in July
- of last year where any elected official had to keep their campaign finances open. So once at the end
- of 2026, she will then be able to file a closed committee. Oh, she will have to file another CFA for.
- So do we need something now? This is just to alert anybody that's not running for reelection or anything
- that they still will need to file something to indicate that it's a final, if it's a final for them.
- It may not be, but they will still need to file. That makes sense. We have one other person here that's
- listed. We was wondering if they want to talk to us about that.
- I'm not outing them. Maybe they just wanted to observe and see what to. I'm Dorothy Granger. I am running
- for Bloomington Township board member. And I received a notice that I had not submitted some financial
- something or other.
- The only financial thing I submitted was last year when the law changed. If you're paid more than $5,000,
- you have to submit that, so I submitted that, but I haven't had a campaign for four years, so I apologize
- for my ignorance. What do I have to do? So you can just stop by your office and fill out a CFA-4, and
- since you had no money in that campaign, it would just be a zero on
- your statement ballots, and it's just to keep it updated. With the law change, some people are kind
- of confused by it as well. Just stop by our office and we're very happy to help you. Okay. So does this
- mean if I'm so fortunate to be elected again that I have to do this every year? Yes, an annual finance.
- There's no money? Yes. Okay. Yep. And then since you are running, you'll have to do a pre-primary and
- a pre-election CFA four filing as well.
- May I do that tomorrow? Yes, of course. So that's where I am. I apologize. My lottery ticket. Your luck's
- got to change. And then I will say in the candidate packets that we give out, it does have the due dates
- for all of those. But whenever you come to the office, we can also get you a copy of that due date list
- as well. OK. I think it's online. Yeah. So any questions from?
- Our goal is to just do whatever we have to do to get these taken care of. So if you go see them tomorrow
- and get this taken care of, we'll all have a thumbs up. That's exactly what our goal is, is to get them.
- I apologize for not coming in sooner. I've been on travel for a while. Occasionally we discover election
- laws somewhat complicated.
- So you go see them tomorrow. OK, yeah, you're welcome. And you know their offices moved, right? You
- know their offices at a new spot. Now we've talked about that.
- I just wanted to apologize for my late filing. I think it was my first offense, I believe, but so I
- hopefully I'm on that warning list, but I just wanted to come and apologize and say it won't happen
- again. Just misread the calendar and I again apologize for my error. So do you know what needs to be
- turned in? It's already turned in. I did it. It's completed. It's just it was late. It was after the
- due date. I'm sorry. Yeah, it's not one of the ones that was written on here, right? Yes, so that's
- all. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.
- If there are no other individuals to address this list, I did want to do a point of information for
- the election board. I did receive a few calls from a couple individuals listed on the warning list,
- and one of them had pointed out and shared with me a photo that I'm going to share with you because
- this might have led to confusion for the person that I talk to, so I don't have permission to share. TSD?
- What I'm going to share is in this individual's candidate packet, there is the CFA four deadlines listed.
- And I think they got confused because I'm going to make that bigger. Just give me a sec. Is it going
- to let me zoom in? There we go.
- What this is is it's a photo from the candidates packet and it reflects that the annual report is due
- January 20th of 2027 instead of January 21st of 2026. That will be the deadline for the next annual
- and then the one for this annual because the candidate packet that is from for this election cycle.
- So it would have been on the one from last election cycle.
- It might be helpful to indicate that because I think the candidates got confused. And this individual
- was a first time warning person, but, you know, it wasn't clear. And so maybe that can be indicated
- better in the candidate packets. I'm starting to still make it bigger in my computers. So just because
- It's a 2026 candidate packet. The reporting dates it tells you so it stands to reason that if those
- are the reporting dates for the seven report that 25 reports would have been. And it does indicate the
- report period as well. Yeah, it does. And so I don't know.
- if there's a way to indicate that clear in the candidate packet, because there are a couple of confused
- individuals. And so I'm not saying that it impacts the first warning. I'm just saying maybe for future
- preparation of those candidate packets, we could put something up at the top that says 2027. If a line
- at the top said these dates are for the 2026 election, is that what you're talking about? Yeah, if we
- could just make it clearer.
- dealt with it, I haven't. I'm going to defer to your judgment on it. It sounds like we still had one
- issue to resolve here. Yeah, so the last one will be the individual who had, this was their second late
- filing. So that'll be the very last one on that list. They did file yesterday, so it just, we need to
- make a decision on
- if you guys want to move forward with the fine or what you guys would like to do? You had mentioned
- 50% of the allowable fine. What would that be?
- I know that the policy is also printed in the candidate packet. I want to be for sure on what the amount
- is beforehand. So I'm waiting on Molly to pull that. So what have we done? What has been policy when you file?
- So since this new policy was adopted in 2024, we've not had this situation yet because we cleared everybody's
- late filings out and started fresh. This will be the first one that's actually came to the point of
- being able to have a fine. Now it's 50% of the maximum, I wanna say the maximum is $100 a day. So it'd
- be 50% of $50 a day.
- I'm not 100% sure on that. I want to make sure with the resolution that was adopted. But the cap on
- that is $1,000. So. So Mr. Chair, just previous incarnations, it feels like every time somebody new
- came to the election board, then there also was a change in penalty for campaign late filings.
- Initially, our hope was to not discourage people from wanting to run, but we got to a place, this would
- have been about three incarnations ago, we got to a place where candidates just did not take it seriously
- because there was just a warning. In Marion County, there is no warning. You just get fined, and we
- didn't want to strike that tone.
- latest is the 2024, which is after the first, then you get the 50%. And then the third is the 100%.
- Our goal is to get the forms in. Correct. Does the days count weekends also? It does say it's calendar
- days. Wow. So I am going to make a motion to impose the
- second warning penalty. I'm happy. I'm happy to listen to the. Of how much? $50 a day. This has been
- enough. That would be the full 1000. It would. Yeah, I go ahead. I think the policy says 50% of the
- statutory maximum, which is $25 a day until current with a maximum of $1000. So it's. So do we know
- how much this one would be?
- I just said 1,000, I get that, but have we figured it to see? What was the date, and I'll just. It was
- due January 21st, and it was filed March 4th. And then it is $25 a day. I'm trying to get my calculator.
- You were already mapping, I'll let you go. Yeah, if I have it correct. I'm sorry, so January what?
- January 21st to March 4th. The total maximum then would be $1,100 and so half of that would be $550.
- Motion. Define $550. Okay. Well, the maximum would be $1,000 then because it exceeds the $1,000 cap.
- Yeah. So it would be 50% of the $1,000. Oh, so it's 50% of the cap? Yeah. Okay.
- 500. Motion for 500. I'll second. Okay. I think our staff has enough to keep track of it. Yeah, I think
- so too. So those in favor aye? Aye. Opposed? That motion is passed. Thank you. I assume then you'll
- go ahead. I think you were about to say it. I think I would recommend the election board adopt a motion
- to send a findings letter and include
- in that letter is to the candidate a notification that they have the right to appeal that finding. You
- have such a letter already drafted? We drafted a letter when the policy was created and I believe Ms.
- Ferris should have that but it instructs exactly what I said that the election board on X amount of
- date finds the candidate X amount of money and then it outlines the appeal process. Do we need a motion?
- I hope that such a letter be sent. Okay, there's a motion. Does we send the letter? Second. Okay, discussion?
- Favor aye. Aye. Opposed? I hate to find people for that, but we've been telling them for a long time.
- And if you don't, nobody will, you know?
- Thank you. I guess we're ready to move on. Early voting, poll worker parking discussion. So we have
- had a couple of questions about poll worker parking for the primary for early voting. Right now I'm
- also looking at for ABS workers, the ones that we are looking at having start pretty soon.
- Now we have four spots that are over at the Johnson hardware building where we used to be that are still
- labeled as clerk staff. Those four spots will be used for the ABS staff members for in the back office
- currently. And then we are looking at the parking garage that is directly beside showers that's going
- to be the trades parking garage and working with the city like we have in the past of getting some passes for them.
- but we've also been informed that we could use the overflow lot of the convention center. So we're just
- working with both of the party chairs. They have said something about doing some shuttles, and I just
- wanted to make sure that this was being translated to you guys, but also being publicly said so that
- we can start getting some really defined answers down, and that way we have parking ready for April.
- How many slots are being reserved at the election office? There are four. Not at the Johnson Hardware
- Building? Oh, none. That entire parking lot will be for voter parking only. We've got a staff park somewhere
- else and voters park there. Correct. That's a lot of staff too. That lot is not nearly as big as it
- looks when you first pull into it. Yeah.
- Do we know how many spaces that has? I want to believe the count that I had yesterday was about 50.
- We're looking at the plans that Richard Crider has dropped off by our office of what they're doing when
- they're repaving the parking lot and restriping everything. Do you have any sense of how many passes
- you might be able to get from this? Not currently. That's why I'm starting to try to get some ideas
- if we do have to use the
- Convention Center overflow lot how a shuttle would work and like Shift wise of because we have the first
- shift of early voting the second shift of early voting getting people there getting people back It's
- gonna be a lot but we're working both both Cory and Chrissy on that They were actually the ones that
- brought up a shuttle situation if we needed to so But then
- Sometimes the people who are reconciling at the end of the day for early voting, they're not always
- done at six. No. And I mean, I can say from experience that I've been there until almost seven o'clock
- some nights while we're reconciling everything from that day to get everything done. So it's trying
- to figure out how parking is going to work for each of those individuals. Because the shuttle was from
- my recollection of the meeting was going to be once in the morning.
- and once in the afternoon, so if you're late and you miss the shuttle because of an accident or something,
- that's gonna be problematic to well-meaning workers. Yeah, and like I said, I just wanted to get this
- conversation going now also so that it is out in the air and hopefully that we can get some outside
- people to start giving us recommendations also, or since I am reaching out to the city,
- More than likely tomorrow if not Monday because we're getting all of the street numbers and meters that
- we're looking at reserving as well for early voting. That way we have additional space. In the past
- when we worked with the city they've been really great about giving us any metered spots that we've
- asked for.
- Down at Johnson, we did quite a bit. All of the parking on the side of the building was always reserved
- for us. So I don't think it'll be too much of an issue. It's just the amount and volume that we're looking
- at that could be an issue. Would it be possible to get past bus passes for Bloomington Transit in case
- people weren't able to catch the shuttle? I mean, that would be. Yeah, I'm not. I know that we've not
- done it in the past. We could look into it and see how that that would go.
- My only recollection was three rides on election day. Yeah. I don't know, because they're a business
- too. City of Bloomington Transit Services, they're a business too. I just cannot see them giving that
- many passes out for that many days. Is there a route that goes from A to B? Right. Okay.
- updated and you'll continue to work. Yep. Okay. All right. The equipment for testing needs to be approved.
- Yes. So you guys will have a list of those pieces of equipment. This was sent from VSTOP. They do a
- randomize and then send us the list in the order that we should go from. We generally start at the top
- and work our way down. So
- By state required, we in our county has to test two and a half pieces of equipment. So we've always
- done three in the past. We are looking at doing six this year. And then Bob White did suggest that we
- skip Jackson Creek to since it is the second scanner and the second scanners are not used as frequently.
- So we want to make sure that we are checking the ones that are used more frequently. So it would be the
- Highland Village, the Soles Harbor, Fairview, Grandview, Emmanuel Baptist, and Eastview would be the
- ones that I'm suggesting today. So when will this occur? So this will be the public test that should
- be on next week on Thursday once we receive the data back from HART. And what time? It would be at 9.30 a.m.
- Okay, and these will all be at election
- Yes. Yes. So this one will be a public notice that has to go out 40 days in advance, 48 hours in advance.
- Sorry. So it will be publicly noticed for that one. And then on that, it is going to be at the new voter
- register. Sorry. Early voting location. Molly, would we be able to come to that and just to observe
- without it being considered a meeting?
- The election board is supposed to be there. You guys are reviewing it. That's why it is publicly. I
- want to show up and she's there and oops. All of a sudden we've broken a rule. That answers that question.
- I am very pleased that we're going above and beyond what state required for this testing. Thank you.
- Yeah, we were looking at this and we noticed that some of these had not been tested recently, so we
- added in a few extras that we haven't had on the list in a couple of years.
- Thank you. You're welcome. And we need to appoint ABS staff. I believe we now have the letters that
- we received of what we were missing, correct? Yes, so the two letters that you guys have from both of
- the party chairs was sent this morning. It was sent just before noon on our way over here. I will make
- a motion to accept
- the recommended workers from both the Democratic and Republican Party chairs as outlined in
- the correspondence received. Any discussion? Well, I think the appropriate procedure would be to attach
- the list to the prepared resolution of appointment. Attach the list to the amended resolution of the
- appointment. She just hadn't said that yet.
- And I need to update the resolution because I was unaware that any lists were received. And so I'm going
- to display this resolution. We've discovered, as we try to fill these, that if you could do
- two instead of just two people would have to work as often that we would have had better luck getting
- people more quick run into when I've talked with people that oversee early voting they say oftentimes
- those have to hurt people signed in the afternoon they're not as reliable about showing up and so it's better
- It just avoids problems. OK, it is. So where are we then? So for the resolution that I'm now currently
- displaying, the first highlighted date would be the date that the election division reached out to the
- party chairs, which is
- What's the meeting that we had? I was I was thinking the February meeting and we had to write, but it
- was the first one. So we originally asked asked for the leads at the December meeting. And it has been
- a ongoing process, and then they were officially asked for. At the February 13th, yes.
- February 13th meeting. And when was the list from the county chairmen received? Both of them were today
- and the one from the Republican Party was received at 1227 PM and the one from the Democratic Party
- was received at 1127. And do you anticipate a second list or is this all of the ABS workers?
- There will be more ABS workers and we will have to schedule a special meeting of the election board
- for all other ABS workers. When do the ABS workers start? Their first training will be April 1st. And
- some of them will start Monday if this list is approved today.
- I was going to suggest doing it all in once but it doesn't sound like that's going to be possible so
- I will update that first highlighted date to February 13th and then the two additional dates to today's
- date. This resolution was provided to the election board but it acknowledges the Indiana code that allows
- the election board to
- indicates the election board shall appoint ABS ballot counters, ABS voter board members and carriers.
- By statute, the deadline for request should have been made by March 16th, and that deadline hasn't passed
- yet. And then it gives the party chairs 46 days to respond or they have to respond 46 days prior to
- the election. And it'll attach the exhibits and then it'll it indicates that
- Pursuant to Indiana Code 311 544 23, the individuals listed in Exhibit A and Exhibit B, which I'm going
- to mark the party chair list as are duly appointed as absentee voter board members for the primary election
- occurring in May of twenty twenty six. The election board directs the Monroe County Circuit Court clerk
- to administer the statutory required oath of office to each of the individuals listed within those exhibits
- to finalize their appointment.
- If these are for absentee, don't we consider that the primary election would start in April or do we
- list the May date? The early voting starts in April is why I'm asking. I don't know what's appropriate.
- It just says for the primary election scheduled in May of 2026. So it's not saying that they're starting
- in May of 2026, that they're working that. What would be that election cycle? And I can add election
- I really am asking. I don't know. If you're okay with that resolution and those updated dates, I would
- advise a motion to pass that resolution. Motion. Second. Any discussion? In favor, aye. Aye. Opposed?
- That means we don't sign the one we've got in front of us because we've been done. And then on that,
- I will say that we will need to schedule a special meeting of the election board once we receive the
- final list of all absentee workers. Right now, it was really a push to get these ones
- put through so that they can start working on the absentee by mail applications, because ballots have
- to be out by March 21st. So we want to make sure that they have enough time to get those put in, processed,
- and then have time to get them stuffed and out in the mail. So do we need to come by your office tomorrow,
- Monday, to sign the resolution?
- I'm updating it right now and we'll have it ready for signature at the end of the meeting. Awesome.
- So are we talking about a meeting next week? Let me get with both party chairs and see where they think
- that they will be at. I know that they'll have to definitely be
- appointed before they can do training. So they have to be appointed and approved by the election board
- before their paperwork can be submitted to HR. You and I have an upcoming meeting with both party chairs.
- I'm going to assume so that you can create an agenda for that meeting that you'll reach out to them
- no later than Monday so that they can have what we need by that meeting. Molly, you said the deadline
- for that's the 16th.
- deadline to request is the 16th, and then the deadline for the submission by the party chairs is 46
- days prior to election day, which I think puts it around maybe. But you need those ahead of the 21st.
- It's painful for me to hear 21st like I want to hear sooner. Well, the ones that we won't you guys have
- approved today, those are the ones for before the 21st. We're looking at all of the clerks that will
- be working at early voting and all of the ballot counters and travel board members. Those are the additional
- ones that will need to be appointed and then approved by the election board before they can start getting
- their paperwork sent over to HR. So the sooner the better.
- The first Thursday after the meeting that you and I have with the party chairs would be the 19th. So.
- Available that day. Does it have to be on a Thursday? We will just have to check availability for this room.
- So you need to check availability for the rooms and then reach out to us with what days we have this
- room and that we could all get there. Is that? We could do that or if you guys just give me a couple
- of days and then I can find which one the room is available. And are we wanting to still do 130? That
- was gonna be my question. If all we're going to do is vote to approve people, I wouldn't think that
- would be terribly
- contentious at any point in time. You wanted to go earlier in the day or something? That is not spring
- break week, is it? It is. It is. Some of us are too old to worry about it. Is it fair, like, what's
- a reasonable amount of time to
- report back on the availability of this room for the month of March. I can go check the availability
- after this meeting. I was also going to say more so it's going to be on when the party chairs think
- that they can make the appointments of all of their staffing for early voting counters for on Election
- Day and travel board members because I know that's going to be quite a bit of
- work that they need to complete and generally it's the lead to do the recruiting for all of the poll
- workers at early voting. So it's going to be them starting and then having to immediately jump in and
- start recruiting people to come work on early voting. So I'm more leaning on we need to see when the
- party chairs think they can get us their list.
- If I may I would suggest after March 20th because March 20th is the deadline for submission by the party
- chairs so they have to have them in by March 20th and if they don't then there's a statutory procedure
- for the election board to appoint individuals in that event so perhaps the week of March 23rd
- I'm available on the 26th, which is I just say Thursdays for consistency because I know that we want
- Thursdays, but I know you have some other considerations. Actually, both of my sons and daughter-in-laws
- and kids are going somewhere on the 25th and 6th, and I kind of hate to blow that off. I could go earlier
- in the week. I could go Tuesday morning. I could do Tuesday. Do Tuesday.
- the Friday, too, if needed. I'm just wondering if you want to go have 24th at 130. Does that work? Yes.
- Room is available. Yes. I would have to change an appointment. Well, we can let's let's. How about I
- check availability on the 24th available and then reach back out to us? Yes, I can do that right after
- the meeting and then we can just notice the meeting. OK, that works.
- we need to approve training materials. There's also a resolution for this. I have a lot of comments
- on the material highly sent out. Also, we have a letter from the Board of Commissioners about this,
- but I've asked multiple times for the emergency
- that plan for the elections. And I know that there was one from 2024. Does that need to be updated?
- And for the 2024 presidential election, employing place security guidelines that came out from the state
- that was published in August of 2024.
- They indicate that it's important that emergency planning materials be reviewed, exercised, and tested
- prior to election day. So I want to know when we're going to be doing this. I've asked multiple times
- for a tabletop exercise.
- It also indicates in the emergency policy plan that Monroe County adopted on October 15th of 2024. It
- indicates on page two that each poll worker will receive information specific to his or her poll from
- their inspector the Saturday before election day. I didn't see anything in the inspector slash judges
- packet that indicated what that material should be. I didn't see any emergency planning stuff attached to their
- training stuff at all. And I don't know if there's an emergency plan for early voting. I don't know
- what happens if early voting has to be moved. I don't know what happens if there's an emergency at early
- voting. What happens there? So there's a lot of questions for me that go into these training materials.
- And then I can go through one by one about the different training things.
- It might be easier if I may to suggest that you look at this in two different capacities because there's
- training material for early voting and then there's training material for the precinct election officers
- and there are two different statutes that govern what those training materials have to. So of the PAC
- information that Kylie provided me, I attached anything that is
- to a precinct election officer as an exhibit with a letter and anything for early voting as an exhibit
- with a number, so the one thing that I would point out looking at absentee board members, the training
- material is that Indiana code 311-1039 indicates that within the training material there needs to be
- Information on election laws and penalties pertaining to the absentee board workers duties, and I didn't
- see any of that in there so before you can approve the Absentee board voter one I do think the election
- board should have a conversation on how they want to address that part of the statute And also one of
- the things that I saw was that I
- It indicates that the 50 foot chute that occurs at all the polling locations, and I understand why I
- don't disagree with it, it's to be made from where the poll books are. And standard practice in Monroe
- County has been the 50 foot chute starts at the outer door. And so I think that that needs to be really
- clarified in the training material and it's not in there. It just says 50 foot chute. So I think
- That's one of the things that needs to change. Bullbooks are at least five feet inside the door. At
- some polling locations, they're 20 feet inside the door. And so that really changes what happens and
- what the inspectors are instructed to do.
- So on that one I will say in the past the election board has said from the door due to many of the polling
- locations not wanting any campaigning material inside of their building and if some of them are further
- into the building so for instance Bloomington High School South when you enter their building they are
- much further than 50 feet from the door to where they do vote and
- I know that them, for instance, do not want any campaign materials with inside of their building. Same
- thing with churches. We've had that same situation. And then Boys and Girls Club has already told us
- as well that it can't be with inside of their building as well. So that 50 foot shoot has always started
- from the door of the building that they enter. And it's actually no longer a shoot. The state statute
- changed and it is now a 50 foot radius from the door.
- But it's not from the door. It's from the poll book. That statute. So as I said, most of the polling
- locations do not want any campaigning material within their building. And so if we were to do it from
- the polls, then there are spaces that polling sites that there would be it would be with inside of the
- building that candidates could post their materials within.
- Do you want me to look at the statute? I think it would solve any problems. I do understand what you're
- talking about. Does South use that large group room? They use the white gym. Okay. Yep. Okay. And then
- Unionville Elementary uses their gym as well and that's another one that's pretty far away from the doors.
- I would say it's Sherwood Oaks Christian Church is another one that theirs is further into the building
- and is much further than 50 feet from the door. I vote there, I know. We're asking for places to let
- us use their buildings. I think it behooves us to cooperate with their requests. I concur. And a standard
- 50 feet from the door
- Because the schools are not gonna let people stand in there passing stuff out inside the buildings.
- But an area outside of the door, I mean, most of us haven't driven around and looked at every polling
- location, you know, just, okay, this is where they come in, this is what door they use.
- Once you get inside the building, you're just walking to the spot. I just reached out to both Matt and
- Valerie to see who will respond first. I pose that question to them. I am in agreement with you. And,
- you know, certainly election laws change and they can change in, you know, whiplash fashion. But I can
- remember when Assembly Hall was a polling
- And those candidates were definitely outside of the door doing their electioneering. And so, you know,
- that has always been my understanding as well, so that the voter is not unduly influenced right inside
- of the polling location.
- The statutory definition of a chute is the area that extends 50 feet in radius measured from the entrance
- to the polls or for the purpose of early voting the office of the circuit clerk or a satellite office
- of the circuit court clerk established under 311 to 1026.3. And then it goes on as to what to do if
- that 50 foot radius ends up on a polling place property line. Okay, so it is from the entrance of the poll.
- So then the training material for the clerks and sheriffs, item number one has to be changed. Ashley
- just said that she will update it. Okay. Thank you, Miss Ashley. I've actually always found it sad that
- people think that they can stand outside those places. And if you get to that point and you don't know
- who you're going to vote for, I think it's kind of sad.
- I mean, I've never yet had a sign outside the door change who I voted for, but whatever. Also in a number
- of the places it says that yes, a 17-year-old can vote in the primary if they turn 18 on before the election.
- day, the general election. I would like in all those situations that we list the actual dates so that
- there's no confusion from the poll workers. And so it should be on or before November 3rd, 2026. And
- that occurs in all the training manuals. I just think it's easier. You're not having to stop and think
- about it. It's just a safety precaution, I think, for the workers. Then in all three of the training
- things, the word affirmation needs to be
- the spelling needs to be corrected. In the situations where it talks about voting in municipalities,
- at least in two of the three packets it indicates that there's voting in Bloomington this year and there's
- not. The only municipality voting is Ellitsville.
- It was all of the training materials were updated. So we just sent over all training materials. It wasn't
- just the municipal ones. I mean, the primary ones. But what I'm saying is, is that it indicates there
- are two municipalities voting this year and there are not. There's only one. There are ward seats up
- in Ellitsville, but there's no voting for city council mayor or city clerk in Bloomington this year.
- The only municipality is for Ellitsville.
- Then in multiple cases, you have decision trees where is it the correct address, yes or no? Is it correct
- age, yes or no? But one of the decision tree is the voter at the correct polling site, yes or no? And
- if it's no, you ask, they're given a provisional ballot. But I think that there should be another decision
- tree that comes off of the no there where it does the
- voter opt to go to the correct polling locations. And then if no, they get a provisional ballot. So
- that's how it is described.
- at training is that if, because on the poll book, if they are at the wrong polling location, it will
- pop up on the polling book that they are at the wrong location. It will tell them the address of the
- location they are supposed to go to with a map, and you can actually send them the directions as to
- where to go to that location. And that is for if you have exerted all of your options, and then you
- come to that. But in the decision trees, what I'm saying is that that fourth one, it says,
- yes, they're at the correct place, or no, then it only goes to provisional ballots. I'm saying in the
- training materials, it needs to be updated to reflect that particular decision. And the same thing occurs
- in the early voting, that if they could say, I'm gonna wait till election day, or I'm gonna vote absentee,
- or I just choose not to vote today, something like that, that it needs to be clean,
- So I will say that the main reason for that is because in the past we've had where they wanted us to
- make sure that we are offering a provisional ballot to every single person because you can't turn away
- a voter. That's the reason that it has been described that way in all the training packets. Most of
- this information and the training packets that we have are the same training packets that have been for
- years they were handed down, and then we've made changes, and it's the same ones that have been approved
- in the past as well. Then for valid IDs, you give examples of US passport and then Veterans Affairs.
- I will ask, do any of the poll workers get confused and think that a military ID
- is not eligible because it's not a veteran affairs one. No, they know all military IDs are acceptable
- and they correspond the two of them together. And also several in all three packets on the same pages
- where that affirmation is misspelled at the there's a box there and it's
- I don't understand, let me get to one of these because I don't understand why it indicates in the poll
- book that it would be absentee voter. Let's find the first incident of it. Ms. Giddens, would it be
- helpful if I display one of the training materials for you? Sure. When looking at the clerks and sheriffs
- to do list, for example, on page 10 of that,
- Go down. At the bottom of that where it says alert supervisor, get there. I believe I had it displayed. Yeah.
- after paperwork steps by the Inspector Touch process, and then why does it say absentee issued? Why
- doesn't it say ballot issued? Because it was an absentee ballot that was issued, not a ballot that was
- issued. That's a screenshot from our poll books directly. Okay, but this is, this doesn't follow from
- what's right above that in my mind. I don't understand why you skipped to that, the process.
- So it says we'll always ask if the address is correct, if it's out of date, you stop, you do updates,
- and then all of a sudden it says absentee issue.
- So this is just an example of what might pop up on a poll book if, like on election day, if somebody
- asked for an absentee ballot to be sent, but they did not turn it back in. So technically they hadn't
- voted. So this is what the poll workers would see on election day. So that's why that's there. That's
- just an example of something that might pop up.
- With this I think that that would help that that I don't know why this is showing this and I've worked
- at the polls five times including with poll books so Okay. Yeah, cuz we this is on one of our slideshows
- that we show in class and we do go over this extensively in class So I feel like by the time they see
- this in the training on election day, they're gonna understand but yes, I will update something for
- you confusion. I
- the slides are the exact material that you guys are looking at, just put up onto a slide show so that
- they can see it in a bigger format so that we can go along with them in the packets. Okay, so then,
- in my mind, this is not clear why it came up that way. If you said, this is an example of what might
- come up if the person had been mailed an absentee ballot but had not sent it back in. Yeah.
- Because otherwise, you would have a ballot, I would think.
- So I just want to clarify. The training materials are not just handed to them and then they go on and
- read through them themselves. They are gone through step by step with them. Inspectors and judges classes
- are two and a half hours, sometimes three depending on how many questions are asked, and the clerks
- and sheriff classes are generally an hour, sometimes a little longer. That way it just clarifies for
- anybody who is watching or present.
- One for the inspectors and judges. Page 4. That's a long training piece.
- It's over 82 pages in it. On page 4, item number 1, trying to get to it too real fast. I'm not sure
- I've got the right thing.
- You've got the Republican sign in and then touch username and then touch password and number button
- to enter poll book Democrat password found, where it should be poll book Republican password found.
- You've got Democrat password found two places. And I wonder,
- And this is a question on page seven of that same. On the third entry there. Indicate that.
- Under clerks, checking to ensure precinct on ballot matches the poll book, are the D initials in the
- top box on the ballot? Should it also indicate that it's the R initials in the bottom box, just to ensure
- that both boxes are filled? Because that was a problem in Brown County several years ago, that they
- didn't fill both boxes.
- It just ensures that both boxes are filled. That's all. And I may have missed this and were not understood
- with the instructions. Where are they to store marked provisional ballots on Election Day?
- envelopes that the provisionals go back into are then given back to the inspector. The inspector stores
- them in the provisional canvas bag. That's what I thought. And then there was nothing indicated in the
- training materials, and I know it's been done, so I'm not doubting it, but should there be anything
- in there about verifying that the form was given to the voter on how to cure a provisional ballot? Yeah,
- so while we're there, we
- during the training, it is very distinctive. We go through provisionals, actually I would say for probably
- the first half of the training classes, just about provisionals and other forms, and we actually walk
- them physically through and have them fill out a provisional while they're there at training and make
- sure that they are giving the inside form to the voter. What is an emergency ballot?
- It's discussed on page 10. So an emergency ballot is going to be a individual who is a officer or fire
- department or any of those situations where if they get a call while they're there, their ballot is
- held. And then when they come back, they are issued an emergency ballot. Those are going to be any of
- your emergency personnel who leave and come back because they'll have to void the original ballot they
- had and then restart their ballot.
- it'll show that they're already checked in so we can't reissue them a ballot. So we keep the ballot
- that they were filling out and then issue them an emergency ballot and then void out their original.
- Okay, so these are for first providers then? Yeah. Okay, that is not at all clear to me in the training.
- Thank you. And there's a lot of places,
- in this particular training thing where they talk about codes. And on page 11, I'm sorry to be so detailed,
- but I think that these are things that we're responsible for. So I want to make sure that this is done.
- Under station two, where it says power, blah, blah, blah, number three,
- It says when screen says confirmation code, touch yes and close the polls on the screen. In every other
- place it tells where a confirmation code is found, but I didn't see it there. It tells basically in
- the instructor's manual. Sorry, my laptop died.
- Yeah, yeah, understood. And then some of this appears to be taken from state code. And I don't think
- we have an initial clerk and I don't think we have an assistive poll clerk. Is that correct? So the
- initial clerk is going to be like the main clerk who is handling the poll book and then your second
- is going to be the second. So there's always a bipartisan team. Your initial clerk is the first one who's
- technically doing everything on the poll book, and then your second is the one that's sitting next to
- them as the bipartisan team. Okay. And so that defines the color of their tags and stuff like that?
- So their tags, everybody is just going to be clerks. They'll all say clerk, and then they'll have red
- or blue determining their party affiliation so that it's visibly clear to a voter.
- there's a bipartisan team to take care of them. Those rules can change throughout the day and stuff.
- Correct. Right. Okay. Okay. I didn't. Yeah. Then if somebody earlier raised the issue of people working
- half days, does something need to be in the training manual that if a new poll worker comes in the middle
- of the day that the oath is readministered or something? I know that the inspector would do that, but
- does it need to be in the training manual?
- So in 2024, we did not have any half-day workers because we had found too many issues with it. And at
- this point in time, we're currently still looking at doing no half-time workers for this election. But
- if it comes down to it and we don't have enough people to work, then we will start adding in half-day
- to make sure that we're able to fill everything. Understood. I hope that doesn't happen. We all do.
- I think because it's too much of a hassle of making sure that somebody actually shows up and if they
- don't then it's us having to send somebody out last minute. Way down on page 61 in there after it you
- see that bright pink thing that says no ballot available.
- There's a typo that I think changes the meaning. I mean, there are other typos that I just ignore this,
- but it says if voter is not in the municipal and voter's address in the poll book is out of date, voter
- registration would like to update their address if not is the voter willing, but if the voter is willing.
- Again, if it didn't change the meaning of it, I wouldn't care. And then I don't see anything on the emergency
- emergency evacuations. So all of the emergency planning. And I was told at an earlier meeting that it
- would be included in these training packets. All of the emergency is within the binders that the inspector
- gets. Those are not the training materials. Those are the information that is issued to each of the
- inspectors, and it has all the information about their pull inside of those binders.
- And in addition, the training is also in there in case if they forgot something or if they need to look
- back at something. So they're not given emergency training per se. They're just given a checklist for
- different situations. It's a it's generally a checklist. It's the plan that was set with Molly was there.
- I was there. Twenty twenty four. Yeah.
- There was a couple others. Jamie was there. I read it. Yep. That's the plan that we have. We also put
- that into a couple of things. And then there are some step by steps of if this happens, this is what
- you're supposed to do. And those are held in the binders for each of the polling locations because they're
- designated for each polling location. I view that as part of the training material and think you should
- have seen it.
- Because the inspector has to know that material to be able to appropriately do his or her job. Yeah,
- that's, I mean, it's in the binders that the inspectors pick up the Saturday before. They pick it up
- the Saturday before so that they are able to review all the material and familiarize themselves with
- everything that is in there. And then they set up the night before as well so that they are able to
- physically see everything with their entire team.
- I still think it should be included in the material that we have to approve. That is part of our role
- on the election board. In multiple places in these training materials it also talks about an expiration
- date and this is for what is a valid date on their ID. It just says expiration date of 11-5-2024. I
- believe it should say on or after so that there's no confusion because it certainly could have been
- that date.
- And I still haven't heard what is going to happen for early voting if there's has to be an emergency
- or if there's an alternate emergency vote early voting. That's the same plan that was established in
- twenty twenty four. And you and I have a meeting that will include Miss Jamie next week. So I think
- it's. We have these meetings yearly, so I know that I'm saying we can
- I'm going to review it with Miss Jamie to determine if there needs to be any updates or changes. Yes.
- But I heard that the December training that we should we the election board should be going through
- a tabletop exercise, and I still have not heard anything about that. So I'm I mean, we were invited
- to a tapered tabletop exercise in 2024. I haven't heard anything.
- one being put on by the state yet or not, but that's generally the only tabletop exercises that we are
- given. I have not received anything, but I can reach out to the Secretary of State's office today.
- How many? How many? I'm right here. So one of the things that also indicates in what came out of Secretary
- of State's office is that it would be good if
- reach out to all the utility providers and make sure that no maintenance is scheduled near any of the
- polling places on May the 5th on Election Day. Have you or your office been able to do that? I have
- never seen any public utility place take care to not plan their activities around elections.
- regarding issues at polling sites. We do our best to work with them. I think it's... I'm just asking
- if that's been done because they don't necessarily have to keep track of where the polling locations
- are. I think we can talk to Jamie.
- can we put that on a list to talk to Jamie? Yeah. Just one more. Do we have any backup emergency sites?
- Because that's one of the other things that's that's talked about in some of the emergency management
- stuff in twenty twenty four. We had asked about having the courthouse this location actually as a backup
- location in case if there was a situation
- and we never heard back if that was okay or not. We did. We were told no. I would like to check with
- the commissioner's office on that because I do not remember the ask. I remember the discussion of potentially
- identifying polling locations, but I don't know that it wouldn't be on that discussion, so I'm happy
- to check with the commissioners on that. It did. Commissioner Thomas said no. Well, given that the
- the courthouse would be closed that day, be reasonable to ask? Yeah, that was one of my main reasonings
- on that was because it is a county government building centralized in the middle of the county and that
- it would be a quick location that we could easily access since it is the county and it already being
- closed. We had looked at a couple of other options and I don't
- because we looked at the library was proposed and the instructions were we had to talk to the trustees.
- Ellitsville town hall was proposed. We would have to talk to Ellitsville and there is a location on
- campus which required a conversation with the trustee or someone at campus and I do not think any of
- the follow up conversations occurred.
- appropriated items and locations that we had discussed and then We had planned to meet back and then
- Election Day came around I'm just raising these questions because I've read about them and what came
- out from the Secretary of State's office and I think that we need to be cognizant of these things and
- I don't want an earthquake. I don't want any other natural disaster. I don't want other things to happen,
- but they're all possible, especially given what's been happening around the country. Go ahead, Molly.
- If I may, I think given the extensive list of
- potential changes and the fact that you have to somehow address in the absentee board members providing
- information regarding election laws and penalties per statute. It may be appropriate since we're scheduling
- a special meeting in a few weeks to perhaps table this resolution to improve training materials until
- that date so that the proposed changes can be incorporated
- You have the opportunity to review it. Some information that is required by statute can be put in there,
- and then you can revisit this. Great idea. I'd like to get more than 45 hours before the meeting. I
- will move to table this until the meeting. Second. Discussion? Favor, aye. Aye.
- Okay. We'll table that. Molly we need to talk about meal stipends it looks like. Actually I do not think
- you need to talk about meal stipends. I haven't prepared that resolution yet because I'm researching
- on who actually needs to adopt the resolution. Per Indiana code 36631 the commissioners as the county
- legislative body sets an ordinance to provide meal allowances to precinct workers. There's not an equivalent
- statute for absentee board workers so I need to figure out
- if it's the county council who actually sets the per diem for absentee workers that would have to also
- set a mill stipend for absentee workers which I think is the logical explanation or if it's
- the commissioners. So I am going to figure that out and then probably hopefully by the special scheduled
- meeting be able to propose a resolution that will
- proposed to whatever the appropriate body is to make that correction to either their governing ordinance
- or resolution or Monroe County code. So to be determined. Okay. That works. All right. Then we moved.
- We have a letter from the commissioners. There's one more resolution. I think it's the yeah, it's was
- actually the resolution of the ABA
- ABS category. Oh, I'm sorry. Well, that's yours as well. I'm sorry. Go ahead. It's OK. So this resolution
- in twenty twenty four, the county council passed resolution twenty twenty four twelve, which created
- three ABS categories and depending on what category of certain position was placed in, determined their
- pay. And that resolution provided that prior to the
- election cycle the election board would place the ABS categories or ABS positions into one of the categories
- so this is one updating this and so first I put the designations that were used in 2024 for clerk, travel
- board and leads and then I added reconcilers to this resolution because they have never been previously
- included in a resolution and so this resolution provides that ABS
- clerks would be category A, ABS travel board and reconcilers are category B and ABS leads are category
- C. And then if you adopt this resolution a copy is to be provided to the county council. I see no reason
- not what else does. Motion to adopt. Second. Those in favor. Aye. Opposed? Motion carries.
- Mr. Chair, I just got a text from the Secretary of State's office regarding the tabletop exercise session,
- and they are still waiting for their DHS grant. That's what pays it, because they bring, they use all
- 92 counties. All 92 counties are welcome to participate. And so that would have been how they funded
- it. We went to Scott County? Yeah, I believe so.
- So that is directly from the Secretary of State's office. They are still awaiting their DHS grant. That
- doesn't preclude us from having our own local, does it? Well, until we got direction from the state
- as to how to handle it. My comfort level would be that
- we participate in the one directed by the Secretary of State because the Secretary of State obviously
- has access to the most intel to create the tabletop exercises that we would work with. Ironically, when
- Kylie and I went, one of them was a cybersecurity breach after that had just happened here in Monroe
- County. And so I can reach out
- Again, to see if they can give us the materials that they used then, to see if there's ones that we
- could do ahead of the primary. But my comfort level would be the one directed from the secretary. I
- would agree that the people that do it for a living would be better than those of us that would be trying
- to present. Oh, I was envisioning having our own emergency manager.
- Jamie was with us when we attended that. Yeah Jamie had came with us to that tabletop exercise and it
- was a really great experience. It was able and that's what really got our connection with Jamie and
- now she's constantly we're in great communication with her and she will be at the two or three meetings
- that no two meetings that we'll have very shortly and
- And then she also keeps us updated on election day as well. And during early voting if there's anything
- that we need to be concerned of. Right. And I think we do move to the letter. I was surprised to receive this.
- Who are the outside actors that we're talking about? Where did the indication that these outside actors
- are coming? Where did that come from? Do we have any idea? I'm not sure. The letter was sent to me from
- Jeff Cockrell and asked me to pass it along to the election board. So one thing I do, Mr. Chair, is
- because I have
- connections with the Secretary of State's office. I do regularly ask as we approach the primary if there
- is anything because they're going to have the most up-to-date intelligence. If there is anything of
- which Monroe County should be aware, they obviously also have a plan to notify clerks for impacted counties.
- So I am not aware at this time of
- any threat to Monroe County because of intelligence received about bad actors. But I'm happy to visit
- that again. Well, it also seems to me that maybe just a little bit of redoing what we just talked about.
- That's how I felt when I saw it. We already work with emergency management services. So there's no reason
- for that to not
- I'm sorry, there's no reason for that to change. Jamie has been phenomenal, incredible to work with,
- perfectly available. We have her cell phone number. Even though that's a day she could be sleeping in,
- she is at the ready to respond in real time should we have issues. And we will be in meetings that include
- her beginning next week.
- She's really good also about reaching out to us throughout the day to see if there's anything that we
- need also to just give us updates or to ask us if there's any updates for her. She's been great throughout
- the whole process. We've just discussed being prepared. And there are people who gather intelligence
- that we are not. Correct.
- We had the discussion last night working at the basketball game, those of us that work in lobbies, if
- somebody was, had planned something, intelligence, if they had intelligence on that, we would have lobbies
- with CRO anywhere. So unless they have something that we anticipate, and they're a lot, intelligence
- a lot more frequently than we do,
- I think the plan that we were talking about, go to the tabletop thing, to me that seems to be sufficient.
- I think this is another reason for our residents to sign up for the emergency alert that the county
- has available since that is one of the ways that Ms. Nibel alerts our residents if there's a change.
- We can do that. Anything from any of the board? Due to the length of where we have been, if there is
- public comment that ties to something that this board does or votes on, we would be okay with comment.
- Other than that, I would like to move that we adjourn.
- something that we deal with here. Three minutes. And there's also a hand on line and we have a hand.
- OK, so. And I wanted to thank Penny Giddens for her thorough work that she just performed today. That's
- that's amazing in the training material. I appreciate that. That's that's a good thing.
- I came here with a timed, prepared speech each meeting. I use every second of my tiny three minutes
- that I am lauded when I prepare. I wanted to know why an adjournment was called while I was speaking
- last week. I felt it was rude and disrespectful.
- That was the kind of disrespect I experienced working at Election Central in 2023. And it's the kind
- of experience that Republicans have been experiencing from Democrats. And it's the violence that Americans
- experience from predators today. And we wonder why there's political violence by leftist extremists
- and mentally unstable domestic terrorists, which is important concerning talking about emergency intel.
- You know, hate creates hate, hope and change. That's not what I've seen. I've seen hate and chaos. Democrats
- have created this, all of this. When words are met with violence, when our civilization has fallen,
- humanity hasn't evolved with the advent of technology, it has devolved. And as the predators become
- more cunning with their mimicking abilities and their skillful illusions, they are able to take advantage
- of the sedated
- masses who have become increasingly lazy in their thinking and their sense of self-preservation. They've
- lost their ability to question everything around them, including those they elect in a system of manufactured
- informed consent. I had something completely different prepared for today's three minutes, but again,
- it's like being in junior high. I am absolutely astonished at the behaviors of the adults these days,
- and we wonder why our children have become violent.
- They are the product of the adults in a society that surrounds them. I have no hope when I see elected
- leaders behave like bullying children. We might as well admit that we have become an idiocracy. We use
- our opposable thumbs every day as operating these mobile devices. Specifically, my profession in the
- United States Army, that I was required to hold a top secret clearance to perform the work.
- It was also the same army where I experienced racism against me and other white women, and the same
- army where I experienced sexual harassment by both male and females. No, humans don't change. They just
- become more skillful at avoiding accountability. My point, I get three minutes. I will finish those
- three minutes now from last week. To recap, what happened to go-high Mr. Obama? Oh, that's right, your
- team lied, and they keep lying. Know what?
- The most terrifying part is the fact that our real enemies are in our own government. That was 16 words,
- and that was 16 words cut off. The irony of those last 16 words, enemies in our own government. Perfect.
- To just clarify, the reason at the last meeting was that the three minutes had expired. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
- I have to I have to say my name. I have to do all that I don't know about how that and I time it I time
- this to where it's right in there and we don't push the button to start the timer either Yeah, and that's
- my point. It's like if you're following something that they're doing it then I become the victim of
- that kind of thing and and even a Warning that somehow I've gone over. I can't monitor it here either.
- I don't see
- I don't see anything that says, oh, hey, you've got 20 more seconds. You know, I'm up here just going
- by my own timing and I, I, I spend hours making sure I'm in that time limit. We appreciate that.
- Thank you. Well, we have a hand up. It says RB and all we have is RB. It's Mr. Rita Barrow. Okay. Ms.
- Barrow, go ahead. It looks like she's been.
- It's like they moved her up to give her microphone. Ms. Barrow, could you unmute yourself also, perhaps?
- Yes, Katz, can you confirm if she is still there? And if so, why we can't hear if she's talking to us?
- Okay. There she goes. Can you hear me now? Go ahead. I just wanted to, I'm requesting to you guys, and
- I just wanted to let you know if you need an emergency
- during this. Van Buren's community center is open to you. Okay, thank you. That is incredibly generous.
- The newly completed community center, yes. All right, thank you very much. So you guys made note of
- that over there, correct? Okay. Motion to adjourn. Second?
- favor aye aye we will meet again sometime this month for the testing when we have the other testing
- yes and then when