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