Okay, then I will call the, what is today? April 9th special meeting of the Monroe County Election Board
to order. We've all seen the minutes that came to us from March 20th. Is there any discussion on those
at all? No, sir. If not, I will move they be approved. Move, so moved. Oh, I'm sorry, you moved, second.
Okay, any discussion? Those in favor, aye. Aye. Okay, opposed?
All right now, Clark, update us on the signage at North Showers. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I don't want
to belabor this, but because it was an issue, I just wanted to give a timeline of what happened on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, the election supervisor received a notification from Mr. Adam with Public Works for the
city of Bloomington.
He asked her to call him regarding the signs, the candidate signs as far as where they should go.
At the time, it also included the directional signs. He mentioned that some of the staff had brought
it up that the signs were on city property and wanted to work with us to get a game plan. This was a
surprise to everyone and but I want to
Mr. Adam for his willingness to meet with us pretty quickly. We got a phone call that he wanted to meet
with us and so the chief deputy, the election supervisor and myself went over to the city and met with
Mr. Adam. We also, I also reached out to one of the commissioners. I also reached out to a city council
member asking for help. We called
the Indiana Election Division and spoke with Matt Cochivar. We also worked with a county attorney and
Mr. Adam spoke with a city attorney. As we left the meeting, my understanding was that there was going
to be a resolution proposed, which ultimately passed at
the meeting on Tuesday evening. And so I believe it was described in the online paper as a kerfuffle.
I am here to say that the kerfuffle lasted less than 24 hours. I am not aware of any significant harm
that was done with respect to the candidate signs, but because the resolution was passed, we are able
to keep those directional signs outside of the showers building, which
actually helps the city as well as the county because it gives the voters the direction where they need
to report to vote early. And so for that, I want to thank Mr. Adam Watson. I believe that's how you
pronounce his name. He was incredibly instrumental in meeting with us so expeditiously. The city and
county attorneys who worked with us and encouraged us to keep calm because there was expected to be
a resolution and everyone worked together
to ensure that the issue was resolved quickly. Thank you. Thank you. To the online media, kerfuffle
is an awesome word. We've used it for a few. I've been in sporting events. Was it a word before it became
a word? Because I never. Absolutely. Before it became a word, it was a real word. Absolutely. I have
been involved in watching kerfuffles at sporting events for years. OK. And as long as I wasn't the one
trying to unkerfuffle it,
They're kind of enjoyable sometimes. I'll just trust you. All right. I made up the word uncurfuffle,
by the way, election central update. Bless you. I want to add one thing to the signage update as well.
I received an email from Miss Givens about the parking for voters in the lot. We have she had suggested
some signage saying that there was some free parking for voters.
We already have two very large signs that say voter parking only for that area and then also Mr. Kreider
went and had some signs made for within of the law as well that all say voter parking only on those
and have arrows pointing to where all of that parking is I don't know any ideas on additional signage
just because of how much signage there is currently and with
Trying to figure out the directional signage versus anything else for that resolution that was passed
with the city And then I'll jump into the election central update So first off we have the total number
of voter registered registered voters. We are currently sitting at 90,000 180 registered voters in Monroe County
And then for the early voting turnout, we are sitting at four hundred and thirty check ins as of right
now. I have a live update on that through our vendor.
And then absentee by mail I actually wanted to also include by email in this as well. So for mail we
are sitting at 603 ballots that have gone out with 86 of those being returned. We did have more that
came in right before I left for this meeting. And then for email we have sent out 57 and have received
eight of those back.
And then a parking update. This is more so for the poll worker parking. While we were dealing with the
sign situation with the city and going back and forth, we also found out there was some miscommunication
on the city side between a couple of the members who are helping us with getting parking situated for
the poll workers.
We do have the trades district garage at this time for them to park in. So it is much closer than the
Morton garage. And then we have those full 10 street parking spots as well. I know that we've had a
couple of our more ADA needing poll workers who are using those street spots. And then they're also
there for any overflow in the parking lot once we get closer towards the end of early voting.
Thank you. Any comments? I just wanted to also point out the web page that the GIS has posted about
early voting. I was amazed to see how much higher the early voting is this year than it has been over
the last several sites. Yeah, so we did hit a history breaking day on the very first day of
early voting, we had 178 check-ins. That is the most in any midterm election to date that we have data
on. And then in addition to that, the dashboard is linked to the election board page on our page.
and you called me that night to indicate that we had broken a record. As I told you, I am on a thread
with a number of regional clerks, and so their numbers were nowhere near our numbers. And so I think
it's fairly safe to say that except for Marion County, who probably has the most early voting numbers
in the state, I thought we did pretty well. And it gives me a chance to thank you and thank Ashley and
everybody who's working
down at Election Central. I have not received one complaint. I am not aware of any one being disenfranchised
for any reason. And and so it is going incredibly smoothly. The people who have left the Justice building
to go down and vote have come back and reported that it is a smooth process from beginning to end, and
that is thanks to your hard work. Yeah. And Mr Crider's handy work at the new facility. People wanted
to check that out.
All right, thank you. And on that, Mr. Crider, relocation update. Do you have anything for us that you
need to say? Yeah, so early, I think it was
Do you remember what day we moved? It was Wednesday last week. It's all running together for me at this
point. Yeah, we went ahead and moved them downstairs into the new space and Unfortunately, we had to
use their their used furniture to make that happen, but we were able to make that happen We're moving
training into suite 203 a little more level floors in that area for them to use and
They're set up downstairs and off and running. The new furniture is incorrect. Did the new furniture
show up? Yeah, actually the new voters early voting furniture arrived today. It's all set up. It's being
signed off on as we speak. So I'd heard that the new furniture arrived today and they were assembling
it and I understood like that it might be impeding the access to the restrooms.
It was directly out in front of the restrooms We were able to go over and see that we were able to easily
get in and out of the restrooms Once you got past some of their boxes It's okay small price.
Yeah All right. Thank you Additional workers we need do we need to vote on some additional workers do
we have? I
don't have it printed, but I emailed them to the board. And in the packet of documents that I left,
there's a resolution entitled resolution appointing absentee board members. Well, I have there are four
resolutions there. I think it might be the third. OK, you had five sheets of paper. The one I was OK.
So actually, if you actually
Molly, I'm sorry. Molly, if you would give us like any any short. I don't say that mean any summary
of what with the first one is same inspector of multiple precincts. So this resolution allows one inspector
to oversee multiple precincts attached to this resolution will be the approved poll list, which list
out the poll locations that have multiple precincts.
And then it indicates that an individual filling the role of a judge may assist or perform the duties
of an inspector at the shared locations. This is the exact same resolution that has been passed in previous
years. I just changed the dates. You would have to approve that person, correct? Because you pick who
works where. Am I correct on that?
My point being, if you did that, it would be someone that we would trust could handle multiple jobs
at that. So the recruiters are the ones who do the recruiting process of that. They will put them where
they need to be. I just give a number of how many workers we need at each location. Oh, I'm sorry. You're
fine. I got it. I understand. I do have a question, though, too, about that. Item three, where it says
individual, hopefully the role of judge may assist.
So we have to worry about the party affiliation of the judge. So in the past for that, if something
were to happen and the inspector had to leave or some type of emergency happened, then generally it
would be the Democratic judge steps into that role. But it's always the Republican judge who is assisting
the Democratic inspector. Do we need to specify that?
I don't believe so. We have never had a problem. We've passed this resolution before. Okay, so then
I will move that we approve this resolution. Is there a number on it somewhere that I should?
There is not. I could start numbering the election board resolutions. I just want to make sure that
what we do passes muster.
It's just the title of the resolution allowing same inspector at multiple precincts. If you move,
I'll second. I'll move that we approve it. Second. Discussion? In favor, aye. Aye. Opposed? The second
one, same inspector at multiple precincts, correct?
That's why we had two copies of it. My bad. Sorry, my bad. I thought, wait a minute. We just did that.
A meeting share us from the primary election. This is a resolution that has been passed in previous
elections as well. Pursuant to Indiana code, the election board may unanimously adapt a resolution that
specifies that certain precinct election officers are not needed.
At and then they must identify which precincts that is excluded. And so this would be Omitting the sheriff's
from all precincts in Monroe County and I've again attached the poll list to the resolution So it's
clear that it would be all of them And then it Indicates the statute requires that if you omit a position
you have to say
Identify another election worker who would fulfill that role if needed So it says the precinct election
officers of inspector judge and or clerk will perform the duties of the omitted sheriff And this is
one that passed and in the past just like it correct. I will move we adopt it second discussion Those
in favor. I I opposed And I won't read the same one again now Molly I apologize
I think that was my fault. That was not because I signed one and passed it and didn't move mine out
of the way. That was me. Resolution appointing absentee board members. So this would be the resolution
that appoints the most recently provided list of absentee board members by both Democratic Party Chair
and Republican Party Chair.
the email correspondence from those party chairs would be attached to the resolution. It is slightly
different than absentee board member appointment resolutions that you've passed within this year because
technically the deadline for appoint for the chairmans to provide nominations have passed. But that's
OK because if there's still the need then it becomes the county election board sole responsibility to
fill those vacancies and you can elect to consult the party chairs. So it's just worded a little bit
differently.
Okay. I'll move we adopt. Second. Discussion. Those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed. All right. Signed and
moved toward you. And the final one is
Delegating unofficial tabulating results. So this was passed the last election, and I think that is
the first election that I remember this resolution coming about. Per the statute, the election board
shall begin at 8 p.m. prevailing local time and at least once every 120 hours into midnight entering
unofficial results for offices elected by the voters. So what this resolution does is delegate that
task to the clerk's office, because I think they have
in the past handled election night results. So it delegates the task to the clerk's office. The language
in number two was what it was last year, which was
The board delegates this duty to the clerk, and it says that the results shall be reported to the media
and party chairs by email similar to the manner results have been reported in the past. If possible,
the results should be provided in a CSV format, and then results should be reported in cooperation with
the Monroe County GIS Division, which I think is already happening. Seems straightforward to me. I think
it's 120 minutes, not 120 hours.
You wrote the right thing and then you said 120 hours. That would be a long night. It would be really
long. I've had some 120 hour nights but I don't think that would be one of them. Is there a motion?
Motion. I second. Just to change things up. Any discussion? Those in favor, aye. Aye. Opposed?
That carries. Okay. We're down and ready for public comment.
Since we drugged Dave Ascot's in, there was a kerfuffle that I just want to bring up that he can report
if he wants. Arlington Road from the roundabout toward Bloomington North has been worked on recently.
It's been torn up. Multiple school buses per day go by that. And the road is so bad that they're forced
into the oncoming lane. There are roads probably in Iran that are smoother than that right now.
It is it is bad and I would like to call upon the City city highway to tell them to either fix it or
fix it So because I don't like school buses driving on a road where literally you're bouncing up and
down like you're in bad places, so that's just You know dragging up here it's kerfuffle esque driving
on that Dave so
Where is the roundabout? The roundabout by Tri-North. It goes up the hill and buses from Tri-North and
North go both directions in the morning and afternoon. And there's a bunch of them. And I drove home
from the thing at IU last night on Arlington and everybody was across the double yellow line driving
the wrong way because the chuck holes in town are smooth compared to that.
And they finished it about a week and a half ago. It needs to be made drivable. Try North and North
are both polling locations. So, oh yeah, that's why I brought that up in this meeting. Yeah. Is it?
Maybe. Sorry, maybe I don't understand. Is it possible to drive the wrong way on a roundabout?
No, it's not the roundabout Arlington Road goes up the hill to the right toward Bloomington North. They're
building that large apartment complex there. And I believe they were putting in the sewer pipes. We
just like it fine. But they really they made a mess out of that. And when they poured concrete, they've
left big drop offs. You go over both ways. And it's the whole the whole northwest bound lane is torn
up badly. And it just it's time to get that
prepared because of school buses driving on it. Okay, that's just we definitely want and we're going
to make this still in under a half an hour so you can get your you stop that you stop that. Well, obviously
it's important with respect to our school children who are precious cargo. And then, of course, as we
approach Election Day and our poll workers will be out there is especially having to report there at
five o'clock in the morning.
anything that we could do to get the word out that that needs attention as expeditiously as possible.
But in the event that it cannot, I think the caveat should be the election board does not oversee traffic
and issues that are with respect to the infrastructure. It also is another reason for people to do early
voting or absentee. Do we have a hand? Yes, we do have a hand. Yes.
Dr. John Baten. Yeah, go ahead. Everybody, can you guys hear me? Yes. Okay, election board.
I'm John Baten. I'm the GIS coordinator for Monroe County. I just thought I would show the early voting
dashboard that we've developed in partnership with voter edge. So I'll share my screen. It looks like
I have access to do that. If you guys are interested in this, it's a fairly dynamic dashboard.
And it's fairly cool, we're doing it here in Monroe County. So if you go to the Monroe County homepage,
you can click on the GIS division or I believe in voter registration as well. You can scroll down here
and click on our website. And then within our website, you will see a tab here to the early voting dashboard.
Again, I mentioned this is a partnership with voter registration and we're conducting this in a fairly
great way. Kylie sends me emails at night.
I'm at home, I go in and I plug new data in. And so this has been updated as of last night. But as was
mentioned earlier today, we are doing really good in terms of voter turnout versus prior years. So what
you can see here are the total early votes as of last evening for 2026, the days until the election.
And this little clock down is gonna keep on counting down as we approach May 5th. And then what you
get here is a little bit of a bar chart showing the number of votes that have occurred
sequentially or over days, and so we're at two days in the election cycle. In 2026, we've had 339 votes.
You can see in 2022, the last early voting for a midterm, we had 118, 241, et cetera. You can also look
at daily voting totals for those past midterm early voting primary elections.
in the past as well on this dashboard. This has been configured to work on mobile devices as well. It's
a little bit more simplified on a mobile device, just a couple indicators and gauges, but we'll be doing
this up until the election on May 5th. And then on May 5th, we'll be working again in partnership with
voter registration to do live election reporting at the county and precinct level scale. So I just wanted
to showcase this so folks know where it's at and know that we're updating it and things like that.
I'll also note we do have a hyperlink here to our voter central application as well. This has been developed
by some of the great GIS technicians we've had within the GIS division, both Irina Valentin Boland and
then Nick Angelos. But within this voter information, you can type in your address. So I'll just type
in mine really quickly in Perry Township. And it will tell you, click on your address, you can zoom
in, and it's going to give you an idea of
all of the current elected officials you have, where your polling location is, and things like that.
So just another great resource we have within Monroe County. That's all I have. Can you show us your
number again that had the total number of voters? Sure. Because that was about 400 less than the number
we were just given a little bit ago.
Yeah, you carry this data. And we were given $90,100. Yeah, $90,180. So that is including the ones that
are still in pending. What he has is the current active. So the ones that are still in pending could
be seven days out. Awesome. I just want to do there was a difference and that explains it. All right.
Anything else? I'm sorry.
I was just gonna say, yeah, we will be updating this nightly just to make sure that all those numbers
kind of jive and are correlated with what we have at voter edge, so. Please don't misunderstand. There
was no criticism anywhere. I just. Oh, totally. Some numbers people get fussy about numbers when they
don't line up. Anything from any other member? No, sir. Okay, we will meet again in two weeks. Yes,
sir. At the same time. Do we need to add workers
names for early voting? That was part of the one we did? Yes. I do want to add though that so early
voting has been going great. We haven't had any issues. I will state that we have one provisional so
far during early voting. This person was pending so that results back into the total number of registered
voters and the only reason that
they continued with a provisional was because they don't know if they'll be back in time to vote. So
they wanted to go ahead and go. And so they did get a provisional. So there's currently one for Monroe
County. OK, I was I went down Monday and came in the normal door and just went ahead and did mine just
to see what it was like. Have you been down yet? OK, the storage cubbies for the backpacks and things
was a stroke of genius how that worked.
I mean, when I was there, somebody brought in a backpack, they took it up and stuck it in there. When
they left, it was great. So I was very impressed with how the whole thing went down. And again, just
for the record, as we prepare to close, Mr. Chair, there have been no incidents of voter suppression,
disenfranchisement. Everything has gone smoothly.
And so I just want to make that clear. We are encouraging early voting. Please get out. We are excited.
We got great people waiting to help you. And as I say, everybody who has gone that has come back and
report to me said very smooth process. So I think I was done in less than 10 minutes. Thank you.
Thank you. Motion to adjourn. Motion. Second.
Those in favor, aye. We are adjourned.