WEBVTT 00:00:00.802 --> 00:00:11.715 - It is 1.30. The September 3rd meeting of the Monroe County Election Board is called to order. First 00:00:11.715 --> 00:00:23.064 - business is to approve minutes of April 9, August 6, and August 12. I move approval of the minutes from 00:00:23.064 --> 00:00:29.502 - August 9, August 6, and August 12. Second. Discussion? No. 00:00:30.402 --> 00:00:57.150 - Thank you, Mr Chair. Last month I hosted a. Roundtable take slash tabletop 00:00:58.018 --> 00:01:06.026 - friends to us through elections, such as the Secretary of State, the Association of Indiana Counties, 00:01:06.026 --> 00:01:14.191 - someone who used to work with CISA, but now they're with a lobbyist, the election director from another 00:01:14.191 --> 00:01:22.513 - county, EMA, legal women voters, and we did some tabletop exercises in the new space at Election Central. 00:01:22.513 --> 00:01:25.182 - They went very, very well. We got 00:01:26.178 --> 00:01:34.488 - that we need to know. I got a little bit of feedback on things we could do to improve, and I actually 00:01:34.488 --> 00:01:42.879 - it was. Just having a pre. This is a weird word. Pre prepared message. Um to send out via text. Should 00:01:42.879 --> 00:01:51.270 - we have any issue that we need to know? Notify voters of and so the feedback that I got from that. I'm 00:01:51.270 --> 00:01:53.470 - going to do an X. I'm just 00:01:53.922 --> 00:02:00.547 - 2026, Monroe County conducted a tabletop exercise to assess abilities to deal with possible emergencies 00:02:00.547 --> 00:02:06.980 - on Election Day. The test was conducted at Election Central. Clerk Nicole Brown hosted the exercise. 00:02:06.980 --> 00:02:13.350 - Seven members of the public representing various perspectives were invited to observe the test. The 00:02:13.350 --> 00:02:19.210 - participants discussed how to respond to example emergencies in three areas, polling sites, 00:02:19.210 --> 00:02:21.822 - Election Central, and natural disasters. 00:02:22.050 --> 00:02:28.649 - The observers were invited to contribute to the debriefing after each scenario and the exercise concluded 00:02:28.649 --> 00:02:35.372 - with a general discussion of what went well and potential problems that were not included in this scenario. 00:02:35.372 --> 00:02:36.990 - The collaborative, sorry. 00:02:37.090 --> 00:02:43.636 - The collaborative relationships among the participants for evident and the discussion of potential new 00:02:43.636 --> 00:02:50.055 - problems demonstrated the ability to work across jurisdictional lines. So I'm incredibly grateful to 00:02:50.055 --> 00:02:55.838 - my staff, incredibly grateful to our friends. We had a really, really positive experience. 00:02:56.322 --> 00:03:02.889 - I already felt as though our plans in Monroe County were good, but this kind of reinforced that and 00:03:02.889 --> 00:03:09.718 - just gave us a little bit of feedback on something we could do to improve. With respect to the upcoming 00:03:09.718 --> 00:03:16.482 - tabletop event, the Secretary of State. Is there any discussion on the tabletop? Just an update. Well, 00:03:16.482 --> 00:03:23.049 - I would like to know why I was not invited. Neither of you was. It was my event. Neither of you was 00:03:23.049 --> 00:03:25.150 - invited. I had proxies for you. 00:03:25.378 --> 00:03:31.051 - you did not have a proxy for me, not one that I appointed or that the Democratic chair appointed, and 00:03:31.051 --> 00:03:36.669 - how you could claim that a proxy who does not live in Monroe County and who, although is a wonderful 00:03:36.669 --> 00:03:42.342 - young woman, how you can claim that she is the Democratic representative when she votes in Republican 00:03:42.342 --> 00:03:48.127 - primaries, I do not fathom this. I was incredibly, incredibly shocked since I'm the one that asked last 00:03:48.127 --> 00:03:51.742 - winter, well, before the primary, multiple times for a tabletop, 00:03:52.002 --> 00:03:58.294 - and was turned down and then to see that one was held here in Monroe County and I was not included. 00:03:58.294 --> 00:04:04.776 - That's very disrespectful. Neither neither board member was included. I did not want to publicize that 00:04:04.776 --> 00:04:11.068 - I was having a tabletop exercise. We picked people to role play. They did very well. You do have an 00:04:11.068 --> 00:04:17.549 - opportunity to attend the tabletop exercise that I am getting ready to read if I can finish my update. 00:04:17.549 --> 00:04:20.318 - Well, but again, to claim that somebody was 00:04:20.514 --> 00:04:29.239 - the Republican, I'm sorry, the Democratic representative, who is not even a Democrat and who does not 00:04:29.239 --> 00:04:37.964 - live in Monroe County, is an insult to the Democrats in Monroe County. It was my event. It's done. We 00:04:37.964 --> 00:04:46.519 - had an incredible exercise. And if I can move along to my next update. Again, I requested that last 00:04:46.519 --> 00:04:49.598 - before the primary, so I think that 00:04:51.426 --> 00:04:59.415 - and you are allowed to hold events. With us here under certain circumstances with both Mr Shields and 00:04:59.415 --> 00:05:07.246 - me present under certain circumstances. Wrong move. Was the right move for my office. Thank you. So 00:05:07.246 --> 00:05:15.705 - the Secretary of State is hosting four tabletop exercises across the state to strengthen election security, 00:05:15.705 --> 00:05:19.934 - preparedness, coordination and response capabilities. 00:05:20.066 --> 00:05:28.493 - these exercises will offer an opportunity to work through real scenarios, identify potential gaps, and 00:05:28.493 --> 00:05:37.166 - improve coordination among agencies to support secure elections. And so I think most everybody affiliated 00:05:37.166 --> 00:05:45.430 - with Monroe County elections were invited to participate and sign up. And so that will be within the 00:05:45.430 --> 00:05:47.230 - next couple of weeks. 00:05:51.138 --> 00:05:58.459 - Okay. Moving to new business. We need to approve some equipment to be tested. That sounds like Miss 00:05:58.459 --> 00:06:05.854 - Kylie. So in your guys this packet, you will have a list that was submitted to us by V stop. Um, the 00:06:05.854 --> 00:06:13.322 - is a randomized list of all of the optic scan devices that we use in Monroe County for the elections. 00:06:13.322 --> 00:06:15.518 - You will see that some of the 00:06:15.650 --> 00:06:22.611 - some of them are highlighted. Those are the ones that we are suggesting be tested, because they are 00:06:22.611 --> 00:06:29.851 - most likely to be used on election day. And then the rest are followed in order. So if there's one that 00:06:29.851 --> 00:06:36.881 - you would like to remove, we would just move to the next one, which would be Bloomington High School 00:06:36.881 --> 00:06:44.051 - South, number one. Anybody have anything to say? I don't have any problem with those being chosen. Oh, 00:06:44.051 --> 00:06:45.374 - Molly, you got me. 00:06:46.338 --> 00:06:52.600 - And I did prepare a resolution for the board that references the statute that says no later than 74 00:06:52.600 --> 00:06:59.174 - days before election day for each county planning to use electronic voting systems at the next election. 00:06:59.174 --> 00:07:05.436 - V-stop shall provide a randomly sorted list. And then pursuant to that statute, after receiving the 00:07:05.436 --> 00:07:11.697 - random list, the county election board is tasked with starting at the top of the list and selecting 00:07:11.697 --> 00:07:14.014 - machines. And then it cites the code 00:07:14.114 --> 00:07:19.869 - identifying what kind of machines can be selected. It acknowledges that we received the list on August 00:07:19.869 --> 00:07:25.568 - 24th and that the contracted vendor responsible for election equipment and IT and setup looked at the 00:07:25.568 --> 00:07:31.211 - list and made the recommendations, which is highlighted in what you have. And then the now therefore 00:07:31.211 --> 00:07:36.854 - clause says that the election board identifies the highlighted machines listed within the exhibit as 00:07:36.854 --> 00:07:42.442 - the machines to be tested and directs the election staff to provide notice of the public testing in 00:07:42.442 --> 00:07:44.062 - accordance with Indiana law. 00:07:48.418 --> 00:07:55.336 - Do I guess I need a motion that we accept this? I will make a motion that we accept the recommended 00:07:55.336 --> 00:08:02.255 - equipment. My mic's not working. I'll second. Sorry. Check it. Go ahead and check it again. No, no. 00:08:02.255 --> 00:08:09.242 - I wanted to make sure it got picked up by the recording. That's okay. We have a motion and a second. 00:08:09.242 --> 00:08:15.607 - Then I guess we'll, do we need to call the roll on this or can we just? You can voice vote. 00:08:15.607 --> 00:08:17.406 - Those in favor, aye. Aye. 00:08:18.242 --> 00:08:27.401 - Okay, motion carries. I will send out the public notice for the testing. Okay, and we've decided to 00:08:27.401 --> 00:08:37.019 - table the general election staff. To a later meeting, which we think is September. Did you say the 24th? 00:08:37.019 --> 00:08:46.270 - We will look at doing the 24th at 1 30. And do that. First I've heard that date. That's the first we 00:08:47.202 --> 00:08:54.938 - Again, that is one of the items that is a majority. So if need to be, we could have either a proxy or 00:08:54.938 --> 00:09:02.523 - we would have quorum. All we're doing is approving the workers, correct? Yes, approving the workers 00:09:02.523 --> 00:09:10.184 - prior to them having training the following week. These are just people submitted by the two chairs. 00:09:10.184 --> 00:09:12.990 - So I don't think this should happen. 00:09:16.834 --> 00:09:24.813 - So can you send a proxy for that? I'll have to find out. I've had a death in the family. And so I have 00:09:24.813 --> 00:09:32.947 - to travel that day at that time. Molly, talk to us here. I think that we were just looking at scheduling 00:09:32.947 --> 00:09:40.694 - a meeting after the deadline for the party chairs to nominate. And I think the deadline's September 00:09:40.694 --> 00:09:43.870 - 18th. Ideally, in talking to Ms. Ferris, 00:09:44.290 --> 00:09:51.874 - the special meeting to appoint them will occur before September 30th because that's the first day of 00:09:51.874 --> 00:09:59.458 - training. So I think you have any we could look at any time the week of the 21st. On the whole way I 00:09:59.458 --> 00:10:04.414 - can do I can do a proxy. I've gone Thursday and Friday that week. 00:10:11.842 --> 00:10:21.361 - I'm good most of that week. Except Friday. Is there a day that we you say you're going Thursday and 00:10:21.361 --> 00:10:30.975 - Friday? Is there a day that week you were? About that week other than. So I will appoint a proxy for 00:10:30.975 --> 00:10:38.686 - myself. This should not be a difficult thing to do. We're approving workers, so. 00:10:39.106 --> 00:10:46.125 - I'm good with the 24th. You send a proxy. Do we have to make a motion to that? Or can you set that? 00:10:46.125 --> 00:10:53.285 - No, I can set the meeting. We just need to confirm a date. All we're going to do is say these workers 00:10:53.285 --> 00:11:00.795 - are OK or these workers are not OK. Yeah. That's kind of easy. Are we allowed to operate with two proxies? 00:11:00.795 --> 00:11:04.094 - This is a general question, not just for this. 00:11:05.474 --> 00:11:15.329 - I would have to look into it. Nothing comes to mind that I think prohibits it. Would we have two proxies 00:11:15.329 --> 00:11:25.278 - on the 24th? She won't be here and she won't be here. I can do Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday of that week. 00:11:34.722 --> 00:11:40.894 - have to look in to see if there's an issue with having two proxies. Nothing comes to mind, but I don't 00:11:40.894 --> 00:11:46.947 - want to give you a confirmation that that's not a problem without looking at it. We have three weeks 00:11:46.947 --> 00:11:53.059 - from today to get to that date. And how much time do you have to have to publish it? You have to have 00:11:53.059 --> 00:11:59.052 - four. You have to publish the note meeting within 48 hours. Why don't you look for dates we can get 00:11:59.052 --> 00:12:03.966 - rooms that work and set something? Is that OK? Does that work for you two ladies? 00:12:04.354 --> 00:12:13.352 - Okay. That's fine with me. All right. Um, now it looks like we're, we are tabling that part to that 00:12:13.352 --> 00:12:22.439 - meeting. So, uh, we're going to move into old business. Uh, before I start this, uh, part of the old 00:12:22.439 --> 00:12:31.527 - business besides Mr. Crider will be the, uh, complaints that need to be reviewed. Um, I did not seek 00:12:31.527 --> 00:12:34.046 - this position. I was chair. 00:12:34.658 --> 00:12:43.566 - I will not be terribly sad when it's somebody else's. It takes a lot of time. But it seems to me that 00:12:43.566 --> 00:12:52.649 - one of the things of dealing with this is you always have to have a villain. Sometimes all that villain 00:12:52.649 --> 00:12:58.238 - has to do is disagree with them, regardless of what it is over. 00:13:02.530 --> 00:13:12.262 - I think it's important to realize that when you try to make someone a villain, you have to be careful 00:13:12.262 --> 00:13:21.995 - how you do that. You need something besides things that are just made up or being mad at someone just 00:13:21.995 --> 00:13:29.342 - because they disagree. So as a result of that, all I have been interested in 00:13:32.418 --> 00:13:39.484 - in these complaints is that if a law was broken, and that's with any of the complaints we've dealt with, 00:13:39.484 --> 00:13:46.280 - then we pass it on and let the prosecuting attorney make the decision about whether or not something 00:13:46.280 --> 00:13:53.077 - should happen. I don't want this to become a circus. We've seen it happen. So what I have decided to 00:13:53.077 --> 00:13:57.182 - do is for the old business and the remainder of the meeting, 00:13:57.698 --> 00:14:04.852 - I have assigned proxy for Mr. Jack Schmidt, Dr. Jack Schmidt, to come finish the meeting and handle 00:14:04.852 --> 00:14:12.150 - the complaints. That way we don't have any of the arguments that you and I are biased against someone 00:14:12.150 --> 00:14:19.304 - before it even started. I just, I want the truth to come out and I want the law to be followed. So, 00:14:19.304 --> 00:14:25.886 - Dr. Schmidt, the... Are you leaving the meeting? No, I'm going to go sit with, sit back and 00:14:26.274 --> 00:14:35.834 - So you returned because I've got a couple. I'm sure the balance. I'd like sure. So Dr Smith, the position 00:14:35.834 --> 00:14:45.214 - is yours. Do you have a copy of the. I've got you. Are we going to have Mr Crider speak so he can. Just 00:14:45.214 --> 00:14:50.174 - of his duties. Yeah, he's the next item on the agenda. 00:15:01.858 --> 00:15:08.328 - Good afternoon, board members. Richard Crider, Monroe County Building and Fleet. I'm here to give you 00:15:08.328 --> 00:15:14.735 - an update on the election central space today. Currently, since the last meeting, we've received the 00:15:14.735 --> 00:15:21.142 - proper door handles. I'm happy to announce that they've all been installed. We've received the keys. 00:15:21.142 --> 00:15:27.358 - I'll work with maintenance to get those cataloged, and we'll distribute those to Ms. Ferris soon. 00:15:27.906 --> 00:15:36.494 - What else? A project I'm particularly excited about is the reception space and early voting. Let me 00:15:36.494 --> 00:15:45.082 - back up a little bit. A little while back, after we finished this space, I received some photos one 00:15:45.082 --> 00:15:50.750 - morning that the air conditioning unit above where the staff sits 00:15:50.978 --> 00:15:57.954 - the condensation pump had failed and water poured in all over our brand new staff work area. And that 00:15:57.954 --> 00:16:04.931 - was troubling. We got that fixed. And when we thought about it, we thought, you know, this is kind of 00:16:04.931 --> 00:16:11.839 - a silly place to have this air conditioner. And coincidentally, right at the same time, I received a 00:16:11.839 --> 00:16:15.806 - notice from HFI that that air conditioner had a bad coil. 00:16:16.162 --> 00:16:22.158 - And then those units are old enough that if you're going to take it out of the ceiling to replace the 00:16:22.158 --> 00:16:28.095 - coil, you're just going to replace the unit. And we thought, OK, if we're going to replace the unit, 00:16:28.095 --> 00:16:34.267 - let's put it out in the lobby. That way, any time it has a service or needs repair, it doesn't interrupt 00:16:34.267 --> 00:16:40.146 - staff. So that's what we're working on right now. They got that removed, the new one installed, and 00:16:40.146 --> 00:16:43.614 - they're buttoning that up this week. And we are having the 00:16:43.746 --> 00:16:51.296 - the teller windows installed as well at the same time. When I first asked if we could get that done 00:16:51.296 --> 00:16:58.922 - this week, they told me they could. I was skeptical. It seems like a lot of work to do in a five-day 00:16:58.922 --> 00:17:06.548 - period, but they're moving right along, and I think that's going to happen. I'm going to order, as I 00:17:06.548 --> 00:17:12.286 - mentioned before, some additional furniture for the election central space. 00:17:12.770 --> 00:17:22.615 - some things for the staff coming in next week to improve their little work area. So that's what I have 00:17:22.615 --> 00:17:32.460 - for you. Any questions? I was over there this morning and walked in for the ballot review and saw some 00:17:32.460 --> 00:17:35.614 - of the work being done, so yeah. 00:17:36.610 --> 00:17:44.312 - We're excited to start seeing the additional work be completed before the general election and making 00:17:44.312 --> 00:17:51.939 - sure that we're staying in communication with Richard to get anything resolved that we're finding as 00:17:51.939 --> 00:17:53.374 - things come along. 00:17:53.474 --> 00:17:59.838 - Being in a new space is always difficult, trying to find places for things to go. But it's even more 00:17:59.838 --> 00:18:06.329 - difficult when you don't know for sure what that space is going to look like yet. So everybody working 00:18:06.329 --> 00:18:12.945 - in the office is working really good together to make sure that we are finding spaces that are temporary 00:18:12.945 --> 00:18:19.372 - that will hopefully eventually become permanent locations for things. And no delays as far as meeting 00:18:19.372 --> 00:18:22.334 - your timeline? There's been some delays, yeah. 00:18:22.498 --> 00:18:30.713 - I don't have any delays for what I'm going to accomplish before the general election. Oh, and then one 00:18:30.713 --> 00:18:39.326 - more thing to note, recently at a commissioner's meeting, it was approved to have access controls installed 00:18:39.326 --> 00:18:47.302 - on the IT maintenance room doors and some security cameras in that room as well. So. Any questions? 00:18:47.302 --> 00:18:49.854 - No. Thanks. Thank you, Richard. 00:18:51.458 --> 00:18:58.528 - Now at a point to review complaints. Can people come forward who have complaints about election? So 00:18:58.528 --> 00:19:05.738 - there is one complaint that the board has previously discussed, and that is the complaint made by Ms. 00:19:05.738 --> 00:19:13.232 - Sharp against Ms. Trimble. And then I think the idea today is that we would also, the board would receive 00:19:13.232 --> 00:19:20.372 - a complaint made by Ms. Trimble against Ms. Sharp and decide how to proceed on that complaint. So if 00:19:20.372 --> 00:19:21.150 - you're OK, 00:19:21.346 --> 00:19:29.267 - I will go ahead and address the first complaint and kind of recap who we left off. So at the last meeting, 00:19:29.267 --> 00:19:37.040 - the board had tabled the complaint asking for further direction from the Indiana Election Division about 00:19:37.040 --> 00:19:44.888 - a specific statute. Sorry. I reached out to Mr. Coach of the Indiana Election Division. And in the email, 00:19:44.888 --> 00:19:50.366 - I provided him the background. And then we discussed Indiana code 314215. 00:19:50.466 --> 00:19:57.512 - which would make it a level six felony for a person to knowingly pay or offer to pay an individual any 00:19:57.512 --> 00:20:04.832 - property based on the number of signatures obtained to place a candidate or public question on the ballot. 00:20:04.832 --> 00:20:12.152 - I was asking Mr. Cotravar to provide some guidance on the statute as to what situation that might address. 00:20:12.152 --> 00:20:17.214 - And his response was, I can only give you a plain reading of the statute. 00:20:17.346 --> 00:20:24.588 - The courts have not taken this up, so I do not believe there is any judicial interpretation of the statute. 00:20:24.588 --> 00:20:31.361 - I can also tell you that the General Assembly added this to the statute primarily to bar the payment 00:20:31.361 --> 00:20:38.670 - of petition circulators based on how much signatures they created as at the time there had been a circulator 00:20:38.670 --> 00:20:43.230 - that was charged and convicted of forging signatures on a petition. 00:20:43.682 --> 00:20:49.751 - If a county election board member fills that not enough information or facts have been provided for 00:20:49.751 --> 00:20:56.124 - them to make a reasonable leap that an election law has been violated, then they can vote not to proceed 00:20:56.124 --> 00:21:02.194 - on the investigation. So based on that, I didn't get any further interpretation of the statute, and 00:21:02.194 --> 00:21:06.078 - so I think it's up to the board to decide if you feel as though 00:21:06.274 --> 00:21:15.476 - there's a reasonable belief to conduct a hearing to determine what to do with the complaint, specifically 00:21:15.476 --> 00:21:24.330 - looking at Indiana Code 314215, which is the statute I just read. And inherent is that statute is the 00:21:24.330 --> 00:21:29.278 - definition of property. Oh, I do have one more addition. 00:21:29.890 --> 00:21:36.054 - At the last meeting, there was a discussion on, well, if the election board decides not to do anything 00:21:36.054 --> 00:21:42.277 - with this complaint, does that allow the complainant, which is Ms. Sharp in this case, to contact local 00:21:42.277 --> 00:21:48.560 - law enforcement directly? And what Mr. Cotravar had said in response to that is, yes, even if the county 00:21:48.560 --> 00:21:54.664 - election board dismisses or didn't take up the complaint, the person making the complaint could still 00:21:54.664 --> 00:21:59.870 - report an alleged election crime, as it is a crime to proper law enforcement agencies. 00:22:06.018 --> 00:22:16.055 - for the board. I don't know if you had an opportunity to look at the meeting that we had last month 00:22:16.055 --> 00:22:26.494 - about this. My position has not changed. Oh, I am not here to vote to move this forward. I believe that 00:22:26.494 --> 00:22:33.118 - the violation has occurred and would be voting to move it forward 00:22:33.346 --> 00:22:40.248 - But now by moving forward, that means for us at another meeting to hold a hearing and then to decide 00:22:40.248 --> 00:22:47.219 - whether or not to forward that to the prosecutor for prosecution. We don't make a decision legally on 00:22:47.219 --> 00:22:54.258 - whether or not a violation occurred. Our responsibility, if I understand it, and Molly, please correct 00:22:54.258 --> 00:23:01.434 - me if I'm wrong, our responsibility is to determine whether or not this is something that should receive 00:23:01.434 --> 00:23:03.006 - further investigation. 00:23:04.930 --> 00:23:12.566 - I think that is, and I can pull up the investigation statute, if the election board did have a hearing 00:23:12.566 --> 00:23:20.127 - to determine if there was substantial evidence to believe the violation occurred, one option would be 00:23:20.127 --> 00:23:28.059 - for the board to forward it to the prosecutor for further review. So this board would not then do anything 00:23:28.059 --> 00:23:32.062 - in a hearing outside looking at the facts and saying, 00:23:32.514 --> 00:23:40.226 - the hearing. Correct So if there was if the board were to conduct a hearing, what would occur is that 00:23:40.226 --> 00:23:48.317 - the complaint and so miss Sharp in this case would have the opportunity to present evidence. The candidate 00:23:48.317 --> 00:23:55.878 - in question Miss Trimble would have the opportunity then to present evidence. Um and then the board 00:23:55.878 --> 00:24:01.246 - would decide based on the evidence if they how they wanted to proceed. 00:24:03.714 --> 00:24:10.997 - Yes, it would be just a presentation of evidence, and then the board would decide thereafter how to 00:24:10.997 --> 00:24:18.426 - proceed. The board members also see the severity of this across the board here, or is it just because 00:24:18.426 --> 00:24:25.855 - from what I read from what I understood, it was the appearance or at least the sounding that somebody 00:24:25.855 --> 00:24:31.390 - would give you a free assessment if you signed a petition. Is that correct? 00:24:35.074 --> 00:24:44.661 - I think that's a fair assessment. Um, but for We had something from Mr Coach of our saying that it did 00:24:44.661 --> 00:24:54.434 - not is not illegal to offer property in exchange for signing. We do not have a law that makes it illegal 00:24:54.434 --> 00:25:03.742 - to offer property in exchange for signing a petition. So even if she offered consultation services, 00:25:05.922 --> 00:25:15.712 - And that is an item of value that is not illegal. That's how I read what he said. And I have not been 00:25:15.712 --> 00:25:25.311 - given anything in the last 30 days to indicate that that has changed. Would counsel agree with that 00:25:25.311 --> 00:25:29.822 - interpretation? Which of the spot, but I will. 00:25:33.058 --> 00:25:41.331 - I don't know that I can offer opinion on what Mr. Cotravar is saying without seeing exactly the question 00:25:41.331 --> 00:25:49.525 - as asked to him. And I'm not sure we might have talked about it at the last meeting. But I do know that 00:25:49.525 --> 00:25:56.222 - I am trying to find it. There was an email. Can I have a second, please, to look at? 00:26:40.290 --> 00:26:46.652 - If I may, I'm going to read Mr. Kothravar's response into the record. He says, while it is a crime under 00:26:46.652 --> 00:26:53.136 - the election law to give property to a voter in exchange for registering to vote, applying for an absentee 00:26:53.136 --> 00:26:59.195 - ballot, and voting either generally or for a specific candidate, we do not have a law that makes it 00:26:59.195 --> 00:27:05.982 - illegal to offer property in exchange for signing a petition. But it would be up to the prosecutor to determine 00:27:06.370 --> 00:27:13.520 - if they read one of our election crimes or find some other criminal provision in a different title of 00:27:13.520 --> 00:27:21.020 - the state code and have evidence the candidate violated that law. So to clarify, the signing of a petition 00:27:21.020 --> 00:27:28.521 - is the issue here, not somebody deciding I'm going to vote for something or register to become a candidate 00:27:28.521 --> 00:27:35.390 - because of that exchange, correct? I didn't read the complaint exactly that way. Maybe I'm wrong. 00:27:35.842 --> 00:27:44.786 - be happy to be corrected. But what I saw on Facebook was that the person whom the complaint is about 00:27:44.786 --> 00:27:53.642 - offered her services to the folks that brought in signed petitions. It wasn't for a given person to 00:27:53.642 --> 00:28:03.294 - sign the petition. It was for her work in getting the petitions signed. So yeah, if I were to go out and get 00:28:03.682 --> 00:28:14.784 - if she had 10 signatures, then she would offer service to me. And it just didn't feel right to me. We're 00:28:14.784 --> 00:28:25.569 - talking about signatures. We're not talking about votes. So I go back to what I said last month. Even 00:28:25.569 --> 00:28:33.182 - if she did, there is no law. There is no statute that makes that wrong. 00:28:34.178 --> 00:28:42.055 - you know, the optics, whatever else personally, I'm saying leave it to the voters. I'll state in the 00:28:42.055 --> 00:28:50.088 - email from Matthew Coach of our after the second portion of highlighting, it says the subdivision does 00:28:50.088 --> 00:28:57.964 - not prohibit payment for gathering signatures, not not based. So for that, again, that's where I see 00:28:57.964 --> 00:29:00.382 - this was gathering signatures. 00:29:00.578 --> 00:29:08.177 - So it's not prohibited to pay somebody to gather signatures. So if this board decides not to move forward, 00:29:08.177 --> 00:29:15.635 - the complaintants still have an option of going to the prosecuting office to see if the prosecutor wants 00:29:15.635 --> 00:29:22.950 - to move forward. If the complaintant wanted to, they would report it to local law enforcement and then 00:29:22.950 --> 00:29:29.342 - they would forward the report to the prosecutor to see if prosecution would be warranted. 00:29:30.466 --> 00:29:38.005 - And it seemed to me also clear that with the election supervisors, our election, I forgot his. Mr. Cotravar, 00:29:38.005 --> 00:29:45.199 - he's one of the co-attorneys at the Indiana election division. And he suggested also what you read that 00:29:45.199 --> 00:29:52.254 - we don't really have any adjudication based on the law that was passed. So it's still kind of unclear 00:29:52.254 --> 00:29:56.542 - what is in statute and what the judicial process would allow. 00:29:56.866 --> 00:30:05.110 - Yeah, as far as adjudication if it would be up to the prosecutor if you forward it to that far Any other 00:30:05.110 --> 00:30:13.118 - discussions I just I hark back to a movie. I used to watch as a child that People were offered liquor 00:30:13.118 --> 00:30:21.048 - on election day to vote for a given candidate And so that was for a long time liquor stores and bars 00:30:21.048 --> 00:30:26.622 - were closed during the hours that elections occurred so I I'm not sure 00:30:27.074 --> 00:30:37.352 - This is not the same. It's truly not. But I feel like there was an exchange, in this case, for getting 00:30:37.352 --> 00:30:47.431 - somebody on the ballot itself. Otherwise, the person could not have been on the ballot. And so it is 00:30:47.431 --> 00:30:55.614 - a fine line here. But it's to get her on the ballot. It's a signature. I realize. 00:30:59.682 --> 00:31:08.317 - It sounds like clarity hasn't come at least to the full board between now and then. However, in looking 00:31:08.317 --> 00:31:16.703 - at the facts that were described, stuff that I read before from last time, can we go ahead and table 00:31:16.703 --> 00:31:25.089 - any further discussions or? Discussions to do what? So we can vote. I have no further discussion. We 00:31:25.089 --> 00:31:29.406 - need a motion. Okay. Vote on this particular issue. 00:31:32.994 --> 00:31:42.241 - Can you make a motion to vote? Yeah, I would move that we hold a hearing on Ms. Sharpe's complaint against 00:31:42.241 --> 00:31:50.969 - Janee Trimble. And then with the understanding that we are not the ultimate decision-making body. Do 00:31:50.969 --> 00:32:00.129 - I hear a second? We're allowed to second. But that's up to you. Yes, I think I'll pass. Thank you anyway. 00:32:00.129 --> 00:32:01.598 - So motion fails. 00:32:04.546 --> 00:32:15.052 - to vote on this particular issue. I was able to go to the prosecutor, so you want a motion to. Make 00:32:15.052 --> 00:32:25.874 - a decision for the committee. The committee has I am going to make a motion that we move forward. Pass 00:32:25.874 --> 00:32:33.438 - this without. A hearing and. If the complainant wants to take it to the 00:32:34.754 --> 00:32:45.765 - And for clarity, I think what Ms. Brown's motion is effectively doing is dismissing the complaint. Then 00:32:45.765 --> 00:32:56.670 - I'll make a motion to dismiss the complaint. Seconded. OK. Any further discussion? Here. Aye. Opposed? 00:33:07.426 --> 00:33:15.262 - Yes. Is there a second complaint? I understand. Thank you. So the second complaint has not been formally 00:33:15.262 --> 00:33:22.949 - received by the election board. So my first recommendation is that you formally receive the complaint, 00:33:22.949 --> 00:33:30.487 - which was provided to election office. Do you know the date? I think it's August 6th, but I'm asking 00:33:30.487 --> 00:33:37.278 - Ms. Kiley. August 6th. August 6th. The complaint is made by Ms. Trimble against Ms. Sharp. 00:33:37.762 --> 00:33:49.022 - So I think the first step is for the board to formally receive the complaint. I will make a motion to 00:33:49.022 --> 00:34:00.062 - formally receive the complaint. A single citation that listed an election violation in what I read. 00:34:05.954 --> 00:34:15.323 - Okay. Okay. Well, then I will second. Yeah. Thank you. Second. All the papers. Yeah. All right. Good. 00:34:15.323 --> 00:34:24.876 - All right. Complaint is received, and I think the next step would be for the board to have a discussion 00:34:24.876 --> 00:34:34.245 - to determine if there's a reasonable belief that an election law has been violated. It's been a while 00:34:34.245 --> 00:34:35.806 - since I read the 00:34:36.418 --> 00:34:45.433 - citation of a single law that was violated. I didn't know who the pictures were associated with. I didn't 00:34:45.433 --> 00:34:54.107 - know when or where they were taken, but that did not, to me, link it against the person the complaint 00:34:54.107 --> 00:35:02.782 - was filed against. I had an opportunity to read it. Given that we just dismissed the other complaint, 00:35:04.002 --> 00:35:12.445 - I am of the same vein. Let's move forward. We have an election. I am going to make a motion to dismiss 00:35:12.445 --> 00:35:21.053 - this. We've read it. We acknowledge it. But I am going to make a motion to dismiss it without a hearing. 00:35:21.053 --> 00:35:29.332 - Second. Motion made and seconded. No further discussion? Motion. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? 00:35:29.332 --> 00:35:30.398 - Unanimously. 00:35:31.586 --> 00:35:41.637 - I will state there was somebody with their hand up earlier. Um, but I had caught it right around before 00:35:41.637 --> 00:35:51.495 - we started discussing the, um, complaints. I never saw a hand, but I don't want somebody to feel that 00:35:51.495 --> 00:35:59.806 - they didn't get an opportunity to speak. Is there, are they still on? No hand raised. 00:36:02.594 --> 00:36:10.155 - We go to the public comment section. There's there's some other things that I would like to add to today's 00:36:10.155 --> 00:36:17.221 - agenda. And I'm sorry, I didn't do it at the start. But when I reviewed the ballots this morning, I 00:36:17.221 --> 00:36:24.357 - think that there was a major. Question about some stuff in Richland, and I want to make sure that we 00:36:24.357 --> 00:36:29.374 - get that resolved. The ballots can be printed on time and ready to go. 00:36:30.914 --> 00:36:38.772 - I will add to that, so I was reading through some of the emails, one that you, Ms. Giffin, had sent, 00:36:38.772 --> 00:36:46.786 - and then some that was in response from the IED. I'm going to move forward with requesting a certified 00:36:46.786 --> 00:36:51.454 - statement from the group proposal that has put together the 00:36:51.842 --> 00:36:59.712 - question for Ellensville, and then I'm going to move forward from there. Once I receive that, stating 00:36:59.712 --> 00:37:07.660 - exactly which precincts they would like to have the question on, then I will send that to the election 00:37:07.660 --> 00:37:15.376 - board, make sure you guys are all informed as well, and make those changes. I didn't have much time 00:37:15.376 --> 00:37:21.086 - after, and this all happened very quickly from, I think, 11 a.m. on. Yes. 00:37:21.378 --> 00:37:29.492 - there were portions of the voters in Richland Township, correct me if I'm wrong, because I wasn't super 00:37:29.492 --> 00:37:37.373 - clear, that would not have an opportunity to vote on the merger between the township and the town of 00:37:37.373 --> 00:37:45.253 - Ellitsville. And it was, I tried to get back through the nice notebook that you put together for all 00:37:45.253 --> 00:37:49.310 - of us, and I did not see anything in the resolution 00:37:49.986 --> 00:37:56.449 - that would indicate that anyone was to be excluded from that voting. So also in that proposal, there 00:37:56.449 --> 00:38:03.168 - wasn't anything that specifically says which precincts that they would like to have this question appear 00:38:03.168 --> 00:38:09.567 - on the ballot. That's why we held off until we have that specific language from the proposal group, 00:38:09.567 --> 00:38:16.030 - the committee. So I'm going to reach out to Darla Brown, the attorney who's taking care of that, who 00:38:16.030 --> 00:38:17.438 - presented me with the 00:38:17.666 --> 00:38:25.541 - of the proposal and ask them for a certified statement from them stating which precincts they would 00:38:25.541 --> 00:38:33.495 - like that question to appear on. So I may ask, you're saying that this would go to a body that's not 00:38:33.495 --> 00:38:41.527 - an elected body for an answer? Or would it go to the Ellsfield Town Council and the Richland Township 00:38:41.527 --> 00:38:44.126 - Board? So our communication with 00:38:44.450 --> 00:38:51.747 - The proposal is through Ms. Darla Brown. She is the one that has presented us with everything from this 00:38:51.747 --> 00:38:58.764 - proposal and has been our communication. If we have questions, we've reached out to her as well. So 00:38:58.764 --> 00:39:05.851 - in instance, with the statement from the DLGF, they had issued that to us. It did not get sent to us 00:39:05.851 --> 00:39:10.622 - directly from the DLGF. It came from Darla Brown. That is who we've 00:39:10.818 --> 00:39:19.507 - had our communication with. So that is who I will be reaching out to to receive that. And my assumption 00:39:19.507 --> 00:39:28.029 - is she will be reaching out to both town of Ellsville and the township of Richland to get a confirmed 00:39:28.029 --> 00:39:36.384 - answer on that. How soon do we have to have ballots approved? Once I make the edits and I send them 00:39:36.384 --> 00:39:37.470 - off, they're 00:39:38.434 --> 00:39:45.341 - going to start being processed onto the V drives. And then that will be back to us probably early next 00:39:45.341 --> 00:39:52.046 - week. So I am going to reach out to her. And as soon as I get a response from the town of Ellsville 00:39:52.046 --> 00:39:58.819 - and the township of Richland, then I will make those changes on the ballots. And it will be sent off 00:39:58.819 --> 00:40:05.726 - to be uploaded for us to have that test in two weeks. So please correct me. And I mean this sincerely. 00:40:07.234 --> 00:40:14.052 - way the ballots look right now it would exclude certain voters who live in the Richland township but 00:40:14.052 --> 00:40:20.937 - not in the town of Belletsville? Right now that's how it appears on the ballot the way that I sent it 00:40:20.937 --> 00:40:27.889 - to Hart which I can provide a copy of that to all of you shows that it was to be on the ballot for all 00:40:27.889 --> 00:40:34.302 - of Richland one through nine but since it is a town question that's why it was left off of any 00:40:34.402 --> 00:40:41.694 - of the Richland ballots that were not considered the town of Ellitsville. I didn't read it as a town 00:40:41.694 --> 00:40:49.419 - question. It's a merger between the two. And the reason that I'm advocating to have it for all of Richland 00:40:49.419 --> 00:40:56.639 - is because their tax rates are going to go up if they approve this merger. And to not have a say in 00:40:56.639 --> 00:40:59.166 - whether or not that occurs is sort 00:41:02.082 --> 00:41:09.315 - What our Revolutionary Wars fought over was taxation without representation. I will add, so like I said 00:41:09.315 --> 00:41:16.270 - earlier today, I believe that it should be on all of the ballots. That's why I set it on our report 00:41:16.270 --> 00:41:23.086 - sent to Hart to be on all the ballots. But since the title of the question is Town of Ellitsville 00:41:23.086 --> 00:41:30.110 - Reorganization, I believe that's why it was stuck on just the town splits of the Richland districts. 00:41:30.978 --> 00:41:36.721 - I will send that to the full election board so you guys can review what I sent versus what came back, 00:41:36.721 --> 00:41:42.746 - which is what you reviewed today. And then I will wait for response from Darla Brown and then move forward 00:41:42.746 --> 00:41:43.422 - from there. 00:41:51.170 --> 00:41:58.346 - I'm sure you all gathered that I am in favor of making sure that everybody gets to vote on this. There's 00:41:58.346 --> 00:42:05.659 - not a person on this board who is not in favor of everybody getting to vote. I think this will be resolved 00:42:05.659 --> 00:42:12.698 - quickly. Yes, and that's I'm just taking the advice from Miss Angie Nussmeyer of the IED where she did 00:42:12.698 --> 00:42:19.806 - state in her email back that she thinks that to have the county election board or the town and township 00:42:20.066 --> 00:42:34.952 - to confirm in writing what their intent is with the public question, and that's why I want to go ahead 00:42:34.952 --> 00:42:49.694 - and have that in writing so we have it on record. I've got a couple other questions, but perhaps it's 00:42:50.114 --> 00:42:57.891 - I understand that more communication is going back and forth. I think the election staff as well as 00:42:57.891 --> 00:43:05.901 - the board is on the same page as far as making sure everybody is representative. I think that's a good 00:43:05.901 --> 00:43:13.833 - question to ask. Yes? A different question. I've seen stuff in the news recently about Postal Service 00:43:13.833 --> 00:43:18.110 - perhaps disrupting some of the mail-in ballot process. 00:43:19.394 --> 00:43:26.718 - What are the concerns for all of us and our voters? And is there anything in place that? I mean, 00:43:26.718 --> 00:43:34.646 - I've just. Of course, we'll take our guidance from the Secretary of State. Once I also saw that footage, 00:43:34.646 --> 00:43:42.499 - I reached out to the Secretary of State's office and there is nothing at this time. I'll stay also that 00:43:42.499 --> 00:43:46.878 - with the our specific carrier for our office, she is very 00:43:48.322 --> 00:43:54.650 - hands-on with making sure that we receive our stuff in time. She makes multiple stops within our office 00:43:54.650 --> 00:44:00.856 - throughout the day. When we get closer to the election and on election day, she'll come by our office 00:44:00.856 --> 00:44:07.184 - two or three times with mail for us. So we just have a really strong communication with the U.S. Postal 00:44:07.184 --> 00:44:13.451 - Offices here in Monroe County and have had conversations with them to see what we can do to make their 00:44:13.451 --> 00:44:17.406 - job easier and what they can do to make our jobs easier as well. 00:44:17.890 --> 00:44:25.458 - I agree the local carriers are really, really good to work with. It's when things go through Indianapolis 00:44:25.458 --> 00:44:32.670 - or go through Louisville or wherever they're going through. I recently sent something, priority mail 00:44:32.670 --> 00:44:39.881 - to Baltimore. It took two weeks. I mean, there are just huge holdups going on right now and it's not 00:44:39.881 --> 00:44:45.950 - clear what's going on at the federal level. Every day something new seems to change. 00:44:46.082 --> 00:44:58.345 - and it just scares me. You also take things to Indianapolis, but there are other folks that get their 00:44:58.345 --> 00:45:10.126 - hands on these ballots, and that's what frightens me, not what happens locally. Another thing, I, 00:45:10.126 --> 00:45:14.334 - last spring, prior to the primary, 00:45:14.530 --> 00:45:21.191 - We all had talked about Kylie keeping a log of any kinds of problems that occurred with the election. 00:45:21.191 --> 00:45:27.852 - And I had emailed you and asked you if you would provide us with that log. And I haven't seen it. And 00:45:27.852 --> 00:45:34.710 - maybe I missed it. Like Mr. Shields and I both made quick runs out at 5.15 on election day to go deliver 00:45:34.710 --> 00:45:41.371 - some things that were missing from packets and stuff like that. And you had runners that took care of 00:45:41.371 --> 00:45:43.134 - things too. So I wondered. 00:45:43.266 --> 00:45:56.256 - if there we could see it and because I do want to make sure that we have things go as smoothly as possible. 00:45:56.256 --> 00:46:08.285 - The board directed her last spring to keep a log. I'll find it for you but that's what we directed. 00:46:08.285 --> 00:46:12.254 - I am only aware of the one issue 00:46:15.426 --> 00:46:24.899 - was quickly resolved, where there was a small delay with respect to people being able to cast a ballot. 00:46:24.899 --> 00:46:34.099 - Our IT person resolved that very quickly. And that was something that we discussed with the election 00:46:34.099 --> 00:46:43.390 - board on Election Day. That's the only issue that we had come up. All of the things that got sent out 00:46:43.390 --> 00:46:44.574 - first thing. 00:46:45.346 --> 00:46:52.505 - Tuesday morning on Election Day was phone calls from the day prior, and that was as they were setting 00:46:52.505 --> 00:46:59.734 - up stuff, they noticed that they needed a couple of extra things. And then there was one precinct that 00:46:59.734 --> 00:47:06.753 - needed, I believe, oh, it was the forms that we sent out due to that error with the poll books that 00:47:06.753 --> 00:47:07.806 - we then fixed. 00:47:07.938 --> 00:47:16.624 - things are couriered out on Election Day. That's part of why we have couriers. That's why we have that 00:47:16.624 --> 00:47:25.225 - role is that anything that was not ready to roll out the night before as polling sites were being set 00:47:25.225 --> 00:47:34.079 - up in preparation are couriered out. That's not a problem. It's not an issue. It just is. It's a regular 00:47:34.079 --> 00:47:35.934 - part of Election Day. 00:47:36.482 --> 00:47:43.246 - But these were things that were left out of the packets. Those were in the packets. It's just there 00:47:43.246 --> 00:47:50.416 - was a small number of them because they're not generally used. But due to that issue on election morning, 00:47:50.416 --> 00:47:57.180 - we had to increase the number of those at every polling location. Also, I had thought that you were 00:47:57.180 --> 00:48:04.350 - going to be showing front and back of ballots at every polling location. And in fact, at several of them, 00:48:04.898 --> 00:48:10.820 - at least that I went to, and this was at Mr. Shields' suggestion that we go out and check with some 00:48:10.820 --> 00:48:16.742 - of the polling places, that there was only one side and people had to turn over the ballots so that 00:48:16.742 --> 00:48:23.019 - I would hope in November that both, that there'll be two copies of each ballot so that people can quickly 00:48:23.019 --> 00:48:29.118 - review the front and the back. I mean, we can do that. It's always been that we just send the one copy 00:48:29.118 --> 00:48:33.086 - of each of them so it's front and back, and then they tape it onto 00:48:33.186 --> 00:48:40.076 - the wall on the left-hand side so that it's easy to flip it over like we do for the review of the ballots 00:48:40.076 --> 00:48:46.836 - as well. We can go to printing two single pieces of paper. I will say that this is something that we're 00:48:46.836 --> 00:48:49.566 - already starting to try to figure out how 00:48:49.698 --> 00:48:58.704 - It will look in the fall because our ballots are larger than we've ever had. We do not have paper in 00:48:58.704 --> 00:49:07.622 - our office that is 8 and 1 half by 17. So all of the ballots that were on display today were shrunk 00:49:07.622 --> 00:49:16.628 - down to fit on a legal size piece of paper to be viewed. But we are looking to see ways to make that 00:49:16.628 --> 00:49:18.590 - work on election day. 00:49:18.690 --> 00:49:26.056 - And also, in one of the recent meetings, you gave us the training schedule for things. They're just 00:49:26.056 --> 00:49:34.085 - listed as training days. Would you please send out who's going to be trained and the times for the training? 00:49:34.085 --> 00:49:41.525 - Because I would like to attend again. I don't know if Ashley's set that up yet. Was it for the early 00:49:41.525 --> 00:49:48.670 - voting training? Yeah, it was in our packets here. Sorry. No, you're fine. I just spent a month. 00:49:48.802 --> 00:49:56.104 - Yeah. Yeah. All right. That's early voting training. October 30th is the training for all of the leads. 00:49:56.104 --> 00:50:02.984 - And they have a full day of training. You mean the 30th of September? Yeah. OK, you said October, 00:50:02.984 --> 00:50:10.076 - I think. Sorry. September 30th. So their training will be on September 30th. And theirs is a all day 00:50:10.076 --> 00:50:16.254 - training. They're there from, I believe it's 9 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon. 00:50:16.354 --> 00:50:23.026 - And then the rest of the trainings are just the rest of the early voting workers. They all have the 00:50:23.026 --> 00:50:29.965 - same position. I can say both October 1st and 2nd for the early voting poll workers. But again, I don't 00:50:29.965 --> 00:50:36.704 - know the time. It's the same as the time for the inspectors. It's I mean the leads. We have them the 00:50:36.704 --> 00:50:37.438 - same time. 00:50:37.602 --> 00:50:44.350 - as what we did in the primary election. Once we have a finalized schedule, I will have that sent over 00:50:44.350 --> 00:50:51.164 - to the election board. But it's something that we're still working on is the scheduling for all of the 00:50:51.164 --> 00:50:57.383 - trainings, as well as our spreadsheets, getting them ready for them. Thank you. Thank you for 00:50:57.383 --> 00:51:02.014 - your indulgence, sir. I believe now it's time for the public comment. 00:51:20.034 --> 00:51:21.950 - your name when you get up there. Thank you. 00:51:51.010 --> 00:52:05.807 - Hello, my name is Joe Davis. Thank you for allowing me to speak today. Just quickly, I wanna referring 00:52:05.807 --> 00:52:19.742 - back to the proposed creation of a hearing against one of our candidates who was alleged to have 00:52:20.034 --> 00:52:27.913 - broken the law by offering a service. I'd just like to mention that two years ago when I was trying 00:52:27.913 --> 00:52:35.872 - to collect signatures to get on the ballot, I encountered in front of Blooming Foods a gentleman who 00:52:35.872 --> 00:52:44.303 - was collecting signatures for Robert F. Kennedy who was trying to get on the ballot. And Robert F. Kennedy 00:52:44.303 --> 00:52:46.430 - was paying $7 a signature. 00:52:47.106 --> 00:52:55.135 - This guy was making big bucks. He was so excited about $7 for every signature. You could just see the 00:52:55.135 --> 00:53:03.006 - dollar signs in his eyes. So yes, people can offer property or service or consideration in exchange 00:53:03.006 --> 00:53:10.877 - for someone collecting a signature. This is within the law. So thank you for not creating a hearing 00:53:10.877 --> 00:53:12.766 - unnecessarily for this. 00:53:13.090 --> 00:53:24.035 - Second, I just wanted to update you on my lawsuit against the board, against you all, to in my request 00:53:24.035 --> 00:53:34.660 - or my quest for relief to get my write-in candidacy back upon the ballot and that anyone who writes 00:53:34.660 --> 00:53:41.886 - in my name will be able to have that vote counted. But at any rate, 00:53:42.210 --> 00:53:49.212 - Uh, the, uh, the county has retained outside counsel. Uh, Clark Johnson and Knight, you might have heard. 00:53:49.212 --> 00:53:55.883 - I'm unsure whether, since you have a lawsuit against this board. I'm just updating you. I don't know 00:53:55.883 --> 00:54:02.819 - if this is an appropriate forum for that. Well, I'm just, as a courtesy, I'm just updating you. I don't, 00:54:02.819 --> 00:54:08.830 - I don't think. As if I were. Well, again, here's the thing is that it's an active lawsuit. 00:54:09.282 --> 00:54:17.299 - Yes, of course. But I'm just I want to allay your fears that nothing is happening. I don't think anything 00:54:17.299 --> 00:54:25.316 - prevents Mr Davis from providing information as an update pending on the pending litigation to the board. 00:54:25.316 --> 00:54:32.880 - I do think that I would advise the boards to not respond to the update because as Mr Davis is about 00:54:32.880 --> 00:54:38.174 - to allude to, I believe the election board does have outside counsel. 00:54:38.274 --> 00:54:46.485 - for this matter. It was turned over to the county's insurance company, the insurance company, then assigned 00:54:46.485 --> 00:54:54.087 - counsel. So the board does have counsel. And so I think you can hear Mr Davis's update, but I would 00:54:54.087 --> 00:55:01.310 - caution the board from responding without advice of counsel. Thank you, Councilor Turner King. 00:55:01.826 --> 00:55:11.477 - So at any rate, they have asked for an extra 30 days to respond to my original petition. But I just 00:55:11.477 --> 00:55:21.610 - received as well today, during the noon hour, an appearance by Todd Rokita, his office attorney general. 00:55:21.610 --> 00:55:31.454 - One of his deputy attorney generals is made an appearance on behalf of the Indiana Election Division. 00:55:31.970 --> 00:55:39.994 - and Diego Morales, Indiana Secretary of State. And with that, they provided a motion to dismiss, but 00:55:39.994 --> 00:55:48.019 - I'm going to amend my original petition to address some of their issues that they brought about. And 00:55:48.019 --> 00:55:56.361 - soon I will have an injunction filed timely enough such that I'm hoping the courts will be able to order 00:55:56.361 --> 00:56:00.254 - the reinstatement of the write-in slide and then 00:56:00.546 --> 00:56:08.976 - you know, we can get to court and get whether or not a write-in is going to count for me. But the slot, 00:56:08.976 --> 00:56:16.839 - I'm endeavoring to have that restored. So anyway, this is just an update. I just wanted to give, 00:56:16.839 --> 00:56:25.432 - let you know. And thank you for this wonderful opportunity. I am so excited about my impending victories. 00:56:25.432 --> 00:56:27.134 - Thank you very much. 00:56:32.834 --> 00:56:45.702 - Anybody else from public comment? No hands raised on our virtual attendees. Do we have a motion? Motion 00:56:45.702 --> 00:56:55.230 - to adjourn. Second. All in favor? Aye. So moved. It is adjourned. Thank you.