Baltimore County Board of Elections met Sept. 27.
Here is the minutes provided by the board:
UBLIC NOTICE OF BOARD MEETING
Public notice of this Board meeting was provided by posting the meeting information in the entrance foyer of the office of the Board of Elections and on the Election agency website. A copy of the meeting agenda was made available.
MINUTES of the Board Meeting of the Baltimore County Board of Elections held on September 27, 2018 in the office of the Baltimore County Board ofElections located at 11112 Gilroy Road, Suite 104 in Hunt Valley, Maryland
ATTENDEES: Paul Lubell President
Bruce Robinson Vice President
Bruce Harris Secretary
Carol Byrd Substitute Member
Gloria Mason Substitute Member
Andrew Bailey, Esq. Board Counsel
Katie A. Brown Director
Nancy Stratton Deputy Director
Ruie Marie Lavoie Administrative Officer
Public notice of this Board meeting was provided by posting the meeting information in the entrance foyer of the office of the Board of Elections and on the Election agency website. A copy of the meeting agenda was made available.
MINUTES of the Board Meeting of the Baltimore County Board of Elections held on September 27, 2018 in the office of the Baltimore County Board ofElections located at 11112 Gilroy Road, Suite 104 in Hunt Valley, Maryland.
ATTENDEES:
Paul Lubell
Bruce Robinson Bruce Harris
Carol Byrd
Gloria Mason Andrew Bailey, Esq. Katie A. Brown Nancy Stratton Ruie Marie Lavoie
President
Vice President Secretary Substitute Member Substitute Member Board Counsel Director
Deputy Director Administrative Officer
DECLARATION OF QUORUM
Quorum was established and the meeting was called to order at 9:04 am.
AGENDA
The Board reviewed the agenda. It was noted that the Board of Canvassers will meet directly after the regular meeting is adjourned to review absentee ballots that were received after the last canvass. No changes or additions to the agenda were requested.
APPROV AL OF BOARD MEETING MINUTES
A copy of the Minutes from the August 23, 2018 meeting was distributed to the Board by electronic mail prior to the meeting. A correction was made to the spelling of candidate NealSimon's name. There were no other changes or additions.
MOTION: Bruce Robinson motioned to approve the Minutes of the August 23, 2018 Board meeting with amendments to Announcements and Disclosures.
SECOND: Bruce Harris
ACTION: Motion unanimously passed
PRESIDENT'S REMARKS
Paul Lubell notified the Board that h e will be out of town on October 2 2, 2018 and will not be present for the Board meeting, Public Demonstration and Administration ofOath. He contacted the Clerk of the Circuit Court and arranged to be sworn in at another time.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
The Directors' Report was provided to the Board by electronic mail prior to the meeting. An updated version is included in the Board folders and is as follows:
Board Folders:
Agenda, September, 2018 Board Meeting
Board Meeting Minutes, August 23, 2018
Directors' Report, September, 2018
2018 General Ballot Questions - Statewide and Countywide
2018 Judge Training Schedule October, Updated and November
Sexual Harassment Policy (Requires Signature)
Executive Summary, Review of Primary Election (OIT OpEx Report)
Monthly Statistics Report, August, 2018
Election Administration Reports
County Bulletins & Registrars - Sent electronically or included in folder
Correspondence:
Letters received after the Primary Election are being handled accordingly and will be available for Board review soon. Issues requiring immediate have been resolved.
The Board reviewed three (3) requests for a polling place change. After discussion, the Board agreed that the reason for the requests does not meet the standard to approve the requests. Ruie Lavoie will notify the voters of the Board's decision and provide an absentee ballot application. It was noted that all Baltimore County polling locations are ADA accessible.
MOTION: Bruce Robinson motioned to accept the three (3) requests.
SECOND: Bruce Harris
ACTION: Motion unanimously failed
Katie Brown notified the Board of a complaint received from an Early Voting judge. Discussion was held and a response is in progress.
Meetings and Important Dates: Occurred/Attended:
• August 23, 2018, Board meeting at 9:00 am
• August 24, 2018, First day of New Election Judge training classes
• August 29, 2018, Voter Registration Certification, CCBC Catonsville
• August 30, 2018, Interview panel for Frederick County. Danna Williams assisted with the interview process.
• September 3, 2018, Labor Day, Office closed
• September 8, 2018 First Day of Early Voting Refresher Training Classes
• September 13, 2108, MAEO Election Judge/Early Voting Committee Meeting. Ruie Lavoie attended by telephone.
• September 13, 2018, File Management Computer Training. Shawn Hill attended.
• County OIT Meeting, Lessons Learned Primary Results Reporting and prepare for general Election. Katie Brown and J eff Stevens attended.
• September 14, 2018, Window Computer Training. Shawn Hill completed the training.
• September 15, 2018, African American Festival. Staff conducted voter registration certification training and election judge and closer recruitment.
• September 18, 2018, DS850 Scanner Training. Jeff Stevens, Jessica Fleming and Amanda White attended the training.
• September 20, 2018, SBE Election Directors' Meeting. Katie Brown and Nancy Stratton attended by telephone.
• September 20, 2018, Voter Registration and Election Judge/Closer Recruitment, Towson YMCA. Lisa Nash and Rita Evans will conduct the outreach.
Occurred/ Attended, continued:
• September 21, 2108, Meeting with County Budget Analyst. Katie Brown and Nancy Stratton attended.
• September 25, 2018, National Voter Registration Day and Election Judge Recruitment:
o Baltimore County YMCA's
o Essex Library
• September 27, 2018, Board Meeting
• September 27, 2018, First General Election Closer Training Class
Upcoming/ Scheduled
• October 5, 2018, Meeting at Oregon Ridge, Training Room and Election Day Setup. Ruie Lavoie to attend.
• October 8, 2018, Columbus Day, Office closed to public. Training classes will be held.
• October 8, 2018, Logic and Accuracy Testing to begin
• October 16, 2018, Last Day of Registration. Office open to 9:00 pm
• October 22, 2018, Administration of Oath
• October 22, 2018, Board Meeting
• October 22, 2018, Public Demonstration of Voting Equipment
• October 22, 2018, Early Voting and Same Day Registration Training- Early Voting Staff.
Ruie Lavoie will conduct training.
• October 24, 2018, Early Voting Center Staff Meeting with Katie Brown.
• October 24, 2018, Equipment Delivery to Early Voting Centers and Set up
• October 25, 2018, Day 1, Early Voting
• November 1, 2018, Day 8, Early Voting
• November 3 and 4, 2018 - Open House, Supply & Pollbook Pickup
• November 5, 2018 - Election Eve setup, Judge Department open until 8:oo pm
• November 6, 2018, General Election Day
• November 6, 2018, Board Meeting at 8:oo pm
• November 8, 2018, 1st Absentee Canvass
• November 14, 2018, Provisional Canvass
• November 16, 2018, 2nd Absentee Canvass
• November 22, 2018, Office Closed, Thanksgiving
• November 23, 2018, Office Closed, American Heritage Day
• December 13, 2018, Board Meeting and Holiday Social
• December 25, 2018, Christmas Day, Office Closed
• January 1, 2018, New Year's Day, Office Closed
Work/Staff Status:
2018 Gubernatorial Primary Election - Post Election tasks are complete.
2 0 1 8 Gubernatorial General Election - Preparations are well underway. Supplies have been ordered, received and are being packed. There are forty-five (45) ballots styles. All ballot styles have been proofed. There are two (2) state-wide questions and seventeen (17) county- wide questions. A list of all questions is included in the Board folders. The specimen ballots will be mailed to all active registered voters in the next few weeks. The first shipment of ballots will be delivered soon.
Voting Equipment - Post election maintenance on voting equipment has been completed.ES&S performed maintenance on the fifteen (15) DS200 scanners and the DS850 scanner as requested. Inspection of all voting booths has started. Logic and Accuracy Testing will beginOctober 8, 2018.
Early Voting -The same eleven (11) sites have been designated as Early Voting centers. Katie Brown has designated the election official responsible to manage each site as follows:
♦:♦ EV01 Arbutus Recreation Center Mary-Frances Vavra-Alcoser
•!• EV02 Randallstown Community Center Danna Archie-Williams ♦:♦ EV03 Towson University Admin Building Craig Booth
•!• EV04 Honeygo Run Community Center Ruie Marie Lavoie
•!• EVos Sollers Point Multipurpose Center Shawn Hill
•!• EVo6 Victory Villa Community Center Undecided
•!• EV07 MDE Agriculture & Farm Park Lisa Nash
•!• EVo8 Reisterstown Senior Center Erika Penman
•!• EV09 Woodlawn Community Center Undecided
•!• EV10 Jacksonville Recreation Center Rita Walczyk Evans
•!• EV11 County Campus Metro Centre @OM Collin Sears
Polling Places - The relocation of 15-1 from Colgate Elementary School is in progress. KatieBrown and Mary-Frances Vavra Alcoser met with State and County officials to negotiate the use of the Workforce Development Career Center at East point. This new location is convenient for voters however, additional election judges will be needed for line management and protection of the computers and office equipment. Notification of this change has been posted on the website and has been sent to the State Administrator at State Board of Elections. We are waiting for theMemorandum of Understanding to be signed and returned. New Voter Notification Cards will be issued and the election judges assigned to work will be notified of the change. Signage will be displayed at both locations.
Mary-Frances Vavra-Alcoser is gathering the contact information for all Election Day precincts. She is also requisitioning tables needed during Early Voting and on Election Day.
Registration Department - Work is being processed in a timely manner. The ERIC Report has been received and will be processed. The Audit was completed and submitted on time. The last day to register to vote or change party affiliation is October 16, 2018. The office will be open until 9:00 pm.
Absentee and Provisional Departments - Routine work is completed when received. To date, there are 6,366 accepted absentee applications. Nursing Home visits are being organized.
Election Judge and Training Departments - Recruitment efforts are in full force. Contact with the four (4) CCBC campuses has been made for closer recruitment.We have requested the State and County to assist with recruitment efforts through social media and the county websites. We currently need to recruit approximately 500 judges and 80 closers.Fliers are in every Board packet with hopes the Board will join our efforts.
The error made by Budget and Finance Department when issuing Early Voting payments has been corrected. Checks have been issued for the difference in the amount of withholdings withheld and the amount of withholdings that should have been withheld. We continue to receive phone calls and complaints regarding this issue and have lost approximately ten (10)election judges. Although we requested Budget and Finance to send a letter to all affected election judges, to date, the letter has not been mailed..
Ruie Lavoie has spoken to many election judges to provide an explanation and express our appreciation for their service and for their understanding regarding their compensation.
Outreach, Registration Certification & Voting System Demonstration - We participate in as many events as possible. Judge recruitment is incorporated in all events. Dates are included under Meetings and Important Dates. We were present at several locations onNational Voter Registration Day.
Sexual Harassment Prevention Training - All County and State employees with AD account access are required to take an online training. County employees without AD access are required to sign the Sexual Harassment Policy. The policy was provided to the Board electronically and signatures were obtained.
Personnel - The open county positions has been filled. One county employee started work onSeptember 24, 2018 and Human Resources is processing the paperwork for the other position.
One vacant State position has been restructured as an Election Supervisor II. After posting the positions, the "Best Qualified" candidate list has been received. The interview process will begin soon. There are currently two (2) additional State vacancies, both are Election Data ApplicationSpecialist II positions. Recruitment will begin after the election.
BOARD COUNSEL'S REPORT
Andrew Bailey provided his report and notified the Board that the pre-election conference calls between the State Board of Elections and all Local Board attorneys have started. He will keep the Board informed of the content of the calls.
OLD BUSINESS
Relocation of Precinct 15-01
Katie Brown advised the Board of the new location as noted above under polling places.
MOTION: Bruce Robinson motioned to approve the relocation of precinct 15-01. SECOND: Bruce Harris
ACTION: Motion unanimously passed
NEW BUSINESS None at this time.
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND DISCLOSURES
Andrew Bailey disclosed that he donated $125.00 to Grace Connelly's campaign, $100.00 toDelegate Steve Lafferty's campaign, $150.00 to Scott Shellenberger's campaign and that he attended a fundraiser ($175.00) for the Baltimore County Sitting Judges.
Carol Byrd disclosed that a campaign sign for Stephanie Boston, a candidate for State Senate is displayed in her front yard.
Paul Lubell disclosed that he donates $10.00 each quarter to the Maryland Republican party. He also donated $25.00 to Al Redmer's campaign.
MEETING INFORMATION
The next Board meeting will be held on October 22, 2018 at 9:00 am at the Baltimore CountyBoard of Elections in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The following dates were discussed:
• October 22, 2018 at 9:00 am -Administration of Oath and Public Demonstration
• November 6, 2018 at 8:00 pm - Board Meeting
• November 8, 2018 - Absentee 1 Canvass
• November 9, 2018 - Absentee 1 Canvass, Day 2 (if needed)
• November 14, 2018 - Provisional Canvass
• November 15, 2018 - Provisional Canvass, Day 2 (if needed)
• November 16, 2018 - Absentee 2 Canvass
• December 13, 2018 at 10:00 am. Holiday Party to follow
• January 24, 2019
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10:35 am.
http://resources.baltimorecountymd.gov/Documents/Elections/boardmin18/boardminutes180927.pdf
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