Members present: Myesha Good (chair), Maurice Hurry, Chad Word, Kevin Evans, Michele Crochetiere
Director: Milton Kidd
Certifying election returns
Staff reported there will be four run-off races on June 18. They also reported they reviewed 6
provisional ballots. Kidd said four voters had voted out of precinct and their votes were entered into the correct precincts tallies.
The board voted unanimously to certify the results for the general primary elections, the nonpartisan
general election, and the special election.
Electioneering allegations
A member of the staff read a letter from the county Democratic party that had two complaints attached
that alleged the sheriff violated the electioneering restrictions on election day. One complaint stated
the sheriffs’ deputies and the sheriff’s car were parked in prominent locations at several precincts.
Another complaint stated the sheriff greeted voters at a precinct entranceway. The letter had photos
attached.
Another person contacted M. Kidd on election day, saying sheriff’s cars were parked close to polling
locations. Kidd played a recording of the conversation.
Kidd said the board does not have investigation authority in these cases, but it can submit the
complaints to the Secretary of State’s Office which does have investigatory authority.
Kidd also said the sheriff refuses to meet with elections staff to discuss security arrangements for the
elections. His emails are not answered, and the sheriff will not allow staff to attend meetings to discuss
election security.
K. Evans said he had heard complaints of sheriff’s cars parked by polling sites and officers standing
around with hands on their guns. He considered these acts intimidating.
Hurry asked if the sheriff’s office is required to provide security. The county attorney said the sheriff’s
office is required by law to provide security for voting in the courthouse.
C. Word said the photos are blurry and he sees having deputies at the precincts as positive. He went to 4 precincts. Deputies were at 3 of them, and Word thanked the deputies for their presence.
The board voted 3-1 to send the complaint to the SoS. Good, Hurry, and Evans voted in favor. Word
against. M. Crochetiere abstained.
Member concerns
Crochetiere asked about the recount that will take place for the District 3 special election. Kidd
explained the procedure for recounts and said the recount will take place after the election audit. Hurry said he had heard some of the equipment is too heavy for some of the poll workers to handle.
Kidd said they do have funds available to add extra staff.
Word asked if they could try to save funds by closing some of the polling locations. He asked if they
could do a dollars per vote by precinct study. He said there are too many precincts. Kidd responded the
number of precincts is set by statute and is based on the number of registered voters—not participating
in elections. He said based on that data, they would need to expand the number of sites. Word said he
meant shutting down some of the advanced voting sites. Kidd responded that in the 2020 election they
had long lines at the advanced voting sites. He also said more than fifty percent of the voters participate
in advanced voting. Good suggested they wait until after this election cycle to look into the number of
advanced voting sites.
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