BOARD OF REGISTRATION AND ELECTIONS, CLAYTON COUNTY: OCTOBER 20TH, 2015 MEETING

New Business

Director’s Report

• The director attended training for a new module, which tracks candidates during the entire election process. 
• Regarding the election in Riverdale, all public notice obligations have been met. However, the director has yet to receive an affidavit attesting to as much from the city clerk.
• Forty-two (42) absentee ballots have been mailed out but none have been received.
• As of October 20th, 2015, there have been a total of fifty-five (55) votes cast, four (4) in office and fifty-one (51) at the old City Hall.
• Reported that investigators from the Secretary of State’s office came to the board of election’s office on October 15th, 2015 to obtain copies of the absentee applications. The board is cooperating with the investigation. The investigations concern several municipalities–none in Clayton County.
  • A board member commented that someone had approached him previously about the City of Morrow. State investigators were looking into a case of fraud: someone was obtaining absentee ballots and keeping them.

Election Day Judge

• Will be Judge Matthew Simmons

Public Comments

Ware (citizen):

• Commented that in the process of registering voters, he has talked to a lot of voters who have asked him who the candidates were. One woman said that she felt cut out of the election process because previous elections involved lots of campaign activities (such as signs and notices).
• He said that many individuals he’s spoken to are upset that incumbents seem shoe-ins for office. These individuals are disillusioned by the campaign processes in general. He noted that campaign and election-related information should be “front page, [not] just put it up by the obituaries”, so that the people are aware of upcoming elections.

Board Member (in response):

• People rarely hear about candidates running against incumbents because it’s expensive to run for office. The board cannot spend public money on candidates and their campaign activities. It is the job of the candidate to raise money to publicize their own candidacy, and the board’s job is to ensure that the people know what the process is to qualify for candidacy.