The following includes brief notes taken by a Peanut Gallery volunteer as a public service only. Contact the Bibb County Board of Elections with questions or for official information.
Bibb County Board of Election
Meeting via teleconference, 4 p.m., April 30th, 2020.
Board Meeting:
Mike Kaplan (Chair)
Henry Ficklin (Chairman)
Herbert Spangler(Vice-Chair)
Rinda Wilson
Cassandra Powell
Meeting called to order at 4:03 p.m.
Public Comments
Valerie: I noticed the Board was considering Sunday voting, but with recent equipment costs the county doesn’t have the money. Also, with mail-in voting being a priority, I don’t think we have the need.
Approval of the minutes
March 26th minutes are approved unanimously
There is a request for the 2021 budget to be approved.
Since the Board has not yet reviewed the budget, it will be handled in a specially called meeting on Monday at 11:00 a.m. via teleconference
Sunday Voting
There is no discussion here as no motion is made.
Drop Boxes
The cost for two drop boxes will be $4,246. The Board is looking to secure two drop boxes, but need to find one more location. One will be the BOE office.
There is a rule the second location site must follow. There must be cameras to record constantly
The potential second location sites.
County Courthouse
Washington Library
There is one Board member who is concerned with the courthouse possibly being a location because of police presence.
Issues with mailed ballots
Many voters are noticing that the usual secrecy envelope mentioned in the instructions is missing. The instructions are wrong and there is a slip of paper to fold around the ballot instead before placing it in the larger envelope. New instructions will reflect this.
Additional Advance Voting Site
No Update
Securing Ballot Papers and Equipment
Currently getting bags and other supplies to do things like obtain secure papers and cages to transport equipment.
Note: New equipment was needed to move batteries as the state-provided equipment kept breaking.
Estimated cost is $377,000.
Report on vote by mail and storage
19,146 processed applications
1,174 returned to office
107,595 active voters
112,854 total voters
0 verifications pending
Inactive voters were also mailed applications
Secretary of state not offering PPE, instead offering grants for the Board to buy them.
There are discussions to let counties open ballots prior to Election Day.
County is currently struggling with the backlog of ballot applications and gets through approximately 3000 applications a day.
The Board had to acquire a second storage container for equipment.
Public Comments
None at this time
Meeting Adjourned 4:59 p.m.
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