Called to order at 9:07
Attending: Marion Caldwell, Russell Mobley, Louise Nix, Dwayne Turner, Lisa Manning, Todd Marks.
Also in Attendance: Senator Steve Gooch, Members for BOE from Union-Barbara Anderson & Diana; from Dawson Rochelle. Wayne Hardy – Editor White County News, 5 members of the Democratic party: Ted Doll, June & Richard Krise; 2 unknown.
Main Issues:
1. Presentation by Senator Gooch on changes affecting voting – SB202
2. Continued talking about Secretary of State BOE training. There is no formal training. The one this summer is more for Lisa Manning. Next month WC BOE will go through the registration process.
3. Review of Draft of By-Laws for BOE
4. Preview of Precincts and possible combining of some.
Senator Gooch went over SB202 and provided a handout of 52 points. The vote was along party lines but both Democratic and Republican ideas were incorporated in the bill. Now let the Judicial Branch comb through the bill and see if anything is illegal. The hand out provides a section by section summary of the bill. Talked about reason why prohibited water, drinks & snacks to be passed out except for polling people. Said people were using them to encourage people to vote for their candidate.
Wants every legal vote to be counted. Said this bill looked forward and not back to Nov. 2020 election.
Senator Gooch did take questions regarding: limiting the number of ballot boxes; list of names by 3rd party using Registrar’s time to check to see if need to be purged; why signature match was a problem; if hours were cut was questioned and some confusion with wording in Section 28 (minimum/maximum).
Lisa Manning WC Supervisor of Elections spoke about how White County had to spend $800 of county money to purchase a drop box and we only have the one.
Senator Gooch asked if anyone sees problems to let him know so the January 2022 Session can fix them.
Board reconvened at 10:37
They reviewed a draft of By-Laws that is mainly straight out of the code book. Used some of Dawson County materials. Set up to amend a section if necessary later. Voted to accept the draft but put out the public. Will be posted in WC News. The BOE still does not have a place for their information on the White County Government Website.
Report by Lisa Manning: Could not provide monthly production statistics. Working on getting access. The Elections Office budget has been submitted to Board of County Commissioners and she is waiting to hear. There was a significant increase. One person is handling the Open Records Request.
Had a SOS webinar last week that was very helpful. Voting machine maintenance is going to be intensive. Battery packs must be charged every 3 months; scanners every 4 months for 12 hours and the actual machine every 6 months.
They will begin updating records using a national data base to remove any people who have moved.
BOE Precinct Map review
Took a look at a map of the entire county with County Commission and Board of Education Districts outlined and in various colors (CC & BOED have same districts). Senator Gooch reminded them they could not really move things around until they have the census data. They did look at possible precincts that could be combined as being close to each other. No decisions were made. Have 11 precincts currently and would like to cut back for efficiency & cost due to number of poll workers. Still have same number of machines.
Next meeting June 7th at 9 AM. Same location
No Board Member Comments
Public Participation:
Mary Lasris (Peanut Gallery) reminded the board that any changes to districts needed to be to their legislators early. Senator Gooch confirmed that. A brief discussion ensued about how White County GA House seats divides the county into 3 sections and we would like to see a change.
Adjourned 11:40 AM.
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These meetings are open to the public by Georgia law. Georgia Open Meetings Act.
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