1. ROLL CALL
Karli Swift, Chair – present
Vasu Abhiraman, Vice Chair – present
Nancy Jester – absent
Susan Motter – present
Tony Lewis – present
2. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Approved 4 – 0
3. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A. November 7, 2024 Special Called Mee9ng
B. November 12, 2024 Scheduled Mee9ng
C. December 6, 2024 Special Called Mee9ng
All approved 4 – 0
4. PUBLIC COMMENTS
E Shackleford : Says she is sad about those who buy into voter fraud without looking for evidence. She says in DeKalb all voters have to present ID to vote, and that messages saying otherwise come from Russia. She says there is no fraud and that mistakes on the roles aren’t fraud.
Gail Lee: suggests that when voters register or update their registration, the county can improve their awareness of how to vote. Some voters don’t know they are registered or don’t know who’s on the ballot. Lee advocates mailing information on cardstock to these voters. The cards could list the BRE website, the MVP website, or voting tips such as that voters must go to their assigned precincts to vote on Election Day or to bring ID with them to the polls. These voters should be told not to vote for multiple candidates, and that it is OK to leave contests blank. Write-ins only count if they are names on the certified list of write-in candidates. Voters should be told to check their printouts.
Lee gives a written copy of her remarks to Chair Smith.
Cheryl Dudley: Thanks to board for working within the new SEB rules. Commends board for allowing voters to drop oM ballots at all AIP sites. She says it should be easier to vote. Janet Grant, area poll manager: Thanks the board and suggests the county not have 5 elections in a year. RunoMs waste tax dollars and burden the elections oMice. She says that in this runoM, only 3.65% of people voted when compared to the November election. Grant supports plurality winners as a way to avoid runoMs.
Grant says that the challenges brought in DeKalb are all based on Eagle AI, which depends solely on publicly available information and creates false positives.
Michael Beech, Assistant Poll Manager: Expresses thanks for their discontinuing hand counting in polling places because, in his experience, the hand count always matches ICP count. He agrees with Lee that the county needs to do more voter education. He says
everything is on MVP, so they should just get voters to visit that website. He also dislikes runoMs.
5. ITEMS FOR DECISION.
A. Certification of the December General/Special Election RunoY Keisha Smith refers to page 17 of the packet for the Post-Election Report, which was not posted online at time of meeting. She says 6 ballots were rejected of 17,939. Of 71 ABM Provisionals, 3 were cured. 6 ABMs were rejected or spoiled. Of the 30 total rejected ABM ballots, 10 were cured.
Smith says that there were more Election Day voters than on Election Day for the 2020 runoM. She says there were 130 precincts, 113 polling locations, and 756 poll workers. They deployed 228 Poll Pads, 909 BMDs, and 113 scanners, noting that they have to oMer just as many polling places and just as much equipment for a runoM as for a regular election. On Election Day, some precincts had to be open until 8pm, so 12 people voted on Provisional ballots. Of those, 10 were accepted, and 2 rejected.
Smith thanks county partners and poll workers. She refers to the Election Summary Report of the election on page 26 of the packet and recommends the board certify. Vasu Abhiraman: Notes that page 17 shows a pie chart showing the percentage of active voters that participated in the runoM. He asks if this total of active voters shows just the active voters who live in areas that were eligible to vote in the runoM, and asks how many active voters were actually eligible to vote in this runoM. He mentions the bar graph on page 21 and asks if this shows increase over 2020 in relation to percentage of people who can vote in a runoM. He wonders if the 2020 numbers reflect only those who could vote in a runoM at that time?
Director Smith said she will follow up with more numbers to answer his questions. Abhiraman points out that the current runoM had to be done in 4 weeks, compared 2020 when the runoM could be completed in 9 weeks.
Vote to certify Dec 3 RunoM
Approved 4 -0
Vote to recess to sign certification documents
Approved 4 -0
Recess 12:30 – 12:41
B. 2025 Meeting Calendar
p. 28 of packet lists proposed BRE monthly meeting dates, each on the 2nd Thursday of the month. Exceptions are for June, July, November, and December due to elections. Smith warns that DeKalb may need to hold a Special Election in March and/or September. The Board may need to change meeting dates depending on Election dates. Smith says there will be a more detailed election report in January.
6. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION
A. Certification Report (p. 29 of packet)
Director Smith presents the report
7. EXECUTIVE SESSION
NA
6. BOARD COMMENTS
Lewis: Thanks staM, SherriM’s oMice, Code Enforcement; workers from across the county; DCTV, legal staM, and public commentors. Lewis notes no one at BRE meetings has accused anyone of fraud and that he is grateful for that. He’s also grateful no one has attacked another member with a cane, as happened in Congress years ago. Motter: Thanks poll workers who must do lots of work, even during light turnout. She especially thanks long-term poll workers.
Abhiraman observed the extensive check-out process which went until 3 or 4:00 pm on Election Night, and says running elections takes dedication. Of counties in GA, DeKalb had the most work to do for this runoM. He feels the runoM system is antiquated and looks forward to it being discontinued.
Chair Swift appreciates everyone’s suggestions in public comments. She thanks Director Smith and her team for eMicient and fair elections. Says they will have board retreat soon, and will meet with the new County CEO. Swift thanks Attorney Momo will no longer be their attorney.
9. ADJOURNMENT
12:54
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