Richmond County Board of Elections Meeting 07/13/20

Meeting Review:

Members Present 

• Lynn Bailey 
• Timothy McFalls 
• Sherry Barnes
• Marcia Brown
• Bob Finnegan
• Terrance Crawford

Meeting Notes from Attendee:

• Start Time 6:00 pm
• McFalls presents the first item of the agenda which is approval of last meetings minutes.
  • Motion passed
• Bailey states that June 17th meeting took place via in person and not on zoom
• Item 3: Updates and Info around the August 11 run-off
• Bailey says the county has finished its Logic and accuracy tests 
• Poll worker training is starting July 2020
• They want all poll workers who are closing the locations down after voting is finished to attend in person training done in a warehouse. Temporary and General poll workers will also attend this training.
  • They also plan to shift the poll workers from closed down locations to open ones to gain experience.
• Early voting for run-off start July 20th- August 11th
• 10 Training Dates. Training materials will include training manuals and links to the SOS GA website for more information on poll working.
• Bailey Moves on to discuss the voter registration law change in GA 
  • The law changes the voter registration deadline for all run -off elections treating them as a separate election. This means a person does not have to be registered for the first election to participate in the runoff election; they just have to be registered in time for the run-off.
• Absentee Ballot Drop Boxes are now a rule in the state of GA.
  • The county plans to open the drop boxes on the start of early voting.
• Richmond county has sent out 6,738 applications to date ORIGINAL issue date 07/06
• Bailey also states that the county will have to  send out and pay for the postage of applications sent out.
  • The state will take care of the rollover voters from the last election but will not send out any new applications they are giving that responsibility to the county.
  • McFalls ask is there going to be different ballots sent out from the state and county?
  • Bailey says they are identical.
• Bailey addresses another item on the agenda which is Election Day polling places and Poll worker training for the November election.
  • The county says all 42 polling stations are onboard with hosting the election. Looking for strategies for reducing lines and overcrowding.
• Bailey says the county has around 133,000 active votes; she expects that number to jump to 140,000. She also thinks the voter turnout will be 70% which is about 100,000 voters.
• Bailey says the county will need 400-450 poll workers for November. Had 326 for the June election.
  • Barnes asks if the number of poll workers are needed for the absentee ballot counting. Bailey says no, the workers are only for election day.
  • Bailey says the county is working with the Board of Education for help with workers.
• Barnes has concerns about space used to count the absentee ballots. Bailey suggests they should split up the locations but Barnes and Brown have major concerns about security and too much transportation of the ballots. Bailey also states that the warehouse used for storing polling equipment would be too small for the team of 7 people to work in.
• Crawford asks how many more team members would the county need to help open ballots and he adds if the “5th street location would be suitable to use”.
• Bailey says the space is limited and will be coordinating the teams shortly.
• Bailey went on to discuss the impact of COVID on the Budget:
  • She says the county spent $38,700 on Temporary Poll workers whose duty was to process and send out absentee ballots and other poll duties.
  • Also stated that the weekly budget jumped from $3,000 to $14,000-15,000.
  • During the 5 days of early absentee ballot counting the county spent approximately $5,400.
  • Spent $13,000 in Hazard Pay
  • Spent $10,000 more in overtime pay; spent $15,000 for PPE
  • Approximately $82,000 in unexpected expenses 
  • $74,000 can be recouped in unused poll worker pay for the March Election
• Bailey says the county does have money in the contingency fund to handle two run off elections that will cost about $95,000 each not including extra expenses.
  • She believes that this won’t be able to sustain the future elections.
• Barnes comments that people give her positive feedback on the dropbox.
  • Members Brown Bailey and Crawford Agree 
  • Brown Thinks they will be more useful in the future elections.
  • Bailey says 3,800 ballots were cast using the drop boxes in the last election
  • Have 4 at the central location

Item 6 is to issue the call for the  Special election for the Board of Education Referendum (?East Moss) in November

• Received an executed resolution from Board of Education;Want to run the ad August 5th to put the vote on the ballot.
• Crawford moves to empower the exec director to send a call out for a resolution.
• All Members Say I
  • Motion Passed

Item 7: Old Business

• No old business

Item 8: New Business

• Bailey says that the next scheduled meeting is August 10th, a day before the August 11th run-off election. She suggests that the meeting be moved to August 3rd. 
• Also wants all to mark a certification date for the August 19th run-off
• McFalls makes a motion to move meeting; Barnes seconded the motion
  • Motion passed
• Motion to adjourn the meeting
  • Motion passed
• End Time 6:42 pm

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