Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections Meeting Minutes 09/20/21

The Regular Meeting of the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections was held on September 20, 2021, at       4:00 p.m. virtually via Zoom.

BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT STAFF PRESENT

Darius Maynard, Chair Jeanetta Watson – Elections Supervisor

Joel Hazard, Vice Chair Veronica Seals – Chief Registrar

Mike Kaplan, Member Charlene Maynard – Administrative Assistant

Karen Evans-Daniel, Member Tom Gillon – Elections Officer

Herbert Spangler, Member William Noland, County Attorney

1. CALLED TO ORDER  

Darius Maynard, Chair, called the meeting to order at 4:00 p.m. 

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Mr. Spangler made a motion to approve the meeting minutes from the August 19, 2021, regular meeting.  Mr. Hazard seconded.  Mr. Maynard, Ms. Evans-Daniel, and Mr. Kaplan agreed. The motion passed unanimously.

3. NEW BUSINESS

1. None.

4. OLD BUSINESS

1. Mr. Spangler made a motion to approve changing the East Macon 2 precinct polling place from St. Matthew Baptist Church located at 1211 Shurling Dr., Macon, GA 31211 to the Boys & Girls Club (King Danford Unit) which is located at 1301 Shurling Dr., Macon, GA 31211.  This move will affect 4,000 registered voters and is 0.1 mile from the previous location.  According to O.C.G.A. 21-2-262 & 21-2-265, the voters will be notified, and the required notices will be posted.  This change will be effective for the November 2, 2021, Special Election and going forward.  Karen Evans-Daniel seconded.  Mr. Maynard, Mr. Hazard, and Mr. Kaplan agreed.  The motion passed unanimously.
2. Open Records Request update 

• (Requests for ballot images and risk limiting audit reports from the November 2020 General and January 2021Runoff)
• Voter GA – Legal Petition against the state to ban Dominion Democracy Suite Voting System

• Amanda Prettyman – Risk limiting audit reports and chain of custody documents from the November & January Elections.

5. OTHER BUSINESS

1. Staff Reports
2. Staff Reports
3. Chief Registrar – Veronica Seals

• Active Voters: 107,439
• Inactive Voters: 7,607
• Combined Total: 115,046
• This data is accurate as of date:  September 20, 2021

ElectioNet Voter Registration Dashboard Report

• Department of Driver Services (DDS) Applications 5
• Online Voter Registration Applications (OLVR) 0
• Verification of Pending Voters 0

Advance voting will begin – Tuesday, October 12, 2021 (SB 202 does not permit voting during state holidays) Monday, October 11^th, is Columbus Day

Mandatory Saturday Voting – October 16^th, & 23^rd, from 9a – 5p

• According to O.C.G.A. 21-2-384 (a) (2) – Earliest day for a registrar to mail ABS ballots is Monday, October 11, 2021
• According to O.C.G.A. 21-2-381 (a) (1) (A) – Last day the registrars can receive ABS APPL’s is October 22, 2021
• National Voter Registration Day – Tuesday, September 28, 2021

ii.  Elections Officer – Tom Gillon

• Campaign Filing Report
  • Macon-Bibb Moving Forward Inc., Campaign Committee for support of the OLOST

iii. Elections Supervisor – Jeanetta Watson

• Scheduled Meetings
  • State Election Board Meeting (Notice of Proposed Rule Making)
  • The rules in this subject that the SEB has proposed amendments to are: 
  • 183-1-12-.08 (Logic and Accuracy Testing)
  • 183-1-12-.11 (Conducting Elections)
  • 183-1-12-.12 (Tabulating Results)
  • 183-1-12-.13 (Storage of Returns)
  • 183-1-12-.18 (Provisional Ballots)
  • 183-1-14 (Absentee Voting)
  • 183-1-14-.12 (Eligibility of Application for Absentee Ballot)
  • 183-1-14-.14 (Early Absentee Ballot Processing)

https://sos.ga.gov/index.php/elections/state_election_board

(Sign up for the State Election Board’s email list)

Transcriptions & Recordings are available

• Regional Facilitator Meeting – October 4 (Redistricting training by the Secretary of State’s office and discuss implementation of best practices for compliance with SB 202)
• Staff Meeting – September 27(tentative – subject to change)
• Poll Watcher Training

A Poll Watcher Training Manual is available on the Secretary of State’s Website. (The SOS has advised that they will “not” be conducting poll watcher training but merely providing the training materials as required according to SB 202).

b.  Legal Reports

i.  During the FY 2022 budget, the Board of Elections was approved to have funding for onsite support provided by a representative from Dominion Voting Inc.  The Macon-Bibb County attorney’s office submitted a contract agreement to Dominion, which they refused to sign.  

Mr. Noland, County Attorney, advised the Board that there shouldn’t be any legal issue if the Board agrees to accept onsite support from Dominion Voting without a contract.  

7. GAVREO – Mr. Darius Maynard, Chair provided a report from the Georgia Association for Voter Registration and Elections Officials Conference. Also, during the conference the Macon Bibb County Board of Elections Staff was awarded the Phoenix Award for Region 6 which includes 12 surrounding counties.

ADJOURNMENT

Mr. Spangler made a motion for adjournment at 4:37 p.m. Mr. Hazard seconded.  Mr. Maynard, Mr. Kaplan, and Ms. Evans-Daniel agreed.  The motion passed unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at 4:50 p.m.

Minutes Transcribed by Jeanetta Watson, Elections Supervisor

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