Board of Registrars

City of Chicopee, Massachusetts Registrars of Voters City Hall Annex – 274 Front Street – Chicopee, MA 01013 Tel: (413) 594-1550 Fax: (413) 594-1554 e-mail jsurdyka@chicopeema.gov Janina Surdyka Registrar (copy of the minutes of the June 23, 2017 meeting) Chairperson, Jacqueline A. DuBois called the meeting of the Board of Registrars of Voters to order at 10:00 a.m. Present: Jacqueline A. DuBois, Alfred W. Kendall, Janina Surdyka, Edward A. Rybak Minutes of the May 18, 2017 meeting were reviewed and approved as presented by the Clerk. Correspondence: - State Election Division – Interstate Crosscheck of Voter Registration - Auditing Department – FY’2018 Department’s Budget - League of Women Voters – Special Voter Registration Motion was made, seconded, and carried to place correspondence on file and to contact prior jurisdictions when removing names of Chicopee Voters. Clerk’s Report: The following nomination papers have been submitted since our May 18 meeting and have their signatures verified pending the Board’s certification: Office Candidate Number of Number of Number of Valid Nom. Papers signatures Signatures Councilor At-Large James K. Tillotson 3 172 170 Councilor – Ward 4 George A. Balakier 2 101 95 School Committee Mary-Elizabeth Pniak- 1 64 61 Ward 9 Costello Registration statistics (including address and party affiliation changes) for the months of April are as follows: Registered in the office 15 Received from the RMV 262 Registered by mail 40 Registered at public-assistance agencies 18 Registered online 7 Received from other City/Town Halls 4 Deleted from voter registration roll (moved, died or in 171 response to confirmation notice) Currently office staff is deleting Inactive Voters who failed to respond to the annual City Census and did not vote or sign nomination papers or petitions since 2014. Names of 640 voters will be deleted. Additionally we are in the process of scanning Street Cards of deceased voters using Laserfiche application. During this fiscal year the Department collected $26,535.50 from passport applications and spent $26,926.28 for multifunctional printer/copier/scanner/fax machine, office chair, labels, business paper, camera paper and ribbons, priority stamps, pens, pencils, and print cartridge. Additionally, $11,000.00 was transferred to the Department Special Services Account. The present balance of this account is $137,641.34. Request for continuation of the Passport Revolving Fund was approved by Mayor and City Council on June 6. Motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to accept the Clerk’s report as presented and to refer Nomination Papers to New Business. Old Business: the members received information from Janina regarding conference she attended in Plymouth on June 15. Information included using Central Voter Registry more effectively, Public Records Law and Notary Public instructions. New Business: members of the Board took the following action: - Motion was made by Mr. Kendall, seconded by Ms. DuBois and carried that Nomination Papers be certified as presented by the Clerk - Members of the Board expressed concern regarding some of the House and Senate bills dealing with automatic voter registration by additional agencies (Department of Revenue, all public institutions of higher education, and housing and community development). While all members were in favor of making voter registration as convenient as possible to ensure that every eligible resident is registered to vote, they want to make sure that the information our Department receives from various agencies is valid. There are some deficiencies with the current RMV database, including non-residential addresses, duplicate records, lack of apartment numbers, missing mailing addresses or proof of citizenship. Another bill would create so-called “sticky voter registration” for voters who move within the State. This bill would require the Secretary of State to obtain information every 3 months from RMV and Post Office on residents who changed their address for us to use this information to update voter registration roll. - Motion was made by Ms. DuBois, seconded by Mr. Rybak and unanimously approved to contact our State Delegation to address those concerns while voting in favor of the Bills. Next meeting of the Board was scheduled for August 4 for the purpose of certifying Nomination Papers. Meeting adjourned at 11:05 a.m. Respectfully submitted, Janina Surdyka, Clerk of the Board