Board of Elections Supervisors

Board of Election Supervisors August 31, 2020 Emergency Virtual Meeting 7:30 p.m. Minutes Members District Present Absent John Robson, Chief Mayoral X Lisa Williams District 1 X Yousuf Jaleel District 4 X John Payne District 3 X Cameron Thurston Mayoral X Also Present: Lynea Cooper-Pitts, Pending Member; Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Yvette Allen, Assistant City Clerk. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chief Robson at 7:35 p.m. He said this is a follow- up to the meeting on Thursday, August 27, when not all members of the BOES were present. I. Date for Special Election for District 2 Chief Robson reported on the telephone call and subsequent email from Susan Kreutter from the Prince George’s County Board of Elections regarding the County’s support for our Special Election, particularly with respect to voter registration. He explained that the County’s voter registration books are closed from October 13 - November 16, 2020 for the Presidential General Election. No changes can be made to voter registration during that time. Due to the City Charter, the timing of our election is related to when voter registration closes. The BOES had previously voted to recommend to the Mayor and Council Sunday, November 15 as the date of the election, with voter registration closing on October 19 and the canvass on November 23. In response to our inquiry, Ms. Kreutter responded: “Jack and Janeen, I spoke with Alisha about the questions you had concerning the close/re-opening dates of your voter registration and ours. You mentioned scheduling your ward 2 special election canvass for 11/23/2020 with the hopes that any voter registrations for College Park that came in during the time that our County registration was closed and your registration was still open, would be entered by the canvass date. We cannot guarantee that we will have entered those voter registrations by that date because we do not know when our General Election canvass will be completed. This is especially true due to the increased interest in Vote by Mail and Drop Box dropping off of voted ballots this election.” Based on this feedback from the County, Mr. Robson suggested the Board should reconsider proposed Special Election date. Mr. Robson said that the date that  coincides with the close of the County’s books would be Tuesday, November 10, which is 28 days after the County’s books close. The Board discussed the pros and cons of holding the Special Election on Tuesday, November 10. Discussion of poll hours, date of canvass, preliminary canvass to validate absentees and provisionals, recruiting of judges. A motion was made by Mr. Payne and seconded by Mr. Thurston to present the following revised timeline for the Special Election to the Mayor and Council at the Worksession on September 1: Date of election: Tuesday, November 10, 2020 Poll Hours: 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Voter registration closes: Same day as County’s books – October 13 Official Canvass: Thursday, November 19 The motion passed 5-0. II. Election Signs: The BOES asked City staff to purchase yard signs to advertise the Special Election. III. Adjourn: A motion was made by Mrs. Williams and seconded by Mr. Thurston to adjourn the meeting. The motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:03 p.m.