Board of Elections Supervisors

Board of Election Supervisors Virtual Meeting May 13, 2021 7:00pm Draft Minutes Member District Present Absent 1. John (Jack) Robson, Chief Mayoral X Appointment 2. Lisa Williams 1 X Arrived at 7:08 p.m. 3. Yousf Jaleel 4 X 4. John Payne 3 X 5. Lynea Cooper Mayoral X Appointment 6. Cameron Thurston 2 X 7:08 p.m. Also present: Janeen S. Miller, City Clerk; Yvette Allen, Assistant; Joi Woods, Contract Secretary. 1) Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chief Jack Robson at 7:07 p.m. 2) Approval of the May 13, 2021 agenda Yousuf Jaleel made a motion to approve the agenda. Lisa Williams seconded the motion. The motion passed 5-0-0. 3) Approval of April 8, 2021 Meetings Minutes Yousuf Jaleel made a motion to approve the meeting minutes. John Payne seconded the motion. The motion passed. 4) Review of Election Vendor demonstrations The BOES discussed software and mailing house features highlighted during Election Equipment Vendor Demonstrations presented by KnowInk, ElecTec. The details were discussed in comparison with features of equipment from ES&S. ElecTec was identified as the vendor of choice. 5) 2021 Election Planning A. College Park Community Center  Approval to use the Community Center for Election Day has been confirmed  Set-up & logistics will be established at a later date  Back-up generators for election equipment o Election equipment does not have battery operated capability to back up ballots and voter information  B. Equipment Acquisition, Voter Check, and Ballot processing methods  (3) Electronic Poll Books for Voter Check  (3) Scanners for processing ballots o Community Center (2) Davis Hall (1)  Ballot tabulators- to track the number of casted ballots C. Accessibility Accommodations The equipment does not provide written confirmation of casted ballots. The BOES reviewed and discussed support options for voters who require assistance casting ballots. Noted support options for Voters who need additional accommodations include:  Help from third parties who accompany  Help for an election Judge from a different district than the Voter D. Ballot Boxes Janeen Miller conducted site visits and identified potential locations for Ballot Boxes:  Calvert Road School (In the vicinity)  Stamp Student Union – (4) potential locations  Janeen Miller has inquired with UMD Police and Calvert Road School about monitoring the locations with security cameras  Staff will decide which style of ballot boxes to order by the end of May  Costs are estimated at approximately $1000 each 6) Printer/Mailing House & Processing Absentee Ballot Requests The BOES discussed the capabilities of ElecTec to mail Absentee Ballot applications Casted Absentee Ballot Applications will be tracked internally by Staff. Initial requests for Absentee Ballot applications will not be tracked.  City Staff will coordinate Ballot Scout to refine processes to mail and track ballots o The city will have access to a dashboard to verify that Absentee Ballot was received. o Ballots can be tracked using widgets that connect Voters from the city’s website to the Ballot Scout website allowing voters to track their casted ballots. o Need for a scanner and software to track Ballots collected from Ballot Boxes -Internal processes to provide Voters with detailed information that ballots have been received, accepted, and counted by uploading Voter data daily.  Additional information about is needed from Ballot Scout to clarify the BOES’ role in the process, including o Ballot Scout’s availability to process information on Sunday o Is data uploaded to a cloud-based 7) Processing absentee ballot requests The BOES discussed mailing and tracking absentee ballots   Purchasing or acquiring barcodes USPS to track ballots Ballot tracking-Ballot Scout  Ballots will be mailed by the city  Yvette Allen provided an overview of the ballot tracking software 8) Pre-processing returned ballots The BOES discussed establishing procedures to process absentee ballots in advance. The process will be maintained by an Election Clerk.  Alphabetical sequence of ballots as they are received by the city  Checking the returned list against a master list of outgoing ballots  Televised scanning of absentee ballots at Davis Hall simultaneously during the election at the Community Center  Separating ballots from signature envelopes to maintain confidentiality of voters  Maintaining records to ensure that absentee Voters cannot vote in person 9) Candidate Book The BOES discussed pending updates and final review of the Candidate Book. Jack Robson and John Payne will serve as reviewers. 10)Voter Outreach Plan Advertisements intended for April did not go out. The election was advertised on the city’s website. A. Advertisements are scheduled for May in the following publications  The College Park Here & Now  Diamondback, Municipal Scene (May Issue)  Route 1 Reporter,  Monthly updates on the city’s website A separate Election mailer will be provided to residents if the release of the Resident Information Guide occurs after the election. 11)Other Discussion- BOES Election day duties The BOES discussed Election Day duties were chosen as noted:  Candidate Book Review - Jack Robson and John Payne  Polling place logistical design & set up- Cameron Thurston and Yvette Allen  Campaign Finance Reports-Cameron Thurston  Petitions & Authorization Forms-John Payne 12) Next Meeting & Adjournment: The Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, June 10, 2021 - 7pm John Payne made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Cameron Thurston seconded the motion. All were in favor. None opposed. The motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 p.m.