Election Commission

Election Commission | Census Office City Hall • 375 Merrimack Street, Rm. 5 • Lowell MA 01852 Tel: 978.674.1200 • Fax: 978.970.4089 www.lowellma.gov Board of Election Commissioners Meeting Tuesday, May 18, 2021 Election & Census Conference Room 6:00 PM MEETING MINUTES 1. Roll Call and Attendance START TIME 6:01 P.M. Meeting called to order by Zoe Dzineku. All Commissioners Present. (Zoe Dzineku, Jim Pope, Beverly Anthes, Mark Paton). Elliott Veloso was also present. 2. Old Business a. Vote to accept minutes from prior meetings. MOTION by Zoe Dzineku to accept April 27, 2021 meeting minutes, seconded by Beverly Anthes. All in favor. 2. New Business a. Introduction of new Election Commissioner. The commissioners welcomed Mark Paton to the Election Commission. Mr. Paton thanked the commissioners for their welcome and looked forward to working with them in the future. b. Discussion on selection of new officers for Election Commission. After discussion, the commissioners nominated and voted on who would serve as officers for the Election Commission in the coming year. The Election Commissioners voted and approved for the following commissioners to serve the following officer positions for one year, upon which new officers would be nominated and voted for in May, 2022:  Election Commission | Census Office City Hall • 375 Merrimack Street, Rm. 5 • Lowell MA 01852 Tel: 978.674.1200 • Fax: 978.970.4089 www.lowellma.gov Zoe Dzineku – Chairman Jim Pope – Vice Chairman Mark Paton – Clerk c. Update 2021 Municipal Elections. i. Update on nomination papers and candidate reporting requirements. Elliott Veloso went over the nomination paper process. Candidates when pulling papers are required to identify the seat they are running for, whether at large or district. If it is district, the number district they are running for must also be identified. E-mail addresses must also be provided this time. Elliott Veloso indicated that proving candidate residency for district seats will be challenging, and went over the process to verify residency of candidate. The Elections Office will first check the candidate’s voting records and see how long they have been registered to vote in the City and their address, and if need be cross reference with Assessor’s records. Mr. Veloso also indicated that candidate reach out and other examinations may be possible. ii. Update on electoral district coding, polling locations, and logistics. Mr. Veloso went over how the Electoral districts were coded for both City Council and School Committee races. Mr. Veloso went over how City Council Districts were combined to form the School Committee districts. Mr. Pope inquired how voters would vote for a school committee seat if it represents two districts. Mr. Veloso explained that the ballots in both districts would have the school committee race reflected on both of them. Mr. Veloso stated that he was working on updating polling locations to deal with the new districts, as they were formed in such a way that prevented Wards/Precincts from neatly fitting in them. To ensure voters receive their correct ballots and to prevent voter fraud, one polling location would have to be designated for each new municipal district for the 2021 municipal elections only. Once state reprecincting  Election Commission | Census Office City Hall • 375 Merrimack Street, Rm. 5 • Lowell MA 01852 Tel: 978.674.1200 • Fax: 978.970.4089 www.lowellma.gov is finished in late November 2021, the City can go back to the prior Ward/Precinct process. Mr. Veloso stated that he was working on the polling locations and would provide a list to the commissioners at the next meeting. d. Update on voter outreach/education efforts for 2021 Municipal Elections. i. Update on proposed use of text messages to voters. Mr. Veloso informed the commissioners that he reached out to the City Manager’s Office and the Office of Emergency Management regarding potential text message use. The response Mr. Veloso received was that use of the City’s Emergency Text Message service for such outreach was not possible under the current system this year, which was designed for emergency response use only. The City Manager’s Office also indicated that the limited word count and opt in/opt out nature of the current system would make voter outreach difficult through the text messages. The City Manager’s Office would look into potential text message options for future elections. e. Update on inquiry regarding applicability of M.G.L. c. 51, §16A. Mr. Veloso provided an update on his research. Mr. Veloso stated that one of the challenges of the research is that, given the age of the City, certain procedures and processes were governed by special act and not state law, which made research difficult. Mr. Pope requested a list of laws and requirements. f. Update on technology/equipment procurement for Elections Office. Mr. Veloso updated the Election Commission on the status of procurement of voting machines and electronic poll pads using grant money. Mr. Veloso stated that RFPs were released for voting machines. g. Summary of Disability Commission meeting (5/13/2021) and proposals to improve handicap voter accessibility at polls. Mr. Veloso updated the commissioners on the meeting with the Disability Commission. The Disability Commission and Mr. Veloso discussed at the meeting ways in which to improve handicap voter access. The Disability Commission also indicated that they had funds available to procure equipment to aid handicap voter accessibility. The Election Commission expressed support of such initiatives.  Election Commission | Census Office City Hall • 375 Merrimack Street, Rm. 5 • Lowell MA 01852 Tel: 978.674.1200 • Fax: 978.970.4089 www.lowellma.gov 3. Adjournment Motion to adjourn by Zoe Dzineku, seconded by Beverly Anthes. All in favor. END TIME 7:00 P.M.