Board of Registrars

MINUTES Board of Registrars’ Meeting June 4, 2014 City Clerk’s Conference Room, City Hall Present: Kathryn Fogal, Chair, and Patricia Lucier. Absent: Carol Cordero. Also present: Paul R. Bergeron, City Clerk. 1. K. Fogal called the meeting to order at 10:08 am. 2. P. Lucier moved to accept the minutes of the Board of Registrars’ meeting of October 31, 2013. Seconded by K. Fogal. Motion passed. 3. Unfinished business: voter registration status of Paul Joseph Kalenoski. The City Clerk stated that this individual had been a registered voter in Plymouth at the time of the November 2012 General Election, but voted in Nashua. He did not vote in Plymouth. At the direction of the Attorney General’s Office, the City Clerk contacted Mr. Kalenoski and requested that he re-register in the City of Nashua, which he did on January 9, 2014. This action was reported to the Attorney General’s Office, and the matter relevant to his eligibility to vote was now closed. K. Fogal moved to accept the City Clerk’s oral report. Motion passed. 4. P. Lucier moved to accept the report of the City Clerk relative to deletions, additions and corrections to the checklist since the last meeting of the Board of Registrars. Seconded by K. Fogal. Motion passed. 5. Other business: a. The City Clerk informed the Board that three polling sites would be relocated for the fall elections, if approved by the Board of Aldermen: Wards 1, 3 and 5. Broad Street Elementary School (Ward 1) is undergoing renovation and would not be available for use as a polling site. The City Clerk was still trying to identify a suitable alternative. The City Clerk stated that he had met with school officials following the 2013 municipal election to discuss a number of issues, including how to improve security at the schools during elections. The City Clerk agreed to hire a police detail during election times when children were present in the schools. In addition, he said he would look for alternative sites for the polling places. In Ward 3, the First Baptist Church hall at 121 Manchester Street was an option. In Ward 5, the CrossWay Christian Church at 503 Main Dunstable Road was an option. b. K. Fogal stated that she had received a request to conduct a voter registration drive at Coburn Woods. The City Clerk said that he had received the same request, but that he was not in support of the idea for several reasons. First, since the state adopted same-day-voter-registration, voter registration drives just do not attract much, if any, interest. Exceptions would be voter registration activities in nursing homes, schools, or for residents for whom English is a second language 1  and translation assistance can be provided. He also said that he felt that a voter registration event for mobile residents should be promoted as a citywide event and held in a location that is easy for all residents to attend. Holding a voter registration event for a condo association was too limited. Finally, he said that a voter registration event held just prior to the November State Election might attract some new voters, but an event held during the summer would certainly be poorly attended. P. Lucier agreed with the City Clerk and stated that in her experience, a voter registration event like the one proposed would not be productive. There being no consensus, K. Fogal – a resident of Coburn Woods – said that she would inform the condo association that she was a voter registrar and that she would make herself available to register any resident of the association who wanted assistance. c. The City Clerk reported that during the City’s 2011 redistricting, the voter registration address and ward assignment database listed two house lots in the wrong ward. The City’s ward map shows that 90 and 93 Flintlocke Drive are in Ward 5, but the database listed all Flintlocke Drive houses numbered 1 – 100 as belonging in Ward 9. As a result, residents of 90 and 93 Flintlocke Drive were included on the Ward 9 checklist, not the Ward 5 checklist. The City Clerk reported that the street list database had been corrected and that voters at these two addresses were notified of their corrected ward assignment and the location of the Ward 5 polling site. d. The Board scheduled its next meeting for Friday, September 5, at 10:00 am in the City Clerk’s conference room. 6. Meeting adjourned at 10:52 am. 2