Electoral Board Meeting Agenda

CITY OF SUFFOLK ELECTORAL BOARD MINUTES SEPTEMBER 14,2O2I CALL TO ORDER: Erin Rice, Chairman, called to order the City of Suffolk Electoral Board meeting at 9:05 a.m., on Tuesday, September 14,2021, in the City Hall Building, City Council Chambers,442W. Washington Street, Suffolk, Virginia. ROLL CALL: The following persons were in attendance: Erin Rice, Rev. Isaac Baker, Beverly Outlaw, Lester Ward, and various members of the public APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 3,2021 MEETING: Ms. Saunders read the minutes from the August 3,2021meeting. Ms. Outlaw moved that one exception be made to the minutes to read that voting on Sunday will occur at the next meeting which will be held on September 14,2021. Rev. Baker moved that the minutes be approved as read with the one exception and Ms. Outlaw seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 3-0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 1.7, 2O2I TELEPHONE CONFERENCE: Ms. Saunders read the minutes of the August 17,2021telephone conference meeting. Ms. Outlaw moved that the minutes be approved as read. Rev. Baker seconded the motion. The motion carried by a vote of 3-0. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF AUGUST 23,2021 EMERGENCY CALLED MEETING: Ms. Saunders read the minutes of the August 23,2021emergency called meeting. Ms. Rice asked that the minutes reflect that she voted "no" to using the grant money for Sunday voting and the vote should show a 2-1 outcome. Ms. Outlaw made a motion that the minutes be approved as amended. Rev. Baker seconded the motion and the vote carried by 3-0. OLD BUSINESS: Ms. Rice inquired of Ms. Saunders to bring the board up-to-date regarding the city's COVID-19 mitigation policy. Ms. Saunders commented on the plan of action to be taken in accord with city policy and made available to the board material regarding the COVID-19 Mitigation Policy and Program. Ms. Rice inquired as to the status of the installation of the ballot drop boxes. Ms. Saunders responded that they should be installed by Friday, September 17,2021 in time for early voting.  1 Ms. Rice asked Ms. Saunders to comment on the Central Absentee Precinct preprocessing and the ability to set up the ballots so that it will be possible to determine how many votes a candidate received in specific precincts. The City of Chesapeake has been able to achieve this and the Board would like to see this achieved in the City of Suffolk. Ms. Saunders will get a report from our ballot vendor, Benjamin Franklin Printing. Ms. Rice explained that they will have Ms. Saunders read the comments from the public in regard to those that are in favor of Sunday voting and those that oppose Sunday voting. Ms. Saunders read the seven public comments in favor of Sunday voting and then read the 28 public comments in opposition of Sunday voting. A motion was made by Ms. Outlaw that one Sunday in October, for a limited number of hours, be made available. Rev. Baker seconded the motion and the motion carried by a vote of 2-1, with Ms. Rice voting no to the motion. Ms. Outlaw made a motion to allow Sunday voting between the hours of l:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., on Sunday, October 24,2021, in the Voter Registration Office located at 440 Market Street, First Floor, Suffolk, Virginia. Rev. Baker seconded the motion and the motion carried by 2-1, with Ms. Rice voting no to the motion. Ms. Rice asked Ms. Saunders to report on the L&A testing of the voting machines. Ms. Saunders commented that Mr. Jay Overbey of Atlantic Election Services, provided testing on all the voting machines that will be used for in-person voting, the Central Absentee Precinct, provisional voting, as well as the voting machines that will be used throughout the city in the precincts on Election Day. Ms. Outlaw updated the Board on the status of the grant funds reimbursement and advised the Board that the requests made for monies for reimbursement of voting machines, premium pay for officers of election working on Sunday, and ballot drop boxes had been approved. NEW BUSINESS: Ms. Outlaw advised the Board of an interview requested by the Virginians for Electoral Integrity to be conducted with Ms. Saunders. In ascertaining whether it was a FOIA request, Ms. Saunders contacted the city's FOIA officer, Mr. Tim Kelly, and was advised that it was not a foible item. Ms. Outlaw advised the Board of direction from ELECT regarding guidance for the party representatives and asked Ms. Saunders to provide the Board with training material for the Chiefs and Assistant Chiefs prior to the scheduled training date of October 26,2021. This will enable them to review the contents and make sure that the officers of election will understand the directives set forth by the state.  -J- Ms. Outlaw advised of the state mandated two dates for preprocessing, being October 26 and October 30,2021. Ms. Rice suggested that additional dates be utilized and that these dates and times need to be posted on the office website. PUBLIC COMMENT: Mr. Miller Carey commented on what is considered to be FOIA items, the ability to see the check-in computer screens and not being in favor of Sunday voting. Mr. Richard Shoemaker commented on the interview with the Virginians for Electoral Integrity and that it was his opinion that it did come under the FOIA requirements. Mr. Rick Cicone commented that he was not in favor of Sunday voting. Ms. Sharon Eaton commented that she was in favor of Sunday voting Ms. Hope Styron commented that she would like for the Suffolk election information to be advertised in the Virginian Pilot Newspaper. Mr. Michael Lefleur commented that he is opposition of Sunday voting. ADJOURNMENT: Before adjourning, Ms. Outlaw requested that the Board review the forms used by the officers of election at their next electoral board meeting. There being no further business, this meeting was adjourned at ll-25 a.m. The next Electoral Board meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 5,2021, at 9:00 a.m., in the Voter Registration Office, 440 Market Street, First Floor, Suffolk, Virginia. Erin Rice, Chairman Rev. Isaac Baker, Vice Chairman Beverly Outlaw, Secretary