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Home My WebLink AboutHCBOE Board Meeting Minutes - April 5th, 2022 - Regular MeetingHARNETT COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS REGULAR MEETING APRIL 5, 2022 5:30 P.M. Present were; Board Chairwoman Allison Fenderson, Secretary Lin Coker, Members: Betsy McCormick, James Currin and Lewis Bell Also Present were; Director Claire Jones and Election Technician Jessica Higginbotham Also present: See sign in sheet Ms. Fenderson called the meeting to order at 5:30 pm with a moment of silence and Pledge of Allegiance. Public Comment Rebekah Brock Brian Hinsley Alan Longman Tony Spears Minutes: The Board reviewed the minutes from March 1, 2022. Mr. Coker moved to approve the minutes. After some discussion, Mr. Currin seconded. Approved without dissent. Business: The Board reviewed the list of Multi -partisan assistance team (MAT) members, attached hereto, submitted by Mrs. Jones. Mrs. McCormick moved to approve the list. Mr. Currin seconded. Approved without dissent. Mrs. Jones submitted to the Board the Ballot Duplication plan, attached hereto. Mrs. Jones briefly reviewed the plan and confirmed the process is the same as it was in 2020. Mr. Coker moved to approve the plan. Mr. Currin seconded. Approved without dissent. Mrs. Jones informed the Board that the hiring panel has selected Shannon Cole for the Deputy Director position. She comes from Cumberland County Board of Elections with 14 years of experience. The hiring panel will meet soon to address the Election Specialist opening. Mr. Currin updated the Board on his effort to reach out to the Harnett County Schools concerning getting registration information to high school students. There was some discussion regarding registration at public and private schools. Mrs. McCormick stated that she thought the original motion was to cover the central office, but was ok with Mr. Currin reaching out to the individual schools as a citizen. Mrs. Jones updated the Board on the following items: • Calendar o Absentee voting by mail began March 28 ■ 47 sent out, 1 returned o Absentee meeting begins April 12 Mrs. McCormick stated that she received the election notice in her water bill. Mr. Bell discussed adding up to four years of Board meeting minutes to the Board of Elections website; it is currently termed for two years. Mrs. Fenderson suggested going back to 2016 to cover the presidential election. After some discussion, Mr. Bell moved to include all Board minutes from 2016 forward to the website. Mr. Currin seconded. Approved without dissent. Mr. Rodney Johnson spoke up and requested to submit a complaint against the Board of Elections staff, stating that Paul Cox (State Board of Elections Staff Attorney) stated he could. Ms. Fenderson accepted the complaint/police report and asked Mrs. Jones to forward copies to all Board members. They will discuss at the April 12 meeting. With no further business to discuss, Mr. Currin moved to adjourn. Mrs. McCormick seconded. The meeting adjourned at 6:23 pm. The next meeting of the Board will be an absentee meeting on April 12, 2022 at 5:00 pm. Approved by: Z':�Oos_ k, Allison Fenderson, Chairwoman LJ in Coker, Secretary - 'VLlUY[MA Betsy McCormick, Member mes Currin, Member Lewis Bell, Member 2022 Multi -Partisan Assistance Team (MAT) Primary Shelia Douglas (D) - 910-366-0546 Robin Miller (R) - 760-408-7761 Backe Etta McNeill (D) - 919-820-5868 Sara Titchener (R) - 910-890-1606 BALLOT DUPLICATION POLICY Purpose To establish uniform standards for duplicating military and overseas ballots in preparation for special Board of Elections meetings to review absentee -by -mail ballots in accordance with N.C. Gen. Stat. 163-234(2). Policy and Procedures The Harnett County Board of Elections authorizes, under established standards and conditions, staff to perform ballot duplication for military and overseas ballots, transmitted by fax or email, as a preparatory step prior to absentee board meetings. The following standards and conditions must be met: 1. Ballot duplication must be conducted by a team of Board of Elections employees under the supervision of the Director of Elections. 2. The Director of Elections shall train all members of the duplication team prior to the start of ballot duplication. 3. The Director of Elections must assign each member of the ballot duplication team with one of the following responsibilities: a. Ballot Duplicator — This person is responsible for replicating voter selections from a machine -rejected ballot onto a blank machine-readable ballot of the same style as instructed by the Ballot Caller. b. Ballot Caller — This person is responsible for calling out voter selections listed on the machine -rejected ballot to the Ballot Duplicator and Ballot Reviewer. c. Ballot Review — This person is responsible for reviewing the Ballot Caller's readings from the machine -rejected ballot and those recorded on the machine- readable ballot by the Ballot Duplicator to ensure accuracy. 4. Prior to the start of ballot duplication, members of the duplication team shall complete a participation log noting the date, time, their name, and party affiliation. 5. During the ballot duplication process, duplication teams are not permitted to exit each other's immediate presence unless authorized by the Director of Elections until the ballot duplication process has been completed. Page 1 of 2 Ballot Duplication Policy 6. All duplicated ballots must contain the following in the blank box at the top of each ballot: a. The notation `Duplicate'. b. Ballot number assigned to the voter. c. Precinct of the voter. 7. Upon completion of ballot duplication, the duplication team must ensure that the duplicated machine-readable ballots are attached to the corresponding machine - rejected ballots for the Board to verify at its next scheduled meeting. 8. Members of the duplication team will be required to enter the time of completion and their signatures to the ballot duplication log. 9. The following shall be bound together, by duplication team, and provided to the Director of Elections or his/her designee: a. The completed ballot duplication log. b. The duplicated machine-readable ballots attached to the corresponding machine -rejected ballots. 10. The Director of Elections shall place the content provided by the duplication team in the secured ballot room, per established rules, until the next Board of Elections meeting. 11. The Board shall review the duplicated ballots at its next scheduled Board meeting prior to approval and authorization of optical scanning as a preparatory step. 12. After the duplicated ballots have been verified by the Board, the original ballots shall be placed in an envelope labeled "Original Ballots Duplicated and Read into Tabulator _MM_/_DD_/_YYYY---," and the envelope shall be sealed and signed by each member of the Board. The duplicate ballot envelope will be secured with other absentee ballot materials and retained for the same period as other Election Day materials. Page 2 of 2 �i Harnett County Board of Elections 308 W. Duncan Street Lillington, NC 27546 SIGN -IN SHEET Meeting Date: 141 Meeting Type: Ll - S - Print Name j Position/Title (if Address Phone Number applicable) L ��►� �I�(7 A �a;ls �� tT, Sb / fn S C,PAr �27,o c,A.rIsj� C 'T 0 275-2j- 3.378 S � q H C19 l 230 vezfe, C6Y4f- c,:_ soy krL< Z 3 °C�' Z- Page 1 of 2