MINUTES

                         City of Charlottesville Electoral Board
                                Meeting of April 24, 2018


The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 12:02 pm in the office of the
Charlottesville General Registrar. Those present were Electoral Board members Anne
Hemenway (Chair), Jon Bright (Vice Chair), and Jim Nix (Secretary), General Registrar,
Rosanna Bencoach, Deputy Registrar Katie Mauller, Election Manager Melissa Morton
and Voter Equipment Technician Raenell Lockley.

On a motion by the Vice-chair, seconded by the Chair, the agenda was approved
unanimously with one change, the addition of a discussion on the Voting Equipment
Security Plan.

On a motion by the Chair, seconded by the Vice-chair, the minutes of the March 20,
2018 meeting were approved unanimously without change.

Public Comment

The only member of the public present was Mr. Nicholas Del Rosso, representing his
father, Mr. Michael Del Rosso, Chair of the Charlottesville Republican Party.

Logic and Accuracy (L&A) Testing of the Absentee Voting Equipment

Starting at 12:05, absentee test ballots were marked by the three board members in
accordance with a test matrix created by the General Registrar. These ballots were
then scanned and tallied confirming that the ballots were correctly recorded. The test
matrix included a blank ballot and several over-voted ballots. These were rejected by
the scanner with the voter given the option to submit as is or be given a replacement
ballot. In the past, intervention by an election official would be required to assist voters
in such cases but the new version of the Verity software allows voters to make a
decision without consulting an election official. The board decided to activate this
optional feature for the upcoming primary. Upon successful completion of the L&A the
machines to be used for absentee voting were prepared and sealed by the board. The
process was completed at 1:00 pm.

Report of the General Registrar

The General Registrar provided the board members with a written report covering a
range of issues. Among them was a recommendation that an additional scanner be
purchased for use in the Tonsler precinct to accommodate growing turnout. Capital

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improvement funds are available to cover this purchase, which would leave two
scanners in reserve for emergencies. A second scanner has been required in Tonsler
for higher turnout elections because of the pattern of turnout during the day, leaving
only one scanner in reserve. On a motion by the Chair, seconded by the Secretary and
unanimously approved, the board agreed to the expenditure this summer of
approximately $5000 for the purchase of one additional scanner.

At the previous meeting, the board raised questions about the budgeting process and
whether there were any implications for going over particular line items. The city’s
Senior Budget and Management Analyst, Ryan Davidson, response, sent by email on
April 3, 2018, included:

       There are no implications in going over any particular line item. As part of the Annual
       Budget Appropriation we legally appropriate funding at the department level not the line
       item level. The line items are there for annual budget planning purposes and for
       comparison of year-to-year expenses or revenues.
       However while we don’t appropriate to the line item level, but rather the departmental
       budget level, we do have “budget stops” in SAP at the category level. Meaning our SAP
       system will not allow you to overspend the “Other Expenses” category of your budget.

This email, which had been previously forwarded to the board, was discussed in and
attached to the Registrar’s Report along with an April 4, 2018 email from Assistant City
Manager Leslie Davidson which included, “Ryan’s assessment is correct regarding
budgeting, etc.” There were no additional questions or comments about this topic at the
April 24 meeting.


Report of the Election Manager

Ms. Morton shared her concerns with the board regarding the need to upgrade our
electronic poll books (EPBs). While the software has been upgraded in recent years the
laptop computers used as EPBs are quite old and becoming unreliable. Several poll
book vendors will be present at the annual training at the end of June with equipment
for the board members and staff to evaluate. Ms. Morton will request cost data from the
vendors before the training and provide this information to the board.

Ms. Morton provided the board with historic turn-out data upon which to base an
assessment of the number of ballots to print for the upcoming primary. Ms. Bencoach
and Ms. Morton proposed printing 4000 but the board members found this to be high
and authorized printing of 3000 primary day ballots plus 100 absentee ballots. The
progress of in-person absentee voting will be monitored for indications of likely turnout
on June 12.



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Preparation for the June 12 primary is proceeding on schedule. Ms. Morton wanted to
commend the election preparation efforts by Ms. Lockley and Ms. McKenney and to
thank them for their assistance during her recent absence.

The Secretary reminded the General Registrar of the statutory requirement that the
Electoral Board Secretary approve the ballot draft before it is sent to the Department of
Elections. This responsibility has not been delegated.

Election staffing is almost complete for the June 12 primary with only one key position
still open. The Deputy Registrar reported that, due to the expected light turnout for the
primary, only three people will be needed to staff the central absentee precinct;
recruitment to fill these positions is underway. Since only a modest number of mailed
ballots are expected, these will be scanned with the machine used for in-person
absentee voting rather than on the higher speed central scanner.

Appointment of Election Officials

Ms. Morton presented applications from two individuals wishing to become election
officials. The board reviewed these applications and on a motion by the Chair,
seconded by the Vice-chair and unanimously approved the following were appointed:

Bridget Moss
Linda Smith

Voting Equipment Security Plan

The Vice-chair has conducted a detailed review of the draft plan and he presented a
number of recommended changes to the staff and the other board members. Most
were editorial in nature but there were also several substantive amendments. These
will be incorporated into the draft and sent to the Department of Elections by the May 1
deadline.

Precinct Realignment

In a follow-up to a discussion at the March meeting, Ms. Bencoach briefed the board
members on the steps required to make changes to the current precinct map. The first
step is to notify the City Manager and the City Council of the Board’s intention to pursue
a precinct realignment, which Ms. Bencoach will do. Following the June primary, the
registrar will assemble a working group to review the current precinct configuration and
recommend changes, which then must be approved by the City Council. Ms.
Bencoach, however, strongly recommended that no changes be implemented until after
the November 2018 general election. Assistance from the Neighborhood Development


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Services department in the form of GIS services will be required for developing a
realignment proposal.

Next meeting

The next meeting will take place at the Carver Recreation Center at 5:15 pm on
Wednesday, May 23, 2018, prior to Election Official training.

The meeting was adjourned at 2:10 p.m.


Respectfully submitted:



James Nix, Secretary



Anne Hemenway, Chair                                  Jon Bright, Vice Chair




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