MINUTES

                           City of Charlottesville Electoral Board
                                 Meeting of October 8, 2019

The meeting was called to order by the Vice Chair at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, October 8,
in the office of the Charlottesville General Registrar. Those present were Electoral
Board members Jon Bright (Vice Chair) and Jim Nix (Secretary), Director of Elections
and General Registrar Melissa A. Morton, Assistant Registrar Jamie Virostko and
Deputy Registrar Martin Mash.

On a motion by the Vice Chair, seconded by the Secretary, the agenda was
unanimously approved without change.

On a motion by the Vice Chair, seconded by the Secretary, the minutes of the
September 16, 2019 and September 26, 2019 were unanimously approved without
change.

Public Comment

No members of the public were present for this meeting.

Appointment of Officers of Election

Mr. Mash presented applications for eight individuals wishing to become officers of
election. The board reviewed the applications and, on a motion by the Secretary,
seconded by the Vice Chair, the following were unanimously approved for appointment
to a three-year term:

John T. Black
Arnitha N. Brown
Carolyn D. Cooper
Jeffrey P. Gregerson
Jackie Lombardo
Barbara Shenefield
Marc A. Turner
Dawn Woodford

Officer of Election Compensation

The Board members and Ms. Morton have agreed to return to the traditional system of
compensating Officers of Election on a daily flat-rate basis rather than at an hourly rate.
Following some discussion on potential daily compensation rates, it was agreed that

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more information is needed before the rates can be set. One key question concerns the
role, if any, that the City government has in setting the rates; the Registrar is waiting for
a response from the City Attorney before proceeding. Officer of Election compensation
has considerable budget impact. This is especially true for the three high-turnout
elections to be held in calendar year 2020. A decision on rate setting has been
postponed until the December meeting, yet to be scheduled.

Election Preparation

Ms. Virostko reported that absentee voting to date has been light with 231 mail ballots
sent out to date and 84 people voting absentee in person.

Mr. Mash reported that numerous key Officer of Election positions remain to be filled for
the November 5 election. Several potential candidates for these leadership positions
were suggested by the Board members and discussed with Ms. Morton. Mr. Mash
assured the Board that he would make the recruitment calls to fill open leadership
positions in the precincts. Recent efforts to recruit new Officers of Election have been
successful. Ms. Morton said that she planned to place new Officers of Election, who
showed interest, on a leadership track for future elections.

The Board was also informed that a seasonal part-time voter equipment technician has
been hired and will be working with Equipment Technician Robert Hodous to prepare
the voting equipment for the upcoming election.

There was a brief review of the training schedule for the November election and a
discussion of training priorities. Items emphasized included dealing with void and
spoiled ballots and proper handling of absentee ballots at the polling places. The
protocol for rapid reporting of election returns by phone from the precincts will be a key
item covered in the Chiefs’ training.

The Secretary agreed to talk with Robert Hodous, Voter Equipment Technician, about
finalizing dates to print the precinct ballots.

Update on Procurement of New Electronic Poll Books

Ms. Virostko informed the Board that certification for the new DemTech Poll Book
system selected for procurement is expected to be finalized on October 15th. The
equipment will be approved for use in Virginia elections following successful completion
of a pilot election on November 5. Ms. Virostko stressed that it will be necessary to
have received the new electronic poll books and for staff to have been trained on the
equipment by the first week of February 2020 if the new poll books are to be available
for use in the March 3 Presidential Primary. This purchase will require a supplementary
capital budget approval by the City Council. Ms. Morton is aiming to make this an

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agenda item for the first Council meeting in December in order to meet the necessary
timeline for the March 3 Presidential Primary.

Other Business
Ms. Morton informed the Board that, due to the demands of the November election, the
office has been granted an extension by the City Manager in submitting the fiscal year
2020 budget proposal until January 10, 2020.

There was a brief discussion about the upcoming Early Voting period to be implemented
during the 2020 Presidential Election including renovation ideas to maximize the front
office space. While discussions of possible scenarios for implementing early voting
remain ongoing, there was agreement by all present that further guidance was needed
from the State Board of Elections in order to fully outline the preparations that would be
required.

The next meeting of the Board will take place in the office of the Charlottesville General
Registrar at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, November 5, 2019 in conjunction with the canvass
of the election.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:45 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:



James Nix, Secretary



Anne Hemenway, Chair                                    Jon Bright, Vice Chair




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