MINUTES

                           City of Charlottesville Electoral Board
                                 Meeting of January 7, 2020

The meeting was called to order by the Chair at 5:43 p.m. on Tuesday, January 7, 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),
Director of Elections and General Registrar Melissa A. Morton, 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 Chair, seconded by the Vice Chair, the minutes of the December 4,
2019 meeting were unanimously approved without change.

Public Comment

Ms. Sharon Webb, co-chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Committee was present
for the meeting but made no comment.

Report of the General Registrar

Ms. Morton reported on the need for additional staff to deal with the increased workload
of the Presidential election year. She has submitted a request for a part-time seasonal
assistant registrar that is awaiting approval by City Manager. She also expressed a
need to fill an unexpected part-time assistant registrar vacancy.

Ms. Morton updated the Board members on the status of the procurement of new
electronic pollbooks (EPBs). Capital Improvement Program funds have been allocated
for this procurement, but purchase has been delayed by changes in the State
certification process. It still appears likely that the new Demtech hardware and
Advocate software will be certified in time for the new EPBs to be available for the
November general election but not for the March, or possibly even June, primaries.
However, Ms. Morton is pursuing the acquisition of the previously certified earlier
version of the Advocate software to replace the existing software on our current laptop
computer-based EPBs. This can be done with minimal expense in time for the March
primary thus enabling the election officials to begin developing familiarity with Advocate
software before the upgrade and new hardware become available. The Board is in full
support of this decision.




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In discussing the introduction of new EPBs Ms. Morton addressed the need for training
of all election officials to familiarize them with the new equipment. She emphasized the
need for all officers of election to have basic computer skills and to be willing to, and
capable of, working at the various stations at the polls. Assistant Chiefs will be
assigned specific tasks and responsibilities and Closers will be expected to work as
needed during the day at the various workstations. The goal will be to fully prepare all
of those working on election day for the heightened scrutiny by voters and the media
anticipated during this presidential election year.

Cyber security is a high priority and the Virginia Department of Elections has mandated
that all office staff receive additional training in the form of three 90-minute on-line
training sessions. Two members of the staff have completed this training and the others
are currently in the process.

Appointment of Officers of Election

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

Alice Gore
Joan Woodfolk
Janna Gies
Josephine Clark

Office of Election and Electoral Board Policy Approvals

In advance of the meeting the General Registrar had distributed drafts of several
policies governing election security and the internal operations of the Registrar’s Office.
She invited Board comment on the policies related to office operations but asked for
formal Board approval on the policies covering election security. In the latter category is
the update of a paper covering the policies and procedures governing access to the
warehouse in which election equipment is stored. On a motion by the Chair, seconded
by the Vice Chair, the changes, which add two staff members to the list approved for
access to the warehouse, were approved unanimously.

Ms. Morton asked that the Board members review and comment on the other policy
papers at their earliest convenience.

Registrar’s Office Budget Update




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Ms. Morton reported that the January 7 budget meeting went well with few questions
from the panel and she expressed optimism that it would be approved. The Chair and
Vice Chair asked several questions concerning the various categories of salary figures
in the budget. Those questions were answered but the Board members still find the
salary data confusing.

Ballot Printing Issues

The Board members were unanimous in agreeing that the volume of ballots required for
the November Presidential general election exceeded our capability for in-house
printing. This will require additional funds and the Registrar highlighted the line item in
the budget for purchase of November ballots from Hart Intercivic. Ballots for both the
March 3 presidential primary and the June 9 regular primary will be printed in-house.
For the March 3 primary the Board members agreed with the General Registrar’s
assessment that we should print 1000 absentee ballots on January 14 and plan for
printing 12,000 election ballots in February.

The next meeting of the Board will take place in the office of the Charlottesville General
Registrar at 5:45 p.m. on Wednesday, February 5, 2020.

The meeting was adjourned at 6:55 p.m.

Respectfully submitted:



James Nix, Secretary



Anne Hemenway, Chair                                    Jon Bright, Vice Chair




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