Notes from State Board of Elections

Meeting Notes posted on this site are NOT OFFICIAL MINUTES, but can give you different perspectives of what is happening in the county. More meeting notes can be found here. Newspaper reports about meetings can often be found in Newsletter archives - a brief description and a link to the story are in weekly e-newsletters.

Sept. 28, 2004 - Annapolis

All Board members present (state board members site also has past minutes)
Linda Lamone - administrator
Gilles Burger, chair
Also present:
Channel 2 movie photographer
WTOP radio reporter (interviewed BOE chair from Mont. Co.)

Dealing w/ Homeland Security on a number of issues - gave them flow charts for every polling place & other documentation. Concerned about voter safety & feeling secure. Prince George's district 2 (Sept 14) used new electronic poll gathering. Accuracy testing done on all units this summer. PG L & A testing starts next week. Each county has list of serial numbers. Protestors not eligible to vote on paper ballots - there will be signs. Diebold technicians working in co.'s. Staff attends randomly selected trainings. Raynor said he's done trainings, but Lamone has not; Burger said he was once an election judge.

Reconfiguring of boxes in Mont. Co. Analyzed modem issue in PG - it didn't work. Met w/ USPS about delivery of absentee ballots fom BOE military - bundled. Postmarked day before election & in by 2nd Fri. after.

Audits done in several co.'s. Howard has new elections director - no experience w/ election admin. - has IT/Verizon experience. Voter reg. MVA - many didn't reg.; gave certain co.'s support to deal w/ it. People told 6-8 wks. to print reg. forms & many didn't have them. Have to go trough procurement process - means there needs to be a change. They didn't have them in June for fairs.

"Woody" asked about Provisional ballots - told must be uniform accross state. Showed polling place guidelines that chair never saw. Ross Goldstein, staff, answered about what provisional ballots are for & why rules are as is. They don't want judges to be arguing w/ voters & they need to inform them of what they can do. Allowing protestors to use provisional ballots breaks law. Sara Harris, Mont. Co. BOE was asked to speak to it. Mont. Co. takes extra step due to high # of protestors (giving provisional ballots and saying they're not sure if they will be counted). Raynor said entire state should take that step. Judges concerned that protestors can't be given provisional ballots. Joan Beck said no one should use prov. ballots except as written - across state. A. Susan Widerman questioned about law - would it be counted or not? People asking for paper ballots considered disruptive & protestors & none should be counted. Burger thanked input & said they could change policy/guidelines - has reservations about them - asked for motion. Beck moved to say it should be uniform - Burger said he sees present system as uniform. Drop last sentence in notice - not eligible to receive provisional. Doesn't cause Mont. Co. problems. No issuance of provisional ballots to protestors. Deleting last 2 paragraphs in memorandum polling place guidelines. Unanimous vote.

Pool of judges not available - short of judges.

Bobby Mac (woman - politician?) recognized be Raynor.

2 people in PG may have voted twice & will be referred to prosecutor.

Marcella Black - security officer in attemdance. Linda hired ~25; Raynor said must be more - has 46 or 50 employees. Raynor asked about races of staff - Burger asked to take it up later. Raynor denied copy of Linda's expense account - Burger asked to take it "off-line". Travel policy? - don't know policy.

Judy (Armold, Assistant Attorney General?) - litigation about election; Nader lawsuit lost on appeal - law invalidated - need signature page for each co. - Green Party filed response & they will reply. Shay case mentioned. Sept. 13 opinion - Ocean City - can transfer voting place if considered primary residence (where pay taxes, children go to school, etc.). Residency long been problem - because college students can vote & change results - must be where you pay taxes.

Voting unit checked out by election judge (True Vote MD member) & refused to return - it's in custody of state police - considered part of crime - someone from BOE should be there with machine. Nancy Dasick - Pres. of Mont. Co. - reviewing policy - hard for staff to go everywhere machines go. State policy? Burger - don't expect need. Concept of chain-of-custody was disrupted in this case. Perception is that we could lose these machines.

Neil Jones - Dept Dir. of Balt. - found 2 machines on street & another in bar. Barbara? spoke to issue. Ms. Woodside picked it up. Demo unit? No state tag on it. All machines accounted for - don't know origins - commercially available - can buy on eBay. 16,009 machines accounted for.

Dept. Leg. proposals - 4. PG Co. municipal election doesn't need state leg. - staff lawyer said. Optional use of voter authority card. Mayo recommendation for all pollers - identification requirement - Burger & others support - solicit co-sponsors. Presently only partial requirement - no ID required. Raynor said it could be problem. HAVA law read - states kind of ID - state can have stricter requirements. Voter ID reqirements used "to disinfranchise black voters." - Judy. Likely to litigate based on right to vote w/o ID. Not unanimous vote - Raynor voted "no" to support leg. Greater absentee requirement creates greater fraud possibility.

Want to prohibit? - Ocean City - don't want name publicized as having voted. Raynor - should be public record of who voted. Beck agreed. Vote unanimous. Burger stated reinforcent of all voter ID requirement.

Proposed reg's. Prohibiting electronic equip. in polls - can be communication device. Unanimous (Susan absent during vote).

Set up options to dictate testing - option not to do certain tests - some no longer options - how to conduct recount, internal memory archive, manual? recount [ & other - couldn't hear]. Approved reg. (Unanimous - Raynor absent during vote.)

When would admin complaint be not policy or procedure? - a process would be local board concern, not state. Appeal made possible by HAVA. Beck - any action should be appealable by someone. Conflict of interest? BOE taken out of process. Judy wrote piece on intent - admin. complaint procedure - arbitration poceding using panel selected by each party - fed. law proposed. Tabled until after election - present law still valid - potential conflict of interest; no appeal process. Board should receive conflicts. Raynor quoted Shakespeare - "less better".

Public demo & paralell monitoring - independent overseeing - randomly selected. Comparing totals. Don't need in all 24 jurisdictions. Send out paper ballots to LWV - Mont. Co. New tampot tape - numbers might not match up - transposing - 99.9% do; human error causes problem. Public demo - COMAR requires - Mont. Co. has own process. 4 units from 4 places - random - Mont. Co. chosen. Other co's involved?

Modeming policy - not taking cards outside of polling place - problem from Mont. Co. - Sara prepared & distributed - modeming down hall w/ challengers & watchers. Space & permitting non-official involvement. Certified pollwatchers not available in every place. Machine has to be in their view - process of how being transmitted. Polling place accumulation to co. office & then it's sent to state. Still hand-carried from some polling places. Raynor said let people watch - Sara agreed. Watchers must be able to see modeming process. Place might not have modeming capability. Posting printed & displayed & reprinted to show no change & posted again & printed again at GEMS. Principle didn't allow - needs to be told they can't stand in way of election process. Facility has agreement they sign. Rental facilities could refuse, but laws have changed about powers election judges have to commendere needs. Movement of moteming place must include 2 chief judges & challengers & watchers must also. If not enough space to watch - then reprinting allowed. Beck stipulated must be in manual.

Recommendations of dep. dir. approved.

True Vote MD attendees photographed
Julie McFadden-Weber ( spoke to WTOP radio)
Matt Russillo
Sheri Pegram
David Lanning

- submitted by Joyce Dowling

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