2026-10-13 - Board of Elections

07:44Mhm.

12:48>> No camera.

12:54Why no camera?

13:01Says my camera's on. I'm plugged into

13:03the outlet.

13:05I don't know.

13:07>> I mean, look at the mini. I don't see

13:09you what you're

13:14You're all on.

13:15>> Yeah, it hooted at us when we plugged it

13:17in.

13:18>> [laughter]

13:21>> Maybe unplug it and replug it.

13:36>> I was doing it wrong.

13:37>> Yeah, usually it's got a pretty good

13:39audio.

13:39>> Yeah.

13:48Oh.

13:50Let's plug them right here.

15:18It's

15:19>> It's just coming off the computer.

15:20>> Yeah, well, no, I think cuz it did the

15:22boo boo which is usually that thing.

15:26Um.

15:31>> Um.

15:37>> Wednesday.

15:39>> I got to Can you all log out of it and

15:40try logging back in?

16:49>> All right.

16:51You have a quorum on the Welcome to the

16:53Athens-Clarke County Board of Elections

16:55and Voter Registration.

16:57Happy first day of early voting

16:59everyone.

17:00Hope things are going well. The date is

17:03October 13th, 2026 and the time is 4:41

17:08p.m. the afternoon where at 155

17:10Lexington Road.

17:12First item on the agenda is to adopt.

17:15So, the chair will entertain a motion to

17:17adopt.

17:18>> So

17:19>> Second.

17:20>> Okay, motion was tell.

17:22>> Second, uh

17:24>> Miss

17:24>> Miss R.

17:25I was going to call you Miss R. There we

17:27go. Miss R. I.

17:28>> All those in favor say I.

17:30>> I.

17:31>> All right.

17:32Um before we move on to the next agenda

17:36item, approval of minutes, I'd like to

17:38welcome our newest member, Miss

17:41Janice Rountree. Um she'll just be

17:43observing today.

17:45She has not been sworn in yet, but

17:47she's here and we're excited to have

17:49her.

17:50>> Thank you.

17:52>> All right. In your packet, we have

17:55meetings to meeting minutes to approve

17:57from September 8th

17:59uh 2026 regular meeting, and the floor

18:02is open for a motion to approve if there

18:05are any changes.

18:09>> I move to approve.

18:11>> Okay.

18:11>> Second.

18:12>> All right.

18:13Motion by Miss R.

18:15Approved, second by Miss R.

18:17All those in favor of

18:19adopting those minutes say I.

18:21>> I.

18:22>> Okay.

18:24Next item on the agenda is public

18:26comment.

18:28Hopefully we have a few of visitors

18:30here.

18:33Finally.

18:50I'm just going to set the timer and then

18:52I will

18:53call names.

18:54All right. Uh Mr. Ross Watson.

18:57>> How are you doing?

18:58>> Please state your name. Thank you.

18:59>> All right.

19:00First of all,

19:01uh three minutes, that's quick. Okay.

19:03Uh number one, thank you for being on

19:05the board. Thank you for volunteering. I

19:08especially want to thank you.

19:12Like seven years, maybe.

19:14Also

19:25I came here to talk about something that

19:27I had worked very hard here for is the

19:30absentee voting site and I worked very

19:33hard with Charlotte to get the tennis

19:35center up and running.

19:36It's been It's been fantastic.

19:39Okay,

19:41it's worked very well. It's the first

19:42site that was

19:44put outside of the beltway

19:47I started working on it almost 10 years

19:49ago.

19:51It's a long time but

19:53it's up and running well.

19:55We now have another thing that we worked

19:57on and it's the public library.

19:59And some of you are aware of it but

20:02we're going to have a library on the

20:03east side.

20:04I had talked to Charlotte and I had

20:06talked to the smart people and I had

20:09talked to um

20:10general conversations with other people

20:12on the board.

20:14I had to make arrangements that they had

20:16the proper electric fully data outlets

20:19in the new building.

20:21My reason I'm here is I haven't been

20:24able to get an answer to that so I am

20:26bringing the questions to you.

20:28Please go check with the project manager

20:31with the city.

20:33Be sure that they have the electrical

20:35outlets and the data you need.

20:37I know we got the layout for the room.

20:40We have accordion partition rooms and

20:42etc. So this whole thing can be expanded

20:45at the library which will handle the

20:47absentee voting site and plus it could

20:50be a new precinct site.

20:53So the east side is growing

20:55phenomenally,

20:56okay?

20:57We need another site out there.

20:59So I would appreciate it very much if

21:01you would follow up on that and get back

21:03with me and let me know.

21:05You don't know where to go. I mean I

21:06don't I don't want to I can go get an

21:08injunction or injunction find it, but

21:10we should be involved in that

21:12conversation all the writing with them

21:16concerning, you know,

21:17making sure we can use it at the

21:20the voting.

21:21Thank you for your service.

21:22>> Okay. Thank you.

21:30>> The next person is Malcolm Wilson.

21:34>> Welcome to the meeting, Jack.

21:36>> Jack Wilson, 600 Governor Drive.

21:38I live at 605.

21:41And thank you for the

21:44for largely debates. I only scheduled

21:46the dialogue with the solar panel and

21:47obviously 600.

21:49And I my family particularly

21:52let nobody let nobody

21:56But

21:57our infection number is very low. But

22:00it's important

22:02to get going.

22:03going.

22:06My particular concern today, which I see

22:09is not on the agenda,

22:10is

22:11what arrangements the county made for

22:14security of any

22:17unnecessary intrusion of police force at

22:20our polling stops. So, any

22:23against voter election.

22:25And I know in September

22:27we all said October 8th.

22:30I called everybody who is authorized to

22:33wear a band to come to the

22:36still this way and see if the police

22:39or the police or

22:40university, everybody in our building

22:45says whether it was me here and then we

22:47decide what was what. It's not on the

22:49agenda. It's It's going to explain what

22:52is not on the

22:54I asked the police to inform the voters

22:57at this meeting what was decided and

22:59what happened last week is that it's

23:01robust. It's not on the It's on the

23:04agenda.

23:07Because we've already seen it before.

23:11She's not voting.

23:12I'm sorry.

23:14Um

23:15the fact is

23:17the statements being made by people who

23:20are already voting

23:21and we know that.

23:23But more and more of you just

23:26who might be sick. And we are voting

23:29so we can live.

23:30We can talk.

23:33Um so I'm just asking if you will vote

23:36when this is over

23:37vote yes.

23:38What can we do?

23:40Thank you.

23:41>> Yeah.

23:46We're at We're at 3 minutes 4.

23:49>> Yes, definitely.

23:51>> All right.

23:52Next item is the director's report.

23:56Director Long, you are recognized.

24:00>> Thank you, Chairman Walker. Good

24:01evening, board. Good evening.

24:03To begin we will start with the activity

24:05report for September.

24:09We have a total of 82,068

24:12voters of which 73,226

24:16are active and we have 8,842

24:20that are inactive. We added 132

24:23new voters for the month of September.

24:26Um total cancellations for the month of

24:29September was 271

24:31of which 24 was out of state. State

24:35requested it. 55 were deceased. 184

24:39were felony removals and then the ones

24:42that requested through the Jarvis portal

24:45was eight.

24:46And as you can see right now we do have

24:49absentee ballots that were building in

24:50return but not yet September. We don't

24:53have any for the month of September.

24:55Um two open records requests, we have no

24:58challenges and we have four

25:01voter IDs that we've done this month.

25:05Okay.

25:08You've already welcomed Ms. Janice

25:10Rountree, but I was going to welcome her

25:11again and um

25:14if it was up to you guys and have

25:17anything, I guess she could say it a

25:19little later, you know,

25:20or give an opportunity

25:23now.

25:25>> Uh I really hadn't decided to say

25:28anything. Um

25:29glad to be here and hopefully contribute

25:33positive things

25:36for the board to look at.

25:39I look forward to working with you.

25:41Thank you.

25:42>> Thank you, Paul. I just wanted to say

25:46you

25:47Well, our master of the department, we

25:49have a new elections clerk that um

25:51Robert Stone, but he prefers us to call

25:53him Bert. He was one of our poll workers

25:56and he is up and he is running.

25:59>> [laughter]

26:00>> Um our new election coordinator, um Ms.

26:02Tanya Robinson, she will be joining us

26:04from Cobb County and she's scheduled to

26:07begin November the 16th.

26:10Um advanced voting, as you know, is on

26:12the way at the Costan Building and it

26:15opened today. Um the drop boxes are

26:18located at 155 East Crogan Street and we

26:21do have a

26:23poll worker who is there um who's um

26:26monitoring the um drop box and you do

26:28have the cameras up and ready.

26:30Um when I left um

26:32to come to the meeting, we had a total

26:34of 972

26:36voters when I left. So, I'm pretty sure

26:38we might hit the thousands before today

26:41is over. Um

26:43so far, we've had a lot of positive

26:45comments about, you know, the people,

26:47you know, wanting to go into Costan.

26:49They're liking in space and, you know, I

26:52haven't heard of any long, you know,

26:54waiting. I think it's been like 20

26:56minutes or less of most people coming in

26:59and out to vote cuz we do have four

27:01machines there. We have four poll pads,

27:03and so we got

27:05poll workers everywhere to assist and

27:07direct the voters so that they can know

27:09where to go to vote today. Uh Chair

27:13Raffle and number um Doug Payment today,

27:15they were pleased. So, you know, that

27:17made me happy as well to see that, you

27:19know, they like the setup and the flow

27:21of what we're doing so far.

27:23>> They got arrested for 10 people before I

27:25cast my vote.

27:26>> Okay.

27:27>> [laughter]

27:28>> Yeah.

27:29Yeah.

27:29>> Yeah.

27:30>> Oh, it's my boy.

27:31Yeah.

27:32Yeah.

27:33>> So, it's it's it's been it's just been a

27:35positive comments from everybody. We

27:38heard I don't think we heard about from

27:39Mr. Parking. That's not this

27:42He did not, but more than that, the

27:44building itself, you know, we have it

27:46It's been positive comments about it.

27:49They And then so the um Miriam Moore in

27:51the Tennis Center and the library will

27:54be opening next Monday, October the

27:5619th. The Corporate Extension will open

27:59on Saturday, October the 24th, and you

28:02know, we'll have 3 days at University of

28:04Georgia Faith Center. That will be

28:06October 27th, 28th, and the 29th. And

28:10then we have um all weekdays and

28:13Saturdays will be from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00

28:15p.m. And then on Sunday, October the

28:1718th, we have from 12:00 noon to 3:00

28:21p.m.

28:22Um is for the advertising go for it

28:24election, we have take we have it

28:27broadcast on WXAG, WGAU, and Power 100

28:32radio. We're in the Flagpole Magazine,

28:34all the October issues. Um we're on the

28:37Athens Transit buses, the digital ad

28:40advertisements are

28:42uh being displayed on every route. We're

28:44in Athens Banner Herald. We have posters

28:46out at the College Square. We're on

28:48Facebook and Instagram. So, that's the

28:51ACC elections and the ACC government

28:55account. So, we've got it out. We still

28:57got people who are, you know, helping

28:59us. We want to go and spread, you know,

29:01the news about voting. We have churches,

29:03we've had organizations to come in and

29:05ask for flyers. So,

29:08we're getting it out there. Actually,

29:09I'll be back on the radio tomorrow at

29:111:00. They called me today to come in

29:14again and talk about voting. So, I'll be

29:16back on the radio tomorrow.

29:18>> Okay, we can go next, AG.

29:19>> Okay.

29:20>> Okay.

29:21>> And then, I wanted to talk a little bit

29:23now about the litigation preservation

29:25letter. On the September 4th, you

29:27received that letter

29:29from Carlin and Sassie concerning the

29:312024 election returns. The

29:34litigation-related correspondence was

29:36directed to the Secretary of State's

29:38office rather than the office of rather

29:41at the Spalding County. So, we consulted

29:43with the attorney's office regarding the

29:45records and the retention and the

29:47preservation requirements. So,

29:48basically, we just need to

29:50continue to hold on to the records um

29:53from the 2024 election until further

29:55instructions. So, basically, that's what

29:58that's saying.

29:59Okay? As far as the district of Senate

30:0347,

30:05um the state um has challenged the

30:07Democratic candidate in the State Senate

30:09House District 47.

30:11This office of the state um

30:14administrative hearing has been set for

30:17October the 21st at 2:00 p.m. So, we're

30:21waiting to hear from that.

30:23>> Is that going to be live I don't know.

30:27>> Um I'm not sure if they're going to live

30:28stream it or not. I can find out and I

30:30can let you

30:33Okay. And then, for us the double

30:34ballots discussion on the double ballot,

30:38a ballot printing and mirror um alien

30:40error by printer error, resulted in some

30:43effective voters receiving two absentee

30:46ballots instead of one.

30:48The affected voters have received a

30:49notification via UPS explaining the

30:52incident and instructions to them to

30:54vote only one ballot and to destroy the

30:57duplicate ballot. A public press was

31:00released on October the 8th to provide

31:02more information and guidance to the um

31:05voters. Um I have communicated with the

31:07Secretary of State's office and I have

31:09provided updates to the board and to

31:13you guys and to management. Um we have a

31:15written SOP that has been um completed

31:18for the returned duplicate ballots. The

31:20clerks will stamp the ballots if they're

31:22bringing them into the office. They got

31:24stamping and then it says count cancel

31:26due and they're placing them in a

31:28designated uh absentee ballot file. And

31:31two ballot um

31:33team uh from absentee office will come

31:35and they will um

31:37collect all the um ballots and they will

31:40take them upstairs in a sealed envelope

31:43up to the absentee office and then the

31:45returned ballots will be tracked.

31:47They'll reconcile and they're doing it

31:49two people again. Both of them will have

31:51a um spreadsheet and they will like read

31:54Rocky, Rocky, fail, fail, you know,

31:57confirm that you know, that that they

32:00have

32:05So that they will concern, you know,

32:07reconcile that and chain of custody

32:10documentation will be maintained. Um we

32:13also will keep those 1145 voters um at

32:16this time separated from all of the

32:19other absentee absentee ballots that are

32:21being coming in to ensure that that only

32:24one vote will be counted for that

32:26particular voter as well. Um that's and

32:30also before we came here we received a

32:32correspondence from the um

32:35Secretary of State's um special agent um

32:38Lisa, I don't know her last name, but

32:41she's wanting to call tomorrow to have a

32:43conversation about the double ballot

32:45issue, and then she's wanting me to

32:47write up a statement, and so

32:49that's where I'm at with that that's so

32:51far. So, I sent the email to you guys to

32:54management and to the attorney's office.

32:56So, once I hear from them, um it would

32:59be Lisa, myself, and the attorneys that

33:01will have a conversation with her, and

33:03we will get together and

33:05formulate that statement as well.

33:08And um that's all I have as of now. Are

33:10there any questions or comments?

33:16>> None directly, but um

33:19does the board have any questions about

33:20the double ballot

33:22thing or this Senate 47's

33:26um you know, eligibility

33:28with

33:29What what was the challenge to the

33:30candidate?

33:33Uh

33:34the nature of the challenge to the

33:35candidate?

33:36>> Um the challenge to him was convicted

33:38felony. And so, he's been

33:41you know, charged with felony abuse, and

33:44he's been he has a sentence that he has

33:46to serve, 10 years.

33:48And so, from what I understand, the

33:50Secretary of State is still waiting for

33:52her to receive that sentence information

33:55from the clerk

33:57>> Right.

33:57>> office so that they can make a

33:59determination of

34:01you know, whether the person will remain

34:03on the ballot.

34:06>> Could you elaborate a little bit more on

34:08what the uh

34:10Office of State Administrative Hearings

34:13is or how that functions or I just not

34:16familiar with maybe you know a little

34:18bit about it.

34:18>> Well, that attorney and myself, I guess,

34:20from my understanding, I guess they

34:22would look at all the information that,

34:24you know, they would receive, and I

34:26guess they would look at the law, I

34:27guess, to determine what the next step

34:29is.

34:30>> Do you know much about how that

34:32>> Yeah, these are administrative judges

34:34and they

34:35they adjudicate things that come off of

34:37the state agencies.

34:39>> Oh, okay. So, so they are

34:41>> I presume that the law provides that

34:44these challenges

34:46be heard by administrative law judge

34:47counsel.

34:49So, they're they're

34:50>> They're kind of like a military court?

34:52>> Yeah,

34:53kind of but it's it's you know, federal

34:56government has them too.

34:57>> Sure, okay.

34:58Yeah, cool.

35:00And then from there, that judge doesn't

35:03make the decision, right? The Secretary

35:05of State does?

35:08Well,

35:08that's the way I read it. Do you do you

35:11know?

35:15There's there's been a few questions,

35:16though.

35:19>> Let me see if I can see if I can get

35:21some answers for you from the Secretary

35:23of State's office and follow back up

35:25with you later.

35:26>> I sort of misread the email, but that

35:28was my understanding was

35:29>> They'd have the hearing.

35:32Hearing would make whatever decision and

35:34then

35:36the Secretary will determine their

35:37eligibility based on

35:40the decision that was made.

35:43Someone else read it differently.

35:48All right.

35:49Any other questions?

35:53>> I just want to commend the office for

35:55the way you handled the double

35:57double ballot.

36:02>> We we see calls.

36:05About that. Some of them have mistaken

36:07them for ballots.

36:09>> [laughter]

36:09>> They're the letters?

36:10>> So mad.

36:11>> The UPS letters, yeah.

36:13>> They think the ballot is in there. I've

36:15even received two phone calls today that

36:18they just received an envelope with no

36:21letters inside.

36:24>> [laughter]

36:25>> So,

36:26>> Has been happening before?

36:28>> Similar case.

36:30Similar.

36:31>> This is a different vendor than

36:34previous.

36:35>> Yes, okay.

36:35>> Mhm.

36:37>> You know, people ask me about it and I

36:39tell them we don't print ballots.

36:41>> Right.

36:41>> The vendor prints ballots. So, there's

36:43nothing going on that's you know, that

36:46we can say anything that is going on

36:48that's not right. But, we do not print

36:50ballots.

36:51It was sent to us.

36:53>> Mhm, right.

36:54>> You know, most people I have to say that

36:56when they call in your office and you

36:57know, we start explaining it to them,

36:59they've been

37:00you know, they've been pretty satisfied

37:02with the answers that you know,

37:04given them.

37:05You know.

37:07The vendor prints them and mails them to

37:10>> Yes, yeah, it's not just that they print

37:12them and send them to us.

37:14>> No, no, they mail

37:15>> They print them and they mail

37:17>> They handle the whole process.

37:18>> Yes, exactly.

37:22>> What?

37:24Last call.

37:26Mr. Humphrey, do you have any questions

37:28or any

37:29uh

37:29Every time we have a um new member, it's

37:32like, "What is that acronym? What is

37:33that thing? What is that thing?" But,

37:35please just stop us and say, "Hey,

37:37I don't know what you're talking about."

37:39So, we can make sure you're caught up as

37:41quickly as possible.

37:42>> All right, thank you.

37:43>> You're welcome.

37:46All right.

37:47Uh on the agenda, there is no old

37:48business to wrap up and there is no new

37:51business to wrap up. Before we do

37:53announcements, uh I just want to see if

37:56there was anything else we wanted to uh

37:58check in on or discuss.

38:05>> I just said Miss Elsner had asked about

38:06the security. I don't know if there's

38:08anything to be shared.

38:09>> You want to just give a little brief

38:11update on what we did last Thursday? Was

38:14it

38:15>> Thursday.

38:16>> the meeting and the folks that attended

38:18the meeting are I can, but you're the

38:19one that led the meeting. So, Yeah.

38:22>> Uh

38:24I don't

38:24>> know if there's too much more to add

38:26than what we've already said publicly,

38:28but all the stakeholders who had who

38:31have anything to do with law enforcement

38:32were there. The sheriff was there, the

38:34the

38:35police department was there, the fire

38:37department representative was there,

38:39emergency management, so

38:41we went over our SOP for emergency

38:44situations. We listened to their

38:46concerns and questions, and I think what

38:49you would want to know something that's

38:50coming out of the meeting is

38:53scheduling a meeting with the sheriff

38:56to go over coordination with him.

38:59Um

39:00and that we're also going to open the

39:02command post on election day.

39:07Okay.

39:12>> We're going to

39:14announcements and upcoming events. Oh,

39:17I'm sorry. I

39:18Yes.

39:19>> Uh if it's okay, I can give an update on

39:21the library.

39:22>> Sure.

39:23>> So, we had somebody ask about the

39:25library. I know that staff had been

39:26engaged with the project manager

39:28specifically to make sure that it could

39:30be set up with electrical circuits or

39:32advanced voting.

39:33During this meeting, I reached out to

39:34the project manager and they confirmed

39:36that that is what's in the plans and

39:38will be ready to roll.

39:40>> We

39:41What what is the anticipated

39:45Okay. You know what? I can't answer that

39:46about a construction project, but

39:48>> Unfortunately, I don't know, but I'll

39:49I'll try to

39:50>> Uh

39:51I just asked because we'll have to go

39:53through our processes where you do all

39:54the work.

39:56Go through that whole process, so

39:58>> Yeah, I would

39:58>> We were planning to do that at the right

40:00time, so you can use it.

40:02>> I think it's be safe for the team to

40:04prepare to have that site in play for

40:07the presidential election

40:10knowing that there's an administrative

40:11work to happen beforehand.

40:13>> Okay.

40:14Cool. Thank you.

40:18I'll look that up one more time.

40:21Uh first item under the announcements uh

40:24beginning November 3rd at 4:30 in this

40:26room.

40:28Actually, we'll be across the hallway.

40:30>> Yes.

40:31>> Uh at this address will be our election

40:33day meeting where um

40:37we'll just check in on election day and

40:38make sure everything is running smoothly

40:40and what any issues the board needs to

40:42address.

40:43Uh advanced voting started today October

40:4613th and goes through the 30th.

40:49Uh the schedule and times have been

40:51read, but they're on our website and

40:53available to the public.

40:55October 23rd is the last day to submit a

40:57completed absentee ballot application.

41:02November 3rd is election day.

41:04And

41:06if you received an absentee ballot, the

41:08drop box is at 155 East Washington

41:12Street downtown. Open during

41:15business hours which are

41:178:30 to 4:30.

41:188:30 to 4:30.

41:20Great.

41:22Is there any change of motion to

41:23adjourn?

41:23>> Absolutely.

41:24>> Oh.

41:26I second. Okay. Motion Miss Ambrose, I

41:29second. Mr. Yarnell, as a favor say I.

41:32>> I.

41:32>> I.

41:34>> I vote five.

41:35>> I vote six.

41:35>> I vote six. I vote six.

41:36>> I vote six.

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