Board of Elections for New Castle County s1

BOARD OF ELECTIONS FOR NEW CASTLE COUNTY Carvel State Office Building 820 N. French Street Wilmington, Delaware 19801

MINUTES OF BOARD MEETING OF JULY 8 , 2008

Members Present: Mr. Austin Mr. Brady Mrs. Dudlek Mr. Kuhrt Mr. Krzyzanowski Mr. Lanouette Ms. Parks Mr. Steele Mr. Sterling

Staff Present: Mr. Albence, Administrative Director Mr. Sholl, Deputy Administrative Director Mrs. Manlove, Commissioner of Elections Mrs. Rodgers, Election Office Manager

1. Mr. Steele called the meeting to order at 7:00PM.

2. Mr. Sterling moved and Mr. Brady seconded a motion to approve the minutes of the 6/3/08 meeting. The motion passed unanimously.

3. Mr. Sholl reviewed the Financial Report and informed the board that Department expenditures for FY 2008 were $2,039,011, and that the Department was able to transfer $97,811 to the Commissioner of Elections office to the HAVA repayment fund. He also reported that the Department’s operating budget for FY 2009 is approximately the same as in FY 2008. The budget includes $1,789,400 for the 2008 Primary and General Elections. The operating budget also included funds to cover the increase in warehouse rent that was effective July 1.

4. Mr. Albence informed the Board of upcoming elections, which include:

 September 9 – Primary Election  November 4 – General Election

5. Mr. Sholl discussed recent activity on the Department’s website. Site traffic remains relatively steady, and should increase as the election season progresses.

6. Mr. Sholl mentioned that the Department’s WEB page regarding emailing absentee ballots to military and overseas citizen voters is still in development.

7. Mr. Albence provided the overview of recent Departmental facilities upgrades/maintenance which include: Minutes, Board Meeting July 8, 2008 Page 2

 Work is progressing on the Call Center, created from surplus materials formerly used by the Department of State. Nine call stations have been constructed in two distinct modular units. Facilities Management is currently working on connecting the units to the building’s electrical service.  New desktop computer units are being deployed to selected staff. The current machines will become part of the surplus unit inventory, which has been expanded significantly with the acquisition of surplus systems from three other state agencies.  Efforts continue to restore reliable internet connectivity to the Warehouse. Some technical issues have arisen, which have delayed this effort.

8. Mr. Albence reported that selected staff recently participated in a comprehensive training on the office phone system, including the IVR (Interactive Voice Response) unit and CMS (Call Management System performance tracking tool). Staff feel more confident that they now have the tools to more effectively utilize system capacity and to monitor system performance.

9. Mr. Albence and Mr. Sholl informed the Board that the Department will continue to use the current version of the software currently operating the absentee system, as the updated version has not yet been certified by the EAC.

10. Mr. Albence and Mr. Sholl updated the Board that the Department has begun work on the Block Boundary Study project for the Census Bureau. A staff member from the Bureau visited the office on Monday, July 7, to assist with the kickoff of this effort. Three representative districts have been completed as of today.

11. Mr. Albence updated the Board on a number of upcoming Departmental activities connected with preparation for the upcoming election season. All efforts are moving forward smoothly according to plans in place.

12. Mr. Sholl informed the Board the write-in candidate bill passed the General Assembly during the session that has just concluded. All other legislation will be held and pursued during the next legislative session.

13. Mr. Albence and Mr. Sholl updated the Board on EVM repair/maintenance activities at the warehouse. The door lamp wire replacement project is now complete, and the staff is working on replacing approximately 35 sets of upper shocks. An update on the status of this effort is pending from the warehouse staff.

14. Mr. Sholl informed the Board that the Department will not be able to fill the currently vacant position, due to the hiring freeze currently in effect. He also updated that Board that the Department has been granted permission to hire casual/seasonal employees for the fall elections.

15. Mr. Albence informed the Board of current community outreach initiatives by the Department: Minutes, Board Meeting July 8, 2008 Page 3

 The Department, in conjunction with project partners, continues to participate in the MotiVote campaign, a non-partisan effort focused on voter education and registration, sponsored jointly by the Department, the League of Women Voters of Delaware, the Metropolitan Wilmington Urban League, Latin American Community Center, Voices Without Borders, and the local Young Democrats and Young Republicans organizations. The next MotiVote will be a non-partisan candidate forum, to be held in Wilmington sometime in August. Messrs. Albence and Sholl continue their service on the MotiVote leadership team.

 Mr. Albence continues his regular appearances on Comcast Newsmakers, approximately every six weeks.

 Mr. Albence continues his regular appearances on the Windows on Wilmington program, a public interest program produced by WITN/Channel 22 (the City of Wilmington’s in-house television station). He taped the most recent segment on June 25th, which highlighted the importance of keeping one’s voter registration record up to date, and also reminded viewers of upcoming deadlines for candidate filing and for registering to vote in the September primary.

 Tomorrow (Wednesday, July 9), Department staff will present a general voter information overview session to clients of the CareLink program. Voter registration will also be offered during the session.

16. Old Business: None

17. New Business:

 Polling Place Changes for the Primary Election on Tuesday, September 9, 2008. Mr. Sterling moved and Mr. Austin seconded the motion to approve the proposed polling place changes. The motion passed unanimously.  Next meeting is Tuesday, August 5, 2008  Machine Certification: (for the Primary Election) on Tuesday and Wednesday, August 26 & 27, 2008.

18. Board Removals:

a. Mr. Kuhrt moved and Mr. Krzyzanowski seconded the motion to remove 58 names from the voter registration rolls due to a move out of state. The motion passed unanimously. b. Mr. Sterling moved and Mrs. Parks seconded the motion to remove 41 names from the voter registration rolls as a result of the address verification process. The motion passed unanimously. c. Mrs. Parks moved and Mr. Brady seconded the motion to make 5 corrections to birth years noted in voter registration records. The motion passed unanimously. Minutes, Board Meeting July 8, 2008 Page 4

19. Commissioner Manlove provided the following update from the Office of the State Election Commissioner:  The Commissioner updated the Board on the EAC’s failure to certify updated software for an upgraded absentee ballot tabulation system. As a result, the current absentee tabulation system will be used for the upcoming fall elections.  The Commissioner reported that HAVA funds may be used to enhance accessibility of school buildings used as polling places. This possibility is still under investigation.  The Commissioner also provided an update on legislative action during the recently completed legislative session: o A bill that requires candidates to be declared write-in candidates in order for their names to be recorded passed the General Assembly. o The Title 15 “cleanup” and Special Election “cleanup” bills will be pursued during the next legislative session. o Voter Birthdates: A bill restricting the release of voter birthdates (i.e., including birth years) to use by State agencies passed the General Assembly. o Constitutional Amendment: This will be pursued in the next legislative session.  The Commissioner reported that the electronic signature pilot project will be launched later this month at the Kent County DMV.  State Fair: The Commissioner’s office will feature an exhibit again this year. The display will include information distribution, voting machine demonstrations, and web-based voter registration.  Phone System Upgrade: The Commissioner’s Office will be installing a phone system that mirrors the NCC system. This will permit redundancy/disaster recovery by either office (i.e., calls may be diverted from NCC to the Commissioner’s office and vice versa, if necessary).  Polling place cards will be mailed to all voters in the state by the middle of the month. The mailing will be accompanied by an information campaign with newspaper advertisements.

20. Mr. Sterling moved the meeting be adjourned. Mrs. Parks seconded the motion. Motion passed unanimously.

Respectfully submitted,

Noel Kuhrt Secretary

Next Meeting: Tuesday, August 5, 2008