Geauga County Board of Elections (BOE) - 03/30/2023
Meeting Info: Special Meeting on March 30, 2023 called to order at 9:00 AM in BOE Conference Room at 470 Center St, Bldg 6A, Chardon, OH, 44024. In-person and virtual, via Microsoft Teams. An agenda and listing of bills was provided in advance.
Public Comment Policy: no written policy and not listed on agenda. In practice, the Board accepts public comment and addresses questions throughout the meeting.
Board Attendance: Present were Dennis Pavella (Chair), Nancy McArthur and Joan Windnagel. Janet Carson was absent.
Staff Attendance: Director Michelle Lane, Deputy Director Nora McGinnis, and at times Office Administrator Scott Daisher.
County Representatives: Frank Antenucci, Chief Deputy Administrator of ADP..
Public Attendance: four members of the public attended in person and one attended virtually. This Observer attended in person.
Minutes - March 6, 2023 minutes passed without corrections or discussion.
Bills - APPROVED bills totaling $5,866.82. That amount includes $2,500 to B Fink Consulting for preparation of Nov 2022 Election chargebacks, $1,992 for MS Office 365 licenses for staff and board members and routine office expenses.
Agenda - APPROVED moving ADP update and presentation from Detective Don Seamon to a later time in the meeting.
Executive Session - per Mr. Pavella, no executive session needed as there are no new developments in the legal action with the County Commissioners.
The Board took action on the following items:
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APPROVED Youngstown Letter for $2,264 purchase of two-sided ballots. Unit cost of 27 cents/ballot was the lowest bid.
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APPROVED April 11 at 10AM for public test of DS200 and DS450 ballot scanner/tabulator equipment.
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APPROVED $9,600 of election expenses for the Nov 2022 election that are allocated to Geauga’s 16 townships, 4 villages and 1 city for reimbursement to BOE. Observer Comment: Under ORC 3501.17, certain election expenses are borne by local political subdivisions. Political subdivisions are taxing authorities and may include county commissioners, boards of township trustees, municipal councils, boards of education and special districts.
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APPROVED, based on advice from the Geauga Prosecutor’s Office, policy for public records requests for video footage of the BOE drop box. Those requesting this information must reimburse BOE’s cost to supply an appropriately sized USB flash drive. Per the Secretary of State, for security reasons individuals may not supply their own USB device. In response to an inquiry from the public, Mr. Pavella explained the video footage records 24/7 during the early voting period.
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DISCUSSED course options for the June 27-28 Secretary of State Summer Conference and on-going difficulty of booking hotel accommodations.
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DISCUSSED July 14 Northeast Regional Conference. Little information available now so will discuss further at the next meeting.
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DISCUSSED briefly the recent General Assembly action to permit an August Special Election. This follows lame duck action in December 2022 to eliminate all but school board levy issues, citing high cost and low voter participation. Confirmed May 10 is the deadline for certifying an issue to appear on an August Special Election.
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RESCINDED prior meeting action to purchase 95 poll pads. Upon arrival, units did not pass quality tests and were rejected by Mrs. Lane. Vendor to visit next week to trouble-shoot and recommend next actions..
REPORTS/UPDATES:
Technology and Security Update - Mr. Antenucci of ADP and Mr. Daisher of BOE reported:
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ADP is moving forward with plans to upgrade old network switches so that 470 Center Street tenants are assured of internet and phone service. Estimated cost of $23,000 will be shared among seven tenants.
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Migration to Office 365 and the new phone system is going well. Mrs. Lane has had problems with her email but support is working to resolve it.
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Antenucci reiterated that ADP Chief Administrator Chuck Walder remains fully committed to supporting BOE for as long as they occupy 470 Center St.
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Daisher reported the new website should be live in about a month. They have provided about 30% of the needed content. Antenucci offered a new student hire to support updating the website. Observer Note: Board minutes historically have been presented on the BOE website but are not currently available on the bridge website.
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Mrs. Windnagel inquired about software needed for in-house creation of the Precinct Elections Officer Manual. Daisher and Antenucci will follow up to make sure BOE is using approved software.
PUBLIC COMMENT: a member of the public inquired why BOE’s security needs are tighter and questioned why security is not the same for all county offices. It was explained that elections offices have additional requirements from both the Ohio Secretary of State and federal government. Mr. Pavella noted that ADP has been working to upgrade the entire county’s infrastructure in order to protect against cyber attacks.
Observer Note: During the Feb 14, 2023 County Commissioners meeting, Mr. Dvorak and Mr. Lennon seemed to indicate support for restoring $920,104 of infrastructure investment that was cut from the budget in December, 2022. The issue was covered in numerous public meetings and reported on by the LWVG Observer Corps. See reports for Dec 22, 2022 Budget Commission, Jan 9, 2023 ADP Board and Feb 14, 2023 Board of County Commissioners. To date, no action has been taken by the County Commissioners.
PUBLIC COMMENT: a member of the public asked whether there is ever talk about “not doing machines.” Mr. Pavella replied, “no,” and went on to list the states that exclusively use absentee voting. Mrs. McArthur said that scanners will always be needed. Mrs. Lane commented that if the question is whether voting will ever be entirely online, the answer is not likely. She cited a recent trial effort in Virginia to use online voting for registered voters residing overseas and said it had proven risky.
PUBLIC COMMENT: this Observer commented that during the March 21, 2023 BOCC meeting, Commissioners approved Change Order #17 for $277,877 of expenses that were attributed to changing BOE space in the new building. Following a public records request, BOCC Finance Manager Adrian Gorton indicated the expenses were incorrectly attributed to BOE and that he would correct this at the next meeting. He stated further that he expected agreed upon items for BOE to be presented at a future meeting.
Director’s Report: Mrs. Lane reported:
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She will reschedule a presentation by the Sheriff's office concerning issues noted during ALICE active shooter training.
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Continuing to updating training manual to reflect HB 458
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Conducting employee reviews
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$97,667 of voting equipment purchases made using remaining 2021 grant funds are awaiting approval by the Geauga Prosecutor’s Office. BOCC must also approve.
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Glenn Vernick, Maintenance Director who reports to the BOCC, indicated BOE would independently control access to their planned office space in the new County Administration Office Building. Staff updated the Board on the need for both card swipe and physical locking mechanisms for the mainframe computer and programming rooms. Mrs. Lane added that there currently is no way for staff or the public to access the building during evening and weekend early voting hours. Staff will continue to work toward resolution.
Mrs. Windnagel commented she visited the office space and saw no evidence that work was being done. Board signatures were obtained for the recently appointed Auburn Twp fiscal officer.
Deputy Director’s Report - Ms. McGinnis reported these efforts:
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Assisting with the Microsoft 365 migration
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Preparing monthly bills and minutes
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Updating power points for poll worker trainings
Mrs. McArthur inquired about the status of the laptop purchase that was recently approved for use in the poll worker training sessions. Mr. Daisher explained receipt had been delayed but ADP is providing BOE with a loaner until the new laptop arrives.
Adjournment - Meeting adjourned at 10:37 AM.
Next Meetings - April 11 at 10:00 AM for public test of voting equipment; April 20 at 9:00 am for regular board meeting.
Approved Minutes: temporarily unavailable online.
See BOE Facebook page for meeting notices and agendas.
Observer: Shelly Lewis
Reviewer: Gail Roussey
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