Board of Elections meeting from Feb. 25, 2021
Members Present:
Herbert Spangler, Henry Ficklin, Rinda Wilson, Ms. Powell, Mike Kaplan
Agenda Items:
Payment to poll workers, hazard pay and setup pay. There is a legal issue presented by retroactive payment of hazard pay from Grant funds, per an opinion by the County Attorney. The Board attorney will confer again with the County Attorney, presenting arguments in favor of such payments raised by the Board and will report back at a special called meeting next week. Member Henry Fickin moved to pay $75 per worker for set-up work, up to 5 workers per precinct. The motion passed unanimously.
Names for the at-large member will be submitted at the called meeting next week. Other names will be added at the next meeting and those approved will be submitted to the Board of Commissioners for the selection.
One election law violation arising from Bibb County that was considered at the State Board of Elections meeting on Feb. 24. Five to seven voters received incorrect primary ballots for the wrong party. All were addressed by the run-off election, except for two to three. The State Board decided to issue a “letter of instruction” to the Bibb Board, the lowest consequence.
Payment to non-governmental precinct locations. Henry Ficklin moved to pay non-governmental precinct locations (primarily churches) $200, instead of the current $70. There were complaints in 2020 about delayed payments, acknowledged by Jeanette Watson. She said that the problem should not happen again. The Motion passed 3-2.
Open Records Act requests. Jeanetta Watson reported that these requests are being processed and are still coming in. The website needs to be overhauled. Only two representatives may attend the in-person Georgia Voter Registration and Elections Officials Yearly Conference.
