HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Board of Civil Authority - 10/22/2014
BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY 22 OCTOBER 2014
The South Burlington Board of Civil Authority held a meeting on Wednesday, 22 October
2014, at 6:40 P.M., in the Conference Room, City Hall, 575 Dorset Street.
MEMBERS PRESENT – P. Taylor, Chair; P. Benner, B. Burgess, P. Nowak. B. Nowak, L. Vera, M.
Emery, H. Riehle, Sen. M. Sirotkin, Rep. A. Pugh, M. St. Germain, C. Shaw, D. Kinville
ALSO PRESENT – There were no others present.
1. Agenda Review – Additions, deletions or changes in order of Agenda items:
No changes were made to the Agenda.
2. Comments & Questions from the public not related to the Agenda:
No issues were raised.
3. Approve Minutes of 12 August 2014:
Ms. Emery moved to approve the Minutes of 12 August 2014 as written. Mr. Nowak seconded.
Motion passed unanimously.
4. Approve presiding officers and election officials:
Ms. Kinville noted there has been a low number of absentee ballots cast to date. Number of
absentee ballots cast can be a determination of how busy the polls will be on election day.
Riehle then moved to approve the following Presiding Officers:
Maurice Mahoney – 7-1
Agnes Clift – 7-2
Peter Taylor – 7-3
Bob Nowak – 7-4
Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Burgess then moved to approve the Assistant Election Officials as named in Ms. Kinville’s
document. Ms. Emery seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
5. Assign JPs for delivering of ballots:
Ms. Kinville said there are a few requests for JPs to deliver some absentee ballots.
Ms. Nowak and Mr. Benner said they would be able to do this on Tuesday morning.
BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY, 22 OCTOBER 2014, PAGE 2
6. Approve voters removed from checklist:
Ms. Emery moved to approve the list of voters removed from the checklist as provided by Ms.
Kinville. Ms. Riehle seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
7. Review new voter applications whose residence is in question:
Ms. Kinville questioned a policy for people who are in town for a few days and come in to vote.
She read from the state statue election laws that define “residence.” She noted that the
Secretary of State’s office has said that being in a hotel room and coming in to vote is not the
intent.
Ms. Pugh noted that for some homeless people certain hotels are a “residence.”
Ms. Kinville said there are 3 people who are in town at extended stay hotels for a few weeks
who want to vote. She asked what to do. The law does not allow her to ask for proof of
residence or identity if the applications were brought in by the person registering or collected
by a campaign worker.
Mr. Taylor said there should be follow-up as to where a person is registered to vote. He had no
issue with someone who intends to live in South Burlington. But he did have an issue with
someone who will be going back home somewhere else. He suggested that if Ms. Kinville has a
reason to believe a person has residence somewhere else, she should bring it to the BCA.
Ms. Kinville said this will be a much bigger issue 2 years from now in the Presidential election.
8. Review of BCA current election policies:
Mr. Taylor said he was asked about an election official who works at one polling place and then
campaigns at another location. Mr. St. Germain felt they shouldn’t campaign at all. Rep. Pugh
was OK with them campaigning at a different location. Mr. Benner was concerned with the
perception. A voter could see them working the polls in the morning and then campaigning in
the afternoon or vice versa.
After discussion, Ms. Emery moved that a person who serves as an Assistant Election Official or
other poll worker should not represent a candidate or a party or a ballot item in any South
Burlington voting location on the day of the election. Mr. Nowak seconded. The motion passed
unanimously.
Ms. Riehle felt the city should be encouraging mobile polling option at any facility that wants it.
She felt the city should be proactive in this and not wait to be called. Ms. Kinville said her only
concern is being careful not to be seen as “pushing the city’s agenda.”
BOARD OF CIVIL AUTHORITY, 22 OCTOBER 2014, PAGE 3
Ms. Riehle moved to delete the first sentence in “bullet” #1 and add “The City Clerk shall notify
these facilities prior to every election of the availability of mobile polling.” Sen. Sirotkin
seconded. Motion passed unanimously.
Sen. Sirotkin left the meeting prior to the next item.
9. Election Training:
Ms. Kinville said that poll workers should contact the Secretary of State’s Office or send a
person to a Judge before giving them a Provisional Ballot. A person given a Provisional Ballot
should not be added to the checklist on election day. The vote is put aside and handed in with
the paperwork for the election. The next morning the Clerk decides if the person should be
allowed to cast the ballot and if yes, it will be counted at the Secretary of State’s Office. That
keeps the voters ballot secret as the Secretary of State’s office has no idea who cast the ballot,
just the district.
At the end of the night, if the lowest number of votes gotten by a JP candidate exceeds the
total number of write-ins for JP, the write-ins do not have to be enumerated.
10. Testing of Election Machines:
Three machines were tested and the following seals attached.
7-1 1229593
7-3 1229592
7-4 1229583
7-2 will be tested on Friday morning at a special meeting.
11. Other Business:
No issues were raised.
As there was no further business to come before the Board, Mr. Shaw moved to continue the
meeting to Friday, 24 October, 2014, at 7:45 a.m. Mr. Nowak seconded. Motion passed
unanimously at 8:14 p.m.
_______________________________________