The Brown County Election Board had a special meeting this week to swear in the absentee voter board and approve training materials for poll workers as the election season gets in full swing.
On Jan. 18 the board met at 2 p.m. in the Salmon Room at the County Office Building. The meeting date was included in the resolution the board approved in October that outlines the expectations for how the absentee voter board and the county clerk’s office will work together this election season.
The resolution was a result of work done by the Brown County Election Board Training Advisory Committee, which is an ad hoc committee that was formed last May to review Brown County election worker training in hopes of avoiding problems that occurred during the primary and general elections of 2020.
During election board meetings last spring, multiple election workers’ experiences were shared about how the 2020 elections went.
The common thread tying comments together about challenges in the elections was training, election board President Mark Williams said last spring. Williams is the Republican representative on the board.
The committee, chaired by former election board member Paula Staley, included Diana Biddle and Sharlene Jones representing Republicans; Cathy Kazimier and Evelyn Kent representing Democrats; Shari Frank and Lauretta Teal representing the League of Women Voters; and Deb Noe and Julie Cauble, the Republican and Democrat who coordinated early voting for 2020.
Staley resigned from the election board late last year and Kevin Fleming was appointed to replace her as the Democrat representative in December.
The committee reported its findings to the election board in September. The committee was tasked with providing advice on the preferred location for poll worker training sessions ahead of the elections this year as well as how many trainings to have, who should attend them, the subject matter for trainings, methods and teaching tools to be used and how the board can ensure all workers understood the training.
The findings were used to draft a resolution outlining actions for the election board related to enforcing training policies and how the absentee voter board will conduct the early voting process including, processing applications for absentee ballots.
Working together
Per the resolution, any voter who requests an absentee ballot must apply to the county election board then a member of the election or absentee voter board will mail the ballot. Before mailing the ballot, two members of the absentee voter board will initial the back of the ballot.
One of the issues identified last spring by election workers was that duplicate absentee ballot applications were received from the county clerk’s office at the absentee voting satellite office. This resulted in duplicate ballots being sent to at least two voters.
The resolution further states that, per Indiana Code, the clerk is to receive the absentee ballot applications and account for them in the statewide voter registration list. It states that the absentee voter board would then determine the validity of the applications and “act accordingly” by initialing and delivering the ballots.
“The board notes that maintenance of propriety when determining whether an absentee ballot is to be delivered is paramount to our democracy,” the resolution states.
Absentee voter board members Deb Noe and Julie Cauble have served on the absentee voter board for years with Cauble serving more than 10 years. Both of them are expected to be sworn back in to serve this year.
The two also recently attended the Indiana State Election Administrators Conference where they received the same training materials as the election board and clerk as well as an Indiana election code book.
The resolution tasks the absentee voter board with handling the receiving and delivering processes for absentee ballots. The board would then provide that information to the clerk to input into the state system.
Another issue identified by poll workers last spring was that disabled voters had to come to the polls in person because the absentee ballot they had requested in the mail did not arrive.
Written procedures for processing and delivering absentee ballots will need to be approved by the election board no later than Feb. 8.
“This time around there is no question as to what exactly the daily responsibilities of absentee board is and what the responsibility of the clerk’s office is,” Williams said at the Jan. 4 election board meeting.
“In some cases the clerk’s office will be supporting the absentee voter board, but we want to get that process worked out so there is no confusion and we don’t wind up creating additional work, which can compound confusion.”
That step-by-step procedure will then need to be signed by the clerk and the absentee voter board “to assure that the work moves smoothly,” Williams said.
The election board also discussed on Jan. 4 using Brown County-specific bar codes on the self-addressed stamped envelopes that go out with absentee ballots as a way to ensure they are returned in time to be counted.
“As long as it is U.S. postal equipment it will make its way straight to us hopefully by electronic sorting,” Williams said.
“We’re going to do our best to cut down on the possibility of error.”
Anyone wishing to cast their vote early, but in-person, can do so beginning April 5 in the Salmon Room at the County Office Building.
At the Feb. 1 meeting, the election board will accept recommendations from the clerk and absentee voter board on how many workers will be needed to help with early, in-person voting, which will conclude May 2 and includes working two Saturdays.
At the January meeting, the election board unanimously approved sending a notice to the Democrat and Republican chairs that all nominations for those early, in-person workers should be made by March 1.
Those workers would then be trained on March 22 and 23 in the Salmon Room.
Voting equipment would then be made available for public inspection on March 29 at 6:30 p.m. in the Salmon Room.
On April 1, the election board will have a special meeting to review any issues from the absentee voter board before early, in-person voting begins and to make sure all voting equipment is properly set up.
All of those dates were unanimously approved by the election board at the regular January meeting and the board is expected to formally approve the order with the additional meeting dates at the special meeting this week.
