Electoral Board Meeting   8/14/2025

It is 9.33, and the County of Albemarle's electoral board meeting is now in session.

This is our regularly scheduled monthly meeting, which we have at least once a month, every month, unlike some places.

We do have a quorum, the full board is here, and also in attendance we have

and our favorite guest and we're very glad that she was here is Andrea Ruby, County of Albemarle,

but she's going to be our guest for probably a couple of months and is giving us special counsel as only good attorneys can and of course we have the board.

The chair would like to call for a motion to approve the final agenda.

And then after we've got the agenda, we'll go to the minutes.

July 24th.

Aye.

Approved August the 11th.

which brings us to a very important announcement by the board.

The former general registrar Lauren Eddy has submitted in writing a formal letter of resignation to the elected board.

The board is going to have a closed session meeting to discuss the acceptance of this letter and what we will do and what our plans will be going forward.

There have been some other actions before that and we chose to announce this as a formal letter.

We're getting technical assistance that cameras are not working.

The board will have a closed session after this meeting to discuss where we go with this information, what we do with it,

I would like to specifically say very clearly for everyone to know as much as we are disappointed and disheartened that we need to have this change, hold the stars,

and staff.

We are very fortunate in Albemarle, unlike some smaller counties that have just the registrar and the system and that's it.

We have three full-time staff that are here, another full-time staff.

We have staff.

We have a very active electoral board.

This board is much more active than many electoral boards and we will guarantee

The elections in Albemarle for the November 4th general election will go forward with smooth clarity.

We will continue to have free, fair, safe and legal elections in Albemarle and we will get the vacancy straightened out.

But right now, we're really not in a position to answer any questions.

If our ABLE council would like to add anything to that, we would appreciate it.

All right.

Thank you very much.

Now, our open public comment for either our

distance participants or in-house participants.

We're happy to take comments.

We ask that usually your comments be limited to three minutes.

We will also take comments, as this board has traditionally always done, when we bring up a topic on the agenda.

If you have a question or a comment, we welcome your comments during the course of the meeting.

Please don't speak until you're recognized because we have a lot of things to go through this morning.

We're going to try very hard to follow Robert's rules of order.

Please, for any of us, so that we're not speaking over each other, we wait until we're recognized to speak.

Just put your hand up and you'll be recognized in the order.

So are there, is there anyone either online, and again we're having a little trouble with our electronics this morning, or in the room,

Who would like to have a public comment?

Yes.

When you stand or on Zoom, please, so that everyone in the room knows who you are.

Say your name.

And if you represent an organization, by all means, say that organization.

If you're just here by yourself, I'm just representing myself.

Yes, ma'am.

We would need to stop the meeting and restart it.

OK. All right.

Would it be the same link?

Yes, it would be the same link.

We're going to stop the meeting right now, full stop, so that our ABLE IT

Expert can stop the meeting, turn off all the systems, and then come back up.

We'll see you.

So go out of your screens, close your screens, give us two or three minutes, and then come back in on the same link you used to come in the first time.

addition earlier because it really is hard for the staff and you guys and for the public to cram all that training in the last couple of weeks especially in Virginia the fall is so beautiful and you can schedule that it's other trainings or we could start right away on specialized training you know because you're not going to forget it

Last year we were working with some new systems, etc.

We are very fortunate now over the last how many ever months that Richard Benko, who is with us today, who is a Chief Officer of Elections, has been our

Rewriter of all the instruction manuals extraordinaire and he and the board have met along with the registrar staff multiple times in work sessions on scheduling and later on in the agenda we're going to be talking about training sessions so we are trying

Yes.

And I spent several hours with our knowing new poll pad lady this week.

So.

We appreciate and we agree with your comments.

Yes, please.

I'm still committed to get as much of our standard training, not election specific training, but standard training committed to an electronic forum where it can be accessed online as possible.

Doesn't replace the need to sit down in front of a poll book or a poll pad, for example, and learn the hands on.

Sure.

You're working on short-term memory that may not have gotten into long-term, and if you only do it once a year, it may not get into the long-term memory file, so we're working on this.

Any other questions?

Any questions from the virtual audience?

Yep.

Okay.

Lori.

Yeah, I have a quick question based on- Is your mic on?

Lori, you can't hear me?

Lori, can you hear me?

Yeah.

Yes, you can hear me?

Yep.

My cell phone number, write it down.

I'm going to get you to call my cell phone, and I'm going to put the cell phone on speaker.

So for anybody else who's in virtual who may want to ask a question.

They can type it into the chat.

Or you can type it into the chat, but sometimes a verbal exchange.

My cell phone is 434.

2-4-9-8-6-6-4.

Hey, Lori.

Say something.

Thank you.

The board indeed, actually, our vice chair,

brought this up.

It is in the code or practicable.

Clearly, if you have a precinct, a polling place that already has a full complement and nobody wants to leave, you can't move somebody in.

And we've asked for, we've taken a survey.

We're trying to get people in the polling place where they want to be, but it's not always possible.

We're going to try to send it out and it's going to be... We were going back and forth on what the wording needed to be to ask the question.

So people didn't feel like they had to move or we were going to reassign to get it just right.

The nuance of how it's asked sometimes is very difficult.

One of the reasons it's so important is

It's November, it's dark in the morning, it's dark at night, we're all getting older, and I have actually had people say, you know, I can't do that ride, and I'm tired up to the other age now.

I think it is important if you're not in your home, decreasing, close by, not sending someone all the way across the county.

We also discussed the notion that as a board, we did not want to break up functioning teams if the people involved didn't want to be broken up and we could force reassign everyone.

We have that power, but that's probably not in our best interest.

If people are in a team they want to be in, they're where they want to work and if that's driving all the way across the county, okay.

And we've got folks who come in from other counties to work here.

So we're not going to put a kibosh on that.

But if people are interested, we'd like to give them the opportunity to the extent we can.

Of course, it's not going to work if we can't get parity to the extent we can where we need it or we don't have enough people working in a precinct.

So we've got some constraints.

Anybody else have anything on that subject?

Does anyone else in the public have

a question or a comment they would like to put forth now.

Okay, otherwise we will go on with the rest of our agenda.

Does anyone on the board have any old business that they would like to bring up other than continuing training?

Okay, new business.

Steve, November 4th, general election, as you all know, early voting, in-person absentee is the official term.

It starts on September the 19th.

We're working with the Registrar's Office to get everyone assigned.

Erin, would you like to speak to this, Erin?

to notify officers of election or are you working the same?

I was just listening and then Jim was talking.

I missed what you were talking about.

Oh, yes.

Yes, we plan to do that.

Okay.

We've already been in touch with the chiefs and confirmed their availability.

and Assistant Chiefs.

Thank you.

Because we know that lots of people, as was already mentioned, vacate in the summer.

So maybe they're good officers of elections who want to work, but they've got this wonderful vacation plan for the primary and it can't work.

So

They take off in the summer but they're going to come back and you need to know that.

They can't work.

We have already, thank you Gina, thank you again Gina, thank you, thank you, thank you.

We asked her to go ahead and schedule rooms for training because sometimes

the board and the staff will say we want to have a training on X day or X night and then Gina goes to the county and you know the bagpipers and I love bagpipers so I shouldn't pick on them.

but a lot has happened.

So this is, the scheduling is one of the things we will discuss at the board level to make sure we've got rooms available.

We have tried very hard to consolidate our training.

So where we can get all the chiefs on one night at the Lane Auditorium, we'll do all the chiefs on one night with a makeup.

We will do all of the offices of election one night

with a makeup, all the newbies, one night with a makeup, so that people aren't trying to figure out where they're supposed to be all over.

Okay.

We have scheduled the dates for the logic and accuracy testing.

The party chairs get notification.

because under the Code of Virginia, that's what the code says.

The board and the board staff and other, we always have the vendor that sells us and manages our DS-300s at our LNA testing because that person knows more than anybody else in the room about our tabulators.

So if there's a problem,

Aren't we waiting to hear from him as to what date?

That's part, we haven't scheduled it.

So when I talked to the vendor surrogate, because he's out of town, they gave me some dates if you want to choose from what they have.

Do you have those now?

Yes.

And you will send them to us in writing, so we don't have to maybe make a check.

Yeah, go ahead.

So September, she said he has availability September 4th through the 12th.

Every day?

No, no, we can pick one of those days to do the early voting.

for everybody's benefit Albemarle in most places that have more than a couple of machines do our in-person absentee voting machines and the voting machines that will be used in Central absentee precinct and the pre-processing that the offices of election do and

a number of machines as backups because those machines have to be programmed to read all of the ballots from all of the polling places.

So we do those on one day because the test decks have to be longer and you have to run more ballots through them.

And then we schedule the election day on a different date, so

Okay.

Yeah.

It's been that he's been doing that early voting.

OK, the chair entertains any comments on a date.

Get out your calendars, ladies, gentlemen.

September the 4th through September the 12th.

This is an all day supper.

We have a

That's correct.

That's what I'm suggesting.

I can do that.

Let's see if we can schedule it on the 9th.

And if he's already not available on the 9th, what about the 10th as the backup?

I can.

Well, back it up to Monday the 8th.

I would prefer not Monday.

Well, he may not be available tonight.

Bucky was hoping that nobody else has already stepped in and grabbed the knot.

If nobody else has, then we got the knot.

But if somebody, some other locality has said, we want the knot, then we have to have a second.

We all should always should have a second.

The Wednesday, the 10th, early moving training, Tuesday the 9th, what time is it?

Okay, I think you can do that while we're doing LNA testing because

Which of you is going to be conducting the in-person absentee voting at 10 o'clock training?

Karen's email didn't say when early voting training was.

No.

Okay.

Good.

Then change it to Monday the 9th.

You know the date that the portal was opening.

Yes.

Okay.

Thursday the 4th.

Okay.

You've got early training on the 9th.

So you can change that to a different day.

Yes.

The 9th would, I would go with 9th as their first choice.

Okay.

We started talking about the fourth.

The fourth is not a good day for me.

OK.

So Aaron, would you ask them about the nod?

And if they can't do the nod, the fourth.

Yeah.

Only bad things can happen if you do that.

This is what staff is discussing is the training that the registrar's office gives and Jean is the person giving it, correct?

Yes.

No, maybe okay, she's smiling.

We'll move by that one.

The people who work as registrar's assistants in the in-person absentee voting need to be educated.

So they routinely have a morning session and an evening session.

And that letter has not been sent out.

So the people who are working don't know that that date is a possibility.

So the board is going to try to do LNA testing on the night and the

Assistance for in-person absentee will get another date chosen, and then they will be notified of that.

So we're going to hold that LNA testing date until we get an answer back from ES&S.

OK, so it did go out.

So, to all of those that are okay.

So, we do have that.

Thank you.

So, the fourth is your next choice, Tim.

Is that right?

Mm hmm.

Okay.

This is just something I've asked about before.

You skipped my LNA checklist.

Oh, I forgot the checklist.

I was so, I was so, pardon me, we'll come back to you.

I'm sorry, I was so fixed on getting the schedule.

I agree.

I just sent around a simple DS-300 LNA checklist to make sure we go through all the steps.

From my first experience doing that, it's a fast and furious morning where we're running around doing things and

No, we don't assume.

To allay your anxiety.

We have had that from Tyler, from ES&S before we get it.

Just check it myself.

That's fine.

That's fine.

Seeing is believing.

OK. And so

Can we have a motion, just so we're all clear, that we're going to have a checklist for LNA testing, which Bucky's already sent around for us to review and critique?

That's fine, that's fine.

That's what I'd like to know.

But we will use one.

I move that we will use a checklist for each of the machines that go through DS-300.

Okay, we will have a checklist.

We will not go out.

Yes.

We're gonna go through the list because we could be here all day discussing, so thank you.

This is just something I've suggested before and I thought it was over in this era.

I just wanted there to be a group put up on text messaging of all the chiefs

So a group of 30.

It should be very simple to do.

For the purpose of particularly election day, we need to notify everybody quickly about something.

And all we have to do is send a group chat and people have their cell phones on and their cell phone buzzes.

They will look and see what the message is.

We had

Two instances last November, no, in June, that we could have used it.

One had to do with the street lookup file not working the way it was supposed to.

Just tell people, don't use that.

And the second one being having to do with

Reason for provisional ballots, whether you enter them into the poll pad as a provisional voter or not.

Some people were successful, some people were not successful.

And Lauren said, just everybody forget doing that for this.

The information could have gone out, but text is notoriously one way.

Well, you can't.

I'm sorry, thank you, thank you, thank you.

When

No disrespect to chiefs, and there are two current or former chiefs here, three former or current chiefs here.

Just because Susie says do X doesn't mean that that's what everybody should be doing.

And so I see Aaron, are you nodding with me?

I was hoping you were nodding with me.

That if a chief goes on this little text thing and says, do blah, blah, blah, that circumnavigates the registrar's office or the electoral board, and they may or may not be

giving out accurate information.

I would say, chiefs, you do not initiate anything on this.

This is only for the office to send a quick message to all your chiefs.

That's the only purpose.

I appreciate and recognize the need that you're describing.

I'm not sure this is the right tool, but there's gotta be a technological solution here, whether it's free people divide up the chiefs and make phone calls or what it is.

But I don't think this is what you wanna rely on for critical communications.

There's just too many times I don't get a text message and I live out in the hinterlands.

and don't have any connection.

So let's maybe put this into one of our work groups, Jim, to discuss.

All right.

Absolutely.

We need to be able to transmit information.

If a call comes in from a chief and

Either the board or the registrar's office says, yeah, we've identified a problem.

It's happened before.

I think like in a dual primary, there were a plethora of envelopes that they received, yet they didn't need to use them all.

So we had to split them up, the precincts, and call them off the chiefs and tell them, like, hey, just use one of your

Number two envelopes, not both of the Democratic and the Republican.

So, I mean, we were able to do that very quickly.

Yeah.

I mean, it's 30 and you divide that up with five or six people.

It's, you know, OK, to be discussed, to be clarified.

Additional topics I just want to put out on everybody's

The Department of Elections has put out an in-person but with virtual for electoral boards and registrars on cyber security.

Some updates, some changes.

I just want you to all know that we are going to make every effort to at least have a few people from this office know about it, attend it,

Bring coffee, bring tea, and we will report back at the next meeting.

But clearly this is a topic that everybody needs to be up and running on, and there's always something new.

Correct, correct.

There has been some chatter

and a guidance sent to the registrars but not sent to the electoral boards.

Thank you for saying that for me.

I was trying to figure out how to back myself out of the corner.

It's an app that the DMV is sponsoring.

and the app in its current form is suitable as an ID only at TSA locations where it can be used.

If you go to the DMV website and

Type in mobile ID.

It will tell you, landing page, we are test driving this device, this app.

And this issue is discussed in the minutes from August 11th.

So there will be discussion on this.

So if you hear about it.

It's being discussed.

Just so I understand what you're saying is that the DMV is data testing

That's an accurate statement.

They jumped in with both feet.

And there are people that are saying, whoa, maybe, you know, for this election.

So we're, don't run out and tell all of your voters

to load the mobile and go to it because it may or may not.

Just so you know, the chiefs and assistant chiefs in Albemarle County, we've been doing this for years and years and years and years.

We have a gathering, the board, the staff and the chiefs and the assistant chiefs

as soon after the election as, oh my gosh, I'm gonna quote the code, practicable.

After Thanksgiving, before Christmas, Paul, the election is fresh in your mind and we call it in Albemarle a hot watch, which is really a military term to review, an after action review.

And it works really well.

Again, it's just for chiefs and assistant chiefs and the board and the staff.

and we call it a hot watch and we have, again, proactively, thank you, Gina, we have the room secured, two rooms, which we'll discuss later, December the 4th, so a time if you, when you're filling out your evaluations and your comments, et cetera, make sure that your chiefs and assistant chiefs go to this event because it's a time

to watch whatever happened in the election and learn.

The poll pads were new first-time use in June.

And as has been mentioned, there were some problems.

It's a very user-friendly device.

I have spoken with the Virginia regional person who leads their team for a long time this week.

I mean, it was a long time.

I was very grateful for her time.

And we went through it.

And they are working on problems that are specific.

There are 72 localities in Virginia that use the knowing poll path.

So we're not alone.

But the problems with the street files, the problems with how to check in a voter who comes with a mailed out absentee ballot to surrender,

how to mark that someone is going to do a provisional ballot but not check them in as a voter because clearly their vote is not gonna appear on the DS-300.

It will go into the provisional ballot pile.

We're looking at that.

So if any of you who have been officers have questions or suggestions for G,

We didn't really get this in training.

We're trying to improve, Karen, our training so that the knowing people came for one week.

I couldn't go that week.

I don't know how many of those classes Bucky or Jim attended.

I attended all the ones in the second week.

And there was one teacher for one and one teacher for the other.

We all know that teachers are as different as we all are.

The lady who did it, I thought was great.

by all accounts, everybody, the guy.

When people teach and they teach in more than one state, we're a federal system.

So what they do in Ohio, isn't what we do in Virginia, even though it's the same equipment, it's programmed differently.

So we're just to assure you, we're trying to work on the pulp pads to make sure that they are doing what you're supposed to do.

Again, thank you, the EO survey, excuse me, for their home precincts.

We're working on all, excuse me, all provisional ballots should go into envelope eight, not around.

And we'll hit on that in training.

Anybody?

Madam Council?

Anybody?

Going once.

Okay.

Since we don't have a formal report on list maintenance, I will tell you that currently I think we have 87,951 registered voters.

It's pretty close to being right.

I know that this week office staff was busily sending out letters to people saying, you know, you're now a registered voter and other letters going out.

So, envelopes were being sent.

Even though you don't see that happen.

Any other items?

That's okay.

That was just for any other items for discussion.

Next meeting, we have been looking at the second Thursday in the month.

September the 11th, going once.

Bucky, okay with everybody.

9.30 staff, does 9.30 work better than 9?

Okay.

I'm not sure about this room.

I did contact the police department for permission to use this room for the whole year, but the contact person said she would have to get back with me on September through the end of the year.

So I'm going to follow up.

I wrote myself a note.

Confirm and follow up to make sure.

So if not, this room will get another one.

Somewhere in this building.

OK. And.

The chair would entertain a motion to go into executive session.

That's a pretty short break.

We can do a step.

I'll tell you what.

You've got one hour.

You're supposed to be cutting back.

I've gone too embarrassing in the public.

OK. A five minute break, and when we come back in, the board will go immediately into executive session after we read the magic words.

No, we will come back into open session, period.

Thanks.

Thanks.

That is a summer dress.

I love it.

I love it.

The humidity, the last couple of sheets.

Exactly.

Exactly.

I love it.

The manual is going to be in closed session.

It doesn't have to be in the closed session.

It can be when we come back.

That's why I asked.

the board, I present them the proposals, because some of them have now had three, so Assistant Chiefs, because we made some Republican Assistant Chiefs a couple of elections.

Just really low on it.

Yes.

We are.

Very low.

we are you're right but but at least after a couple of elections they can move to cheats I mean it's a slow process so yeah I just think if there's a way every election

Oh yeah, of course.

That's exactly what I would do.

Yeah, that was a yes to answer your question.

Thank you all for coming.

Yes, thank you.

That's a great action cut.

I can't not have either.

I've said it again, but I'm really used to seeing others.

I don't know if that would work.

I called him specifically and he called me.

I don't know if there's a way.

There's a way to do it.

Robert?

Yeah.

I don't know

and Michael Barnes.

Thank you

I can resend this section.

They moved out at the end of the year.

They took 30 dollars.

Oh yeah, I sometimes search for coupons, sometimes I forget.

And then they always ask if you're a teacher or whatever and I'm like, no.

I'm not currently a teacher.

I have been.

I taught the lovely high school students.

And so you were a teacher with those teachers.

You were a teacher in that school system part.

It's not easy.

But she's not.

So we've just got Steve and I left.

We have come out of closed session.

The chair resolves according to code section 2.2-3711.1 and subsequent subsequent that we have

We have discussed only those subjects which we said we would discuss and we have taken no votes in closed session.

I move the appointment of seven new offices in the election to return one year beginning March 1, 2025.

We did agree.

We are back in open session and we did not discuss anything.

Now we're voting on the motion before to accept the seven new offices in the election application.

Second motion on the table regards the letter of resignation from the former general registrar.

All those in favor of accepting the letter of resignation from the former general registrar with an effective date of August the 12th, please say aye.

Aye.

Aye.

Opposed, no.

Unanimous.

Motion to discuss

what the board will do going forward regarding the motion to discuss a motion to say what we're going to do to hire a new registrar and fill the current need as a temporary registrar.

I move that we

I'll advertise two positions.

One, an acting general registrar can be filled as soon as possible.

Second, a general registrar position filled for the remainder of the term.

Bucky's motion.

I think he's making motion that you'll have two separate job postings.

We can read the statement.

I don't require that it be two separate job postings.

It could be one.

I'm not using what Andrea wrote, which I thought we decided was one of these things from the minutes and then we'll speak slowly so that I can get the whole thing.

Go right ahead.

I move.

Got it.

that with assistance from Albemarle's HR department, Albemarle County's HR department, we advertise for two positions.

One, a general registrar position,

Unexpired.

The general register position to occupy?

To fill the unexpired term.

And to

and Sue, an acting general registrar, capital letters, and director of elections, to serve until a general registrar has been appointed and a transition plan has been established.

To serve until a general registrar has been appointed and a transition plan

Second the motion?

With the assistance from Albemarle County Human Resources, we advertise for two positions.

One, a general registrar position to fill the unexpired registrar's term.

And then you may want to vote to approve the statement.

The next item is the electoral board with assistance of council has drafted

press release, which we will stay with.

Public statement, public statement.

The electoral board has accepted the letter of resignation of the general registrar in the elective elections with an effective date of August 12th, 2025.

The electoral board will be actively recruiting for two positions, one,

and acting general registrar, and two, a general registrar to fill the unexpired term.

That's what Andrea is hoping to say, so I will have that on my view.

Okay, so you're making that motion.

Yep.

CBW.

All in favor, aye.

Aye.

Motion passed.

Let me go back, just break this already.

OK.

So you moved that we adopt the formal statement to the public.

Following public statement.

Well, we've got something ready to say to them.

So nobody is commenting extemporaneously about anything.

And other than what we're saying here,

That's all the information we've got.

And I assume we'll do that forthwith.

This afternoon.

And you'll keep us surprised.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

And I assume, as far as job prescription,

And should we not have a meeting?

There's a pretty good job description in the GREB handbook.

I would definitely look at that language before I finalize anything.

I'm suggesting right now, all we have is a work session for CAP.

We want to stay on that.

And is that going to be considered an emergency meeting?

Yes.

The only people in the work group are the three of us and Bucky, I mean enough, Richard.

Well, let's make sure we can get HR.

Right, right, right.

Okay.

But is that time, assuming I can talk to HR today or tomorrow, get all this teed up, we'll get something written for everybody's approval to review, et cetera.

And you'll have to talk where we send it, et cetera.

And we'll do that at nine o'clock on Monday.

Would you like me to be at that meeting?

We would love it.

It's your arm.

You didn't scream.

Well at least none of us was on that plane that left, did it leave Norfolk?

It left someplace, I think in Virginia, going to LA.

I didn't know you could go non-stop, but anyway, and they got somewhere

And another passenger subdued him.

Good.

And they landed, I don't know, somewhere, Salt Lake, somewhere where they could get him down and down.

Should have just opened the door in front of them a few minutes.

Depressurize.

Depressurize the plane.

OK, adjourn.

All in favor, aye.

Adjourn.

Now, are we going over occasional efforts?

Yes.