The Meeting Was Called to Order at 1:01 P.M. by Mike Wyman at R House Restaurant, Vernon

TollandCounty

ROVAC Meeting

October 6, 2011

Present: Ingrid Aarrestad, Stafford; Inge Pope, Coventry; Pam Sewell, Coventry; Judi Beaudreau, Vernon; Cindy Madden, Vernon; Jo-Ann Hornyak, Somers; Susan Luginbuhl, Ellington; Dottie Neil, Bolton; Mike Wyman, Tolland; Ken Houck, Tolland; Merris Williams, Hebron; Nancy Vogel, Willington.

The meeting was called to order at 1:01 p.m. by Mike Wyman at R House Restaurant, Vernon.

Corrections to the minutes from July 12, 2011 minutes were duly noted and changes made to the minutes. Nancy Vogel was at the meeting, but not listed. On Page 2, under Issue Raised by Your For Discussion; Your should be You. Motion was made to accept the corrections and minutes by Inge Pope and seconded by Ingrid Aarrestad. The motion passed unanimously.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

By-Laws – Ken Houck reported that a meeting is scheduled for October 28, 2011,

to wrap up finalization of new by-laws in effect next year.

Conference – Judi Beaudreau reported that the conference was well attended. She also reported that a number of towns would not pay for registrars to attend. There was a CCM meeting, which she spoke at, about registrars’ duties and their portion of the budget for each town being in the vicinity of 1%. Some of her dialect included registrars’ needing to be recognized for the importance of their work and qualified through training and conferences, and politics should not be a part of their job. She also discussed the future of reporting election results. The end of night results is headed towards an automated process and the program will also attribute the write-in numbers to the appropriate party. We will still need to send a paper copy to the SOTS. Converse 2 will automatically have the end of night report.

Susan Luginbuhl reported that a seminar for Excel will be in Farmington on November 30 and December 1, 2011. Anyone who would like further information should contact her or Wanda at 860-870-3107.

Media Update – The press releases for deadlines and voter registrations is being centralized by Ingrid Aarrestad. Hebron, Mansfield, Columbia, Andover and Union notifications have already been done. The draft of the notice was distributed for any changes. A correction as to the date a voter has to be 18 in order to vote in the election has been changed from November 7th to November 8th was duly noted. Registrars were reminded that they must be in their office on November 7, 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., but must have a sign for military personnal with registration forms readily available until 5:00 p.m.

OLD BUSINESS

Mike brought the idea of collecting money at each meeting for the Tolland County Spring Conference gift to the members and having the treasurer, Cathy Pallazzi, collect it. The problem with that is some members are not paying. It was decided to keep the collection process the same.

NEW BUSINESS

Memory cards – Before the State contracted LHS for maintenance of memory cards, some towns had already paid LHS for the maintenance. It was suggested that instead of having LHS issue a refund, take a credit instead. Jo-Ann stated LHS mailed her all of her cards even though her districts have the same ballots. The number of memory cards can be reduced. Ingrid has the same ballot in her town for this election and using one precinct, but they are still charging her the normal amount. Judi is going to speak with LHS. Members that use LHS for printing ballots are suggested to put pressure on them when we have the same ballots for each district. She also mentioned that LHS is contracted for 20 years and therefore, no price gauging can occur. When ordering ballots, no longer do we need to have the instructions printed on the back, as long as we display them at the polling place.

Polling places only need 2 memory cards per tabulator and if central absentee counting is involved, 2 memory cards for that process are also needed. If LHS is mailing you too many cards, then registrars should contact them. The registrars were reminded to make certain they ground themselves before opening the tabulator because of static electricity.

Ingrid reported progress in new technology for recounting. There is a grant with EAC for $260,000 given to UConn. The ultimate plan is for a central location for the recount and ballots will be brought by registrars, and tested and stored there.

The time frame for a recount is 14 days after an election.

Tony E. and Judi met with the SOTS, Denise Merrill recently and discussed the future role of the registrar. The future of the absentee ballot process was also discussed. We were reminded to make certain we keep stats of Election Day. The moderator’s diary must be formalized. Registrars need more positive reports and we also need to start keeping up our technology in alignment with other states.

Judi reported a speaker is conducting a lecture and open discussion on October 27, 2011, at CCSU. If anyone is interested in carpooling, please contact her.

The survey at the Fall Conference regarding the position of registrar and either being appointed versus elected, regionalizing the position or keeping the office as is, was reported. 80% of registrars would like the position to remain the same. Fred DeCaro of Greenwich was the person circulating the survey.

Jo-Ann suggested the moderator’s return be simplified. The real key should be the number of voters and the accuracy of the return. We need to get moderators out of the polls quicker than we do presently.

The new redaction judgment requiring DMV to retain addresses of public/private sector law enforcement officers and officials was discussed. This judgment includes Registrars knowing when to suppress addresses of public servants who require confidentiality. Candidates cannot get addresses from the central system. Registrars should know to whom they are giving information to by either having them sign for it or giving you their email address.

Moderators have 3 days to deliver the final Moderator’s return to the SOTS office, according to the law.

The SOTS requirement to come out with an emergency plan for Election Day is going to be drafted by the office and sent to registrars to amend for their particular districts. We will have 6 months to adopt the plan and report it back to SOTS.

There was a discussion as to the public’s confusion over the terms “Vote for any one, two, etc.” and its contents.

Mike Wyman asked members if they would like to have meetings at various restaurants. The consensus was a resounding “yes”.

Ken Houck left at 2:40 p.m.

The next meeting is scheduled for January, 2012.

Because of budget constraints, the Presidential Preference Primary could be cancelled. It is the registrar’s opinion that the public would be angered by this.

A new law does away with the Form 5, ED-90a, and “Application for Restoration of Elector to Official Check List”. Registrars are instructed to just have them fill out a new card, as it is an affidavit in swearing all information is correct.

Dottie Neil left at 2:55 p.m.

The motion was made by Ingrid Aarrested and seconded by Mike Wyman to adjourn the meeting at 3:00 p.m. The motion passed.

Respectfully,

Susan J. Luginbuhl