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Recording in progress
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Mr. Spindell, it looks like you're here.
Are you here?
Can you hear me? Yes. Okay. Thank you. And now commissioner Thompson joins.
You can hear me.
We can hear you. Thank you.
Okay.
Okay. We are returning into our open session meeting. This is a special meeting of the Wisconsin elections commission.
Looks like we have administrator wolf and I believe.
Attorney sharp.
All right.
Administrator wolf, I believe attorney sharp is presenting on the item, which is some draft clear communication. Is that right? Yes, that's correct. Okay, please go ahead.
Good morning commissioners. So on July 5, 2024, which was last Friday, the Wisconsin Supreme Court issued a decision in priorities USA versus the Wisconsin elections commission, which overturned in part of previous decision and held that.
Unstaffed secure drop boxes are a legal method of absentee ballot return under state law. So after that decision was released, staff reviewed the decision in order to prepare the clerk communication and frequently asked question document that has been included in your materials.
So, in part of the review of the decision, staff compiled questions along to general lines.
The first were the types of questions that staff usually recommend the commission review and approve following every major court decision. And these are questions related to what the decision actually says, who it impacts.
And then the changes to the law were made. So most of the questions at the beginning of the F a Q portion of the clerk communication are all in that typical post litigation update clear communication vein.
However, due to the volume of initial contact that WC staff have received from clerks from the public and from the media staff also reviewed the decision in order to compile and draft frequently asked questions.
And to practical topics of clerk concern, in order for the commission to consider guidance that provides clerks with as much detail as possible, especially for clerks who might be interested in exploring if drop boxes are something they wish to use in their jurisdiction.
So with that in mind, that is how the documents that was included in your materials was created. And then the commission should review each question and has the opportunity to decide which specific guidance to issue to clerks.
And then the question of the post litigation decision practices that staff completed was a review of the election administration manual and a summary of suggested changes or rather places in the manual that mentioned, either the old drop box case or drop boxes in general
So, I'm glad in your materials. That's on the page one in the general cover memo prior to the clerk communication as a sort of second part of the commission's consideration and action action on this topic.
So those are the materials that we've prepared for the commission today. There is a recommended motion on page one, but I assume there will be questions. So I'll turn it to the commissioners to see if there are questions or discussion on either the draft clerk guidance and frequently asked questions documents,
and the election administration manual that staff have flagged.
Okay.
Commissioners, what do we think about this proposal.
It would be nice to see if we can sort of maybe get a consensus on what this looks like before we have to go into too much motion practice.
Commissioner Millis, I see you've unmuted.
Sure. I, I guess.
My first concern is I would suggest deleting question and answer 13.
That's the commission's attempt to explain why the court did what it did.
And.
So that's my, that's my initial reaction. I have another thought on question answer eight, but I thought I deal with that one first.
I agree 100% with Don. We don't need 13. We don't.
I don't think it's not in our purview and.
Rather than get in for what I think is not necessarily correct about it. It's much easier just.
To take it out and we don't need it for purposes of the next August and.
November elections.
I actually agree with that in part because I would never presume to know.
Why the court does what it does outside of the language of its own decisions. So.
And I agree that I don't know that it provides anything useful directive or helpful to the clerks in their analysis of what to do.
Does anyone have any other thoughts on that?
Okay. So let's.
For purposes of eventually getting to emotion. Let's assume that part one will be to delete.
Item 13, since there seems to be consensus on that.
All right.
Any other thoughts on this proposed guidance document.
I have one other thought. So I had sent to Angie yesterday.
Revisions to question and answer eight and then.
We had.
I had a couple discussions with her and then after I sent her the document.
She said she sent an email last night with an addition to question answer 18.
Eight that address the.
Not chain of custody so much but directed clerks and how to what to do when they collected.
The ballots and addressed or directed them to the action administration manual.
I did send it to all the commissioners because I didn't want to.
Violate the open meetings law.
But if I don't know if Angie wants to put it in the chat or I can put it in the chat or Megan can I send it also to Megan.
I think the legal team as well.
Yeah, we needed somehow. So I don't care how we get it, but.
I'll email right now. I'll email to everyone, but I also, if we can put it in the chat.
That may be helpful.
Please email it to my work. Okay.
I'm emailing to everyone's work and personal work and.
Commission address.
So.
I'll put it in the chat right now.
I don't have a chat box looking for my chat box to.
Yeah, I don't have a chat button today.
I don't either, but it is in your email. I also email.
Okay.
Guess we'll go to email.
Let me, if we're the dance.
Memo addresses eight.
I had one.
One comment.
Question five.
Well, let's, let's.
Let's let everybody take a minute and look at.
Eight.
Yeah, I could share my screen if that would help.
Go ahead.
Oh, host is disabled participant screen sharing. Okay.
So I tried.
We can turn that on if that would be helpful. Okay.
Really give it a shot.
Here.
Okay.
Maybe we can't. If you can send it.
Oh, you got it.
Okay.
So.
So I can make it a little bit.
I don't know if that helps at all. Trying to make it.
My screen is not large.
But does that help?
No.
Can you just zoom in?
I'm not sure how that's controlled control slide. There you go.
That's going to help. So.
Reviewing this.
Don, my, my concern is.
We're calling it best practices and then sounding like should.
And I'm concerned about the tension there.
I'm concerned about that tension.
I'm concerned about the tension there.
I'm concerned about the tension there.
But I mean, you could change it like the first bullet,
first bullet point under physical security.
You could say, I didn't want to repeat the best practice all the
time, but you could say the best practices that the drop box
be permanently affixed to the ground or side of the building.
Okay.
I mean, that, that, I mean, I guess.
I, you know,
I think we have to say something about it.
You know, and it's.
You know, we, we are saying these are best practices.
But again, if you want to say, you know, if located outside the
best practices at the drop box, be sturdy enough.
To withstand the elements. I mean, again, I think we have to say
something about this.
And so.
You know,
I understand the concern that it's an unprolgated rule, but.
You know, we just have to do something.
We can't, I don't, I think it's a, it'd be.
It would be.
We'd be open to ridicule.
And I think appropriately, if we say you should think about.
You should consider whether she locked.
So.
Thank you.
Richard Thompson.
Thank you.
How about this done in terms of physical security of the drop box
itself.
The best practice is to have the drop box permanently affixed to
the ground.
Just sure.
You can learn.
I mean, if you just say that, take out.
Sure.
And then we get our.
We avoid this threat to.
The.
Challenge everything is an unprolgated rule.
So, so you could, you could change every one of those.
Bullet points, the sub bullet points, if you will.
And say the best practices, the drop box.
Be secured.
And all that.
And that's fine.
And I think that would probably be a good way of doing it.
And it occurs to me.
Rereading this.
The drop box be permanently fixed to the ground or the side of the
building.
I would like something there that says.
Or.
You can say, you know, the, you know, the secure level.
You know, the, the secure level.
You know, the, the secure level.
You know, the, the secure level.
You know, the, the secure level.
You can say, you know, the secure level.
Or secured in such a way as to ensure it cannot be tampered with.
Something like that.
Well, it's fair enough. I mean, I think it's moved.
I think that was all I did.
You can see the, what I tried to do is show the language I struck.
And the language I added. So the.
Right.
It said permanently fixed to the ground or side of the building was in the
original.
Yeah, I agree. And I'm just, like I said, sort of rereading it,
thinking I'd like to, for example.
If they've got a hook in the ground and they've got a giant
chain around it to secure it.
Is it permanently affixed to the ground or the side of the building?
I don't know, but it's really well affixed.
See what I mean? Like it's, it's.
Good.
We would say like, well done.
That's pretty secure, but it wouldn't be a fix to a building.
No, that's fair.
I think that's, I think it's fine if you want to add that.
Okay.
I mean, I, I mean, this is the only part of the rule other than, you know,
question 13 that I had a question.
And so I mean,
do you want to do the typing or do you want me to share my screen with the same?
I can, I can do it.
So you, so.
The drop box be permanently affixed to the ground.
We should have the best practice.
Let's practice.
What do we say?
Well, I think if you put best practices.
Like in the bullet point above best practice colon physical security of the,
see what I mean?
Yeah.
Right there at the top. So everything is labeled best practice.
And then maybe.
Then you don't need it in each bullet point, right?
Okay.
Yeah. So probably do this. The drop box.
Be permanently affixed to the ground or side of the building side of the building.
In such a way.
Or, or secured such that.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Thank you.
Otherwise.
Otherwise, I think.
Taking out.
Having to be in there.
Thanks.
I like that. I think that captures what my concern was.
Okay.
So.
So.
Then just take out the should be sturdy enough.
We'll stand the elements. Good.
Pop box be scary.
We want permanently.
I think we want her. I mean, I think in a perfect world,
it would be nice that.
Now that the Supreme Court ruled that we say, like, look,
you should be making this part of your infrastructure.
As a best practice, right?
Not every election. If possible.
But, but Bob, would you rather have say securely affixed.
I don't know.
Yeah, Bob. What do you don't like about permanently?
I mean, securely might be better.
I mean, I can envision.
A situation where, you know, you attach it.
So it can't be removed without heavy tools or something.
But at the end of the election, you take it in.
So it's not going to be rained on.
And so done and all that. So that's in that sense, it's secure.
Not permanent. Is that.
I think it's a cure.
I think permanently.
We don't want permanently in there.
Okay.
Is everyone okay?
What do we think about here?
Okay.
Okay.
I don't have objection to liquids.
I think that's fine.
One of the things I, I want to do.
Is, and again, I,
I mean, I'm in favor of trying to make it.
Enhance it.
I don't want to make it too expensive.
I don't want to make it too expensive.
Because my concern is that there are a lot of small communities and
rural areas of the Wisconsin.
Where the town.
The town typically in towns,
but may have small cities and villages where they don't have
early voting or they have early voting at the clerk's house,
which I think is, I just don't like.
And so I want to make it possible for those.
Small communities.
To also have drop boxes.
I think it's, I think we should, again, we can't mandate it.
I guess that every community have it, but we want to make it.
Feasible for smaller ones.
And so I think there are drop boxes that can.
Can avoid liquids, not probably all of them will.
Okay.
I'm looking at the second set of bullet points.
In a safe location with adequate parking.
I can tell you, for example, the drop box that is by my library.
Here in Milwaukee is near an area with heavy traffic and near a
busy intersection, but it's a library.
The library creates some of the heavy traffic.
In a safe location with adequate parking and.
Pedestrian access.
I suppose I said, I tried to say not close to an area with heavy.
Early.
When it had said.
The drop box.
Be located.
Or whether it was just a question.
And of course, I wasn't sure whether you wanted it in heavy traffic or not.
I would assume not, but I mean, it was.
The way it read before was the drop box.
Near a lot of traffic or near or a busy intersection.
So I said it.
I tried to make it more specific close.
You want to be able to get out of your car.
If it is.
The car.
If you're driving there, you want to be able to get out of your car safely without
having to worry about a lot of traffic. That's.
Adequate parking and safe access for pedestrians.
Okay.
Because that's really what we're concerned about.
We want people to be able to safely get to it.
Whether there's traffic or not.
It may not be determinative of the safety of.
The pedestrian, right?
Delete the rest of that one. Yeah, delete the rest of it.
Okay.
I'm reluctant to have my typing skills and such.
My display here.
Well, we all know that your typing skills are always the worst when other people are watching.
So the drop box.
Well, the area.
Be clearly visible and the path to the drop box be accessible with clear and
level ground space in front. Good.
Okay.
Here.
On my screen, this is very small.
Cause I wrote on my laptop and I'm trying to see it. Okay.
And again, I.
I didn't, I didn't get into, I know.
Some had thought that we should have.
Regular schedules and whatnot.
I didn't get into that detail.
I just said, you know, you got to empty it so it doesn't get over.
Can you hear me? Yeah.
We can hear you, Bob.
Can you hear me? Yep.
Do you have something to say, Bob?
Or are you just checking?
And then Bob, can you hear us?
No.
I think there's something wrong with.
Okay.
Can you hear us?
In terms of when it must be empty.
Don't you think we should be 24 hours.
Bob is off. He's not connecting.
I heard enough of him to say that he wants,
he wants to talk about a time interval.
That it should be, I think he wanted to say,
should we empty every 20, at least once?
I can hear you. Can you hear me?
Not.
Well, Bob, are you connected to the internet?
Or are you trying to do this over cell service?
Maybe as you call it on the phone.
I can see that.
And I can hear you.
Close off. Maybe close your camera. That may help.
But we could hear you. We did hear you say that I thought you said.
It should be emptied every 24 hours or something like that.
I didn't put that in there. I'm open to it.
I'm hesitant to say that because the whole idea is we've got part time
clerks.
Who are not going to be able.
Based on their other employment frequently to be able to.
You know, guarantee that every 24 hours they get to the box.
I think that the box should be emptied often enough to avoid it being
completely full is correct.
But if they go two days and they get 10 ballots,
that seems to me to be a perfectly sensible thing to do.
Well, I get these are best practices. We're not telling.
Right.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I was going to say because it even in larger communities,
if you were requiring them to pick them up, you know,
every Saturday, Sunday, it's going to require overtime and budget
issues.
And typically the clerks adjust the schedule of the pickup based on.
How many ballots are being placed in.
Boxes.
As they pick them up each time.
As they pick them up each time.
Commissioner Spindell, are you able to hear us?
Okay. I'm a little worried about commissioner Spindell here.
Well, um,
I think we're all worried about commissioner Spindell.
Um, can someone, can one of the staff members please text him.
And point out that he's not apparently hearing us.
Yes, I will.
I will give him a call.
Yeah, give him a call.
It feels like he's not on the Internet.
It feels like he's got something sketchy going on there.
Okay.
Okay.
Hey, Donna, are you going to continue making your.
So we can look at a clean document.
Well, yeah, what I've done here is, um,
again, I'll repeat everything we need to for Bob when he gets back on.
But what I did here at the bottom is I took Angie's from Angie's email
last night.
And I would substitute that for.
What?
I don't know what Angie sent you.
Everyone got an email last night. It was about an omission.
And if you look at, oh, and I apologize.
If you look at the last bullet point that covers the,
the both pages there, that's what she sent.
She said that again, I don't want to speak for Angie,
but I think this was the language that inadvertently got deleted.
From the, the text.
And so what I was going to, what I, what I had done is,
and you could see in the, the text, the draft.
Before I added this last bullet point, I put Angie, you, you may have something to insert.
That was bait. She had told me that they had forgotten that. So, um.
Yeah, that bullet point is, is correct. That last one. And it was,
and I'll reiterate for the commission and for the public's benefit as well.
That was intended to be in the draft presented to the commission.
It was just through editing and track changes that it was removed.
That's why I added it back in for the commission's consideration.
So if we're doing it consistent with our other ones.
Sorry to interrupt, but, um,
I don't see commissioner spend out there and I had suggested that he try reconnecting.
So I'm not sure what his status is.
Okay.
Well, maybe we'll pause for just a moment.
It's a little bit like Hogwarts coming in and out of the picture here.
I was just going to suggest that Don finish whatever edits while he's gone.
Don, why don't you go ahead and delete that one.
Um.
Go ahead and show that is deleted when he just highlighted.
And then I just, the only question would be if we're doing it consistent with.
We'd just say absentee ballots be secured.
Yeah, we're just showing right there.
Highlight.
Oops.
So we'll wait for Bob.
Okay.
All right.
Thank you.
Okay.
Um,
All right.
All right.
All right.
All has joined by phone.
And it's a four one, four number, but he's in the, um, in the audience.
So if we could pull them in.
If we could pull them in.
All right.
Let's test it. Bob.
Can you hear us?
Is he's muted.
He's muted on his eye.
He's muted on his iPad.
He should be able to hear us on his phone.
But his phone, I can see at the bottom.
You can see it's got a mute thing on it.
Oh, yeah.
And I think he was before we pulled him in, I could hear him, but now.
Can you unmute him?
You can press star six to unmute.
I don't know.
Commissioner Spindell can hear this.
Star six to unmute the phone.
All right, Bob.
Can you hear us?
Star six on your phone, please.
Did we move him into a panelists?
I don't see his phone as a panelist.
Isn't it?
It's four one four seven nine one seven five one six.
Is that it, Robert?
We need to move him in as a panelist.
Yes.
And he has permission to talk.
Right. I see him.
I see him on my screen.
I can see him at the bottom.
Yeah.
He's, he's showing us an attendee.
Just not a panelist.
Right.
There's a really, really significant.
The.
The.
The.
The.
The.
The.
The.
Right.
There's a really, really significant delay because I'm on the phone with him and everything that said here.
I hear on his phone, like 30 seconds later.
I think he's got an Internet problem. I notice he's sitting somewhere other than he used to sit. Maybe.
It's a bad place to.
Sit.
They're right.
Robert.
Talking to someone, but it's not us.
So Robert, I see.
I see that in the panel participant list panelist list. He's not listed, but he is on the screen.
We're, we're.
I don't see his phone number.
Right.
I can't promote a phone to panelist. I can promote a.
Another user, but I can't promote a phone to panelist, but he does that permission to talk.
The phone just needs to be unmuted.
Bob, can you hear us?
Okay.
Administrator Wolf, can you phone him again, ask him to completely log out of whatever device he's in and log back.
Yeah, now we can hear you.
Now we can hear you Bob.
Okay.
We can hear you now to speak a little bit.
Here's the thing Bob, your Internet is terrible. What's going on with your Internet? Are you logged in to the Internet?
Yes, we can hear you.
No, really, I can hear.
All right, we'll try.
Okay.
I can hear him well at all.
Log out of everything Bob and come back in.
Can you hear me now?
Okay.
Okay, good enough.
Hopefully it works. Okay.
So.
I don't know.
Well, it's as good as we got for right now, Bob.
Okay, so let's scroll up. I'm going to ask everyone to review what.
Obviously there's some, some problem in my Internet.
Okay.
So here.
Okay.
So what we've done is we've added best practices to the major bullet points for each of them.
And gotten rid of the word should.
I'm going to ask everyone to review what Don has put on the screen.
Because if you want changes, it would be nice to see if we can just sort of make this work by consensus.
So I know it's slightly small type, but do your best.
And since we, since we last talked.
Or since we had the issue with Bob, I found another should that I've highlighted here.
Okay.
You're taking that out. Okay. Yeah. And I just highlighted it, but I will take it out now.
And then we added, we dropped the, we dropped.
The last paragraph that I had and inserted what Angie had sent last night.
And then I was going to delete should as well.
And I'll do that.
All right. Everyone just take a look. And then.
Did we lose commissioners spindle.
No, he's.
Can you hear me better now.
Yeah, we hear you better now. Okay. Please review.
Please, Bob, please review what is on the screen. So that.
Okay, good.
So, and then Bob, while you're out, what we did is.
We substituted my last bullet point.
For what Angie had sent last night.
Her languages was initially intended to be in the.
Be in there.
From the, from the get go. And I thought it was.
Better than my language.
More specific. So.
All right. Are there any proposed changes to Don suggested revisions.
Commissioner Bostleman.
You muted.
Sorry.
Okay.
Not so much to the revisions, but I still would like to have something that talks about.
Chain of custody and somehow.
You know, maybe a log that shows.
When it's picked up and how much is picked up so that there is a trail as to what happened every time it got picked up.
I just think that's important because somebody's going to want to look at it someday.
And I think the more information we can provide, even if it's some.
You know, it was picked up at a certain time.
And there was this was a chain of custody.
You know, do they pick it up and put those ballots into a secure.
Bag or something like that.
To transport it.
How was that done? And I think the more security we can put into this,
the better people will feel about having the drop boxes.
Sure.
I think you could add that under the.
Add a sentence to the first bullet point under ballot retrieval and emptying. It seems to me it would go there.
The drop box be emptied often enough to avoid the box from being filled with ballots.
And I think you could put in and.
And a record of the retrieval be completed.
And a chain of custody record.
I think that's.
We've used a chain of custody historically.
Have we?
We talked about chain of custody.
We talked about it. I don't know that we, and here's the thing is I don't know that we've defined it anywhere. Let me just.
No, we haven't defined it anywhere, but I'm just.
And we don't use it in the election day manual. So I'm hesitant to add a new.
Whatever undefined phrase.
Yeah.
Well, there's, there's chain of custody when clerks bring in ballots to the.
When municipal clerks bring ballots in, there's a chain of custody.
There's a number on bags that shows that it was, it was.
Properly sealed that it was brought in appropriately.
And I don't think that that's any different benefits coming in from a lock box.
I 100% agree with you.
I'm suggesting that we can't use phrases that we don't define anywhere.
That we, we don't use chain of custody isn't in our election day manual.
That phrase isn't, I just did a search.
It doesn't exist. We don't call it that. So.
Let me ask.
Record of the times and dates of retrieval and the, and the person's.
Person, paren, as retrieving the ballots.
Be recorded.
I think they should be taken out securely too.
I mean, they should be put into some type of a secure.
I mean, you don't want them on somebody's backseat and have one fall under the.
Under the seats.
I mean, I think it should be put into some type of the secure,
whether it's a pouch or something, but there.
I think it should be transported in a way that it's secure.
Well, here's the thing that we're also accounting for places where.
The drop box is on the outside of city hall. I walk up, I take my key.
I take out my ballots, I lock it and I walk right to my office.
You know, do I have to create a, you know, do I have to use the money to put it in a pouch at a seal, put the seal in the log, walk 10 feet into my office, undo the seal, undo the log.
It's a best practice. It has to apply.
Everywhere.
Can I ask a question that this is outside of my.
It's certainly not outside my experience.
But are we in terms of the quote unquote chain of custody, whatever that is.
Is that addressed in the last bullet point.
I looked at Marj's comment as having two aspects. One is recording.
When you're retrieving it and who's involved in retrieving it.
And then the second point is making sure that they follow.
The, the established procedures for collecting and storing absentee ballots.
And I guess my question is.
I mean, does this again, quote unquote chain of custody, whether we use that phrase or not.
Is it adequately addressed in the last bullet point, or maybe that should be altered.
So I'm just.
Taking a look at our manual.
So.
So we're asking about that.
I think it falls into transporting.
Balance.
Here's, here's what it reads.
Securing and transporting voted absentee ballots.
When an absentee ballot arrives at a clerk's office, and this says, or an alternate site.
The clerk shall enclose it unopened in a carrier envelope, which shall be securely sealed and endorsed with the name and official title of the clerk.
If a container, such as a box is used to transport absentee ballots to the polling place.
Then that caner container must have the EL 125 attached and be properly sealed.
Once the container or envelope has been sealed, it cannot be opened again until the container envelope is in the same room where the votes are being cast.
So that really deals with.
Once the ballots hit the office.
Of the clerk.
I just, I don't think we should use chain of custody when we don't use it.
Like we, it's a colloquial term that we use.
To talk about it that comes out of criminal law and the chain of custody of evidence retrieved.
When I think what we want is a log record of the times and dates that you retrieved it and who retrieved it.
The times and dates of retrieval number of ballots retrieved and the person or persons participating.
And also in a secure carrier.
Again, you want somebody to have to secure it if they're walking from the outside of city hall to the inside of city hall.
I think we make rules all the time that deal with with Milwaukee and a little village that has 400 people.
And those are the, and I think we just need to do it. I use a universal suggestion rule best practice.
And I just think, I just think we have those, those type of rules all over the place.
So I think we just, if it's a clerk walking in her office.
She still has to document she still has to, you know, her, her determination of a secure bag to transport it is, is her is up to her.
But I still think saying a secure should be trans transferred in a secure.
Enclosure is still important because maybe, maybe, maybe you and I can reach agreement on this.
Okay.
And then,
hold on.
Ballots retrieved from a drop box shall be securely transported to the office of the clerk.
Okay, how's that so we're not telling them how.
Right.
But we're telling them they got to do it securely, which I think would address.
Your concern about it, it being too loosey goosey. So that would be after maintained.
You want to add another. Okay.
Okay.
Shall be transported securely to the office of the clerk.
We want to make a separate bullet point. Sure.
Okay, what was it balance balance retrieved from a drop box shall be securely transported to the office of the clerk.
We also have the language about how many and you would mention that a few minutes at all. Okay.
Right. So we changed the only thing is I really do want us to get rid of chain of custody.
I just, I want us to not create.
Only because having gone through the recent administrative rule revisions where we used a lot of terms, and then we had to define them all.
I'm trying to mitigate the number of times we, we do that. So if we do do a rule, we're using words. Bob, I do see your hand up. Go ahead.
Yeah, can you hear me all right. Yep. Now we can hear you.
I think in terms of chain of custody.
I think that's, you know, important actually in the items that we received on page 11, which is a quick start guide. It does talk.
It's about changing custody and certain things that they should have on it. So I'm not quite sure why we don't have something about that. I think that's very important.
The only time we talk about chain of custody.
We barely talk about it in our stuff. I'm just saying, let's not use a word we don't have to use when we can define it the way we want to define it because what we're defining, I think, is exactly what Marge wanted.
When are you retrieving it date and time, who's retrieving it and how many ballots are being retrieved.
That's really what we want to know. Right.
Maybe we should add something to the effect if there's any note regarding damage to the the box, you know, something to indicate that that the condition of the box is okay.
Nothing's been tampered with and so forth that it just be another item to put on that list.
I think that would be under the probably the first best practices, which is physical security any damage.
Any damage or tampering with the ballot or with the drop box.
Any damage or tamper tampering with the drop box shall be immediately documented.
And.
Good.
And the drop box should be inspected to ensure it remains secure for the depositing of absentee ballots.
We get rid of shall and should.
Yeah, I know.
I'll fix that in a minute.
I said any damage to or tampering with the drop box.
You documented in the drop box be inspected to ensure it remains secure for the depositing.
Of absentee ballots.
I'm sorry, ensure that remains secure for purposes of depositing absentee ballots.
So in other words, you document that there's graffiti on it, but you inspect the box and you say, still safe.
We're just going to take off the graffiti on the outside.
For example.
I think that's good.
Mark.
Just one thing going back to what I mentioned before, I just would like to see a log.
I mean, that there's actually a document that says these were the days that it was picked up.
The volume is that just making sure that's on there.
Drop box be empty.
Often enough to avoid the drop box.
From being filled with ballots and a record of the times and dates of retrieval.
Number of ballots are treated and the person or persons participating in the retrieval be maintained.
Okay, thank you.
So in essence, what we're doing, Marge is defining what a log is by telling them what they have to write down.
That's fine.
Bob, you still have your hand up. Do you have another one?
Yeah, just one other thing. I think it's important. And I don't see it in there yet.
That we.
For best practices that that the box is very clear.
That is for absentee ballots.
We, you know, that's, that's on all the guidance that is.
And the additional items that we have here that box be clearly marked. I don't think we have that.
Here, and we don't want somebody.
Thinking it's for tax returns and things along that line.
Well, along those lines, actually, if I question, I actually had a question about.
About that.
Do we want to say, do we keep talking about absentee ballots?
Do we want to say absentee ballots in and return envelope?
The absolute ballot return envelopes, I think would be the best language.
Right.
Because no, we don't want people putting their ballot in the drop box. We want the envelope being placed in the.
And then one other thing.
That's the bottom one there absentee ballot return envelopes.
Right. So we're.
Right where your cursor is there. Okay.
Nope.
Above there.
Absentee ballot envelopes.
Yeah.
Right.
Right.
Right.
Secure. I understand that, but do you want to add something?
Want to just add to this one or just add another?
I thought you were talking about cleaning up the language on novel adding envelopes there.
Yeah. Right. Right. But I wasn't sure.
Right.
Right.
So I hear you.
My question was.
On signage.
Yeah.
Yeah, it would belong there.
Yeah.
The drop box be.
Marked or labeled in such a way.
Be clearly marked or labeled.
That it is exclusive or that it is for the purpose of depositing absentee ballot envelopes.
Say exclusively.
Well, because it might not be exclusively.
Should be. I don't know.
We haven't really talked about that.
I mean, the, I mean, there are a lot of municipalities have, you can drop off your utility bill payment.
And things of that, which.
Not sure.
Because we don't want.
We certainly don't want the person collecting utility bills to be collecting balance. Right.
I mean, if it's, if it's used for something else.
It should, no one but the clerk or someone authorized by the clerk should be collecting it. Right.
I like the word exclusively.
What did folks think about that?
I don't know what they 1,850.
Do in terms of exclusive.
I think.
Marked or labeled and I mean, we've addressed who can collect it elsewhere.
Instead of.
Could you say specifically.
There's a.
There's one thing I saw at a drop box in Detroit. It says.
Right where you're going to deposit says insert absentee ballot.
And then it says in science seal envelope.
And it's accepted here. I think, I think we need some direction.
Make sure that it's.
That is sealed because sometimes the person may not.
Know what to do. So I think we need.
That's not.
That's getting too.
I think it's going to be.
It's going to be.
It's going to be tacky Bob.
People get like all sorts of instructions on how to.
Return their ballots.
Let's, let's focus on the drop boxes and not on.
The envelopes.
If I may.
You know, I just think it's worth pointing out that.
You know, we do have good reason to believe in small places.
That they do use their drop boxes for utility payments and other things.
And that the clerk is, is the only one there. Right. So the clerk is doing all of those various tasks.
And so I think if we were to say exclusive.
It would be a pretty major departure from the practice and a lot of small jurisdictions.
And I guess I would tend to.
I guess I tend to agree with that now, because again, my thought is that I want to have smaller just.
Have the advantage of doing this.
So what I've read right now is, is the drop box be clearly marked or labeled.
That the drop box is for the purpose of collecting absentee ballots in.
F absentee envelopes.
That's redundant. You want absentee ballots in return.
Return envelopes in return envelopes.
Okay.
Okay.
All right.
All right. Commissioner boss.
Okay. I have one more concern. And that is on the night of the election.
I don't think clerks are going to be running to those drop boxes at eight o'clock.
To make sure that there's ballots to see if there's a ballot there.
And I think there should be some type of wording that says on the day of the election.
I'm not sure how to do this, but I don't want people's vote not to be counted because the ballot is found the next morning.
I think that's really important.
My question.
My only question would be that whether that should be an amendment to our election day manual.
Because we have time to do it before.
August or.
November to fix.
To put language in that says exactly what you said.
I just think it's important to make sure that that.
That that does not happen or people's votes are not coming.
It's not carries hand up.
And that leads back to.
So the uniform in the Senate.
And that leads back to.
So the uniform instructions.
Tell voters how to return the absentee ballots.
And.
I don't know where we put it that.
Clerks need to notify the voters of how to return the absentee ballots.
So they may need to do another insert with.
When they bail absentee ballots to say that.
Ballots may be returned by.
Drop box.
Say where the locations are.
Say what the hours are.
For instance, in a Claire on election day.
They would say that the drop box closes at such and such a time.
After that, they will be need.
Need to be returned to the clerk's office or the poll site.
So they, they actually locked the drop box at a certain time on election day.
So that no more ballads could be inserted.
In them.
So would it make sense to say something like.
If.
If the clerk of the drop box will not be collected.
If the drop box will not be collected at eight PM on election day.
The drop box is fully state.
When the last lecture will be.
Or just say the drop box is state when the last lecture will be.
Drop box.
Walk after that last question.
Yeah, the clerk needs some discretion because it's if the box is right at the polling place.
It's different than in a larger community.
Where it may be a 10, 15 minute drive to the poll site. So there needs to be some flexibility.
The time of final retrieval of any ballots on election day.
Shall be clearly or be clearly indicated.
So that voters may.
Timely return their ballots.
I don't think you want to say ballots are done. It's a valid return envelopes.
You know, the finals.
Retreat.
Yeah.
It's a valid return envelopes.
I mean, we just got to be consistent throughout.
Right.
Who's that house.
Take out the shell.
The time of final retrieval of ballot return envelopes be clearly marked on or near the drop box.
Yeah, I think that's right. Does that address it?
Yeah.
Okay.
Good.
Good.
All right. And any others.
Yeah.
One of the thing.
On that we're saying the time of the final retrieval of the ballot box return envelope be clearly marked.
Are you referring to election night.
Or are we referring to a pickup time.
That's going to take place.
You know, every day or something between our between.
X time and X time.
Cause those only the last, the last one.
Whenever it is.
Whenever the last one is.
It might be the day before the election, depending on the community.
Right.
Yeah.
Okay.
Any other questions, concerns.
I'm sorry.
Again, what the finals retrieval is at an election night or is that.
It would.
In my mind, it's the date.
Whenever the clerk decides we're not collecting any more ballots, it could be election day.
But you could have some communities where they say we're not collecting absentee ballots after.
You know,
Monday morning at noon because they got too much to do.
Let's get a line to that done.
After the time of final retrieval, comma.
The box be secured.
Another sentence to that.
After the time of final retrieval, the box be secured to prevent the deposit of any additional absentee ballot envelopes.
Cause I think that goes to commissioner repos concern. We don't want people putting them in.
After if they're not going to be, or maybe it was commissioner Vaseline. We don't want people putting them in the box.
If they're not going to be retrieved anymore. So once you've got the final retrieval.
You need to secure the box in some way.
To prevent people from thinking their ballot will be turned up because maybe they missed the sign.
How's that? I think that helps.
All right, we're really close everybody. How are we feeling on this?
And then I just have one more item.
Okay, go ahead.
A number seven, where it says that the municipal clerk or includes authorized representatives.
Are we getting into a situation now where they could have somebody other than the election.
Wait, wait, wait, we're not moving on to seven yet. We're not moving on to seven. We're finishing eight first.
Okay, that's fine. Okay. Are there any more revisions? Yeah, commissioner.
I just have one more comment. Should, should there be a.
Encouragement that clerks post in the newspaper.
With regard to the final collection on election day that they, that they do something that says there are life boxes recorded or currently available.
There will be available at certain points and the final drop off will be a certain day. Is it?
And I'm not saying this as a rule, but I'm just saying, is there a way of us to encourage clerks to do that?
Maybe through communication, Megan, or something that would say, you know, please, you know, whatever you're going to do, please make sure the public knows it.
I guess that administrator wolf. What's your thought on that? It's more of a.
It's, I'm not sure it belongs with the physical security of the drop boxes, but I think it's, I don't either.
It's an important point that we want people to know both where they are when they're there and when they're not there for use.
Yeah, and it seems like something, you know, if, if we were to keep it flexible that the, you know, clerk.
Effectively communicate with their community about drop box opportunities, you know, I think that would be enough encouragement, but that's a good question. Where does that belong?
If, if I might add, I know we're not moving on to other questions quite yet, but question or proposed question 11 on the FAQ talks about steps clerks should take to make drop box locations visible on my vote.
So that discussion could happen as part of that question to also be expanded on guidance for other steps clerks should take to publish the procedures and locations of drop boxes in their community.
Okay, well, let's, when we get to 11.
I'm going to add that.
Commissioner Bosselman's suggestion of adding a line that literally just says clerks are encouraged to effectively communicate with their community regarding the availability of drop boxes, including final pickup or final retrieval dates and times.
That would be great.
And, and again, we're talking about later but talking about hours, I mean, some drop boxes will be inside buildings that are locked indicate also the hours in which the drop boxes will be available.
Some will not be so limited, but others will.
I'm making a note of that sentence March. So when we come to number 11, we can add it.
Thank you.
Okay.
Any other changes to number eight.
Okay.
I think you can stop screen sharing then. Please email that to.
I guess to attorney sharp and probably to Anna doing the minutes, because we're going to want that language to be the motion.
You should probably email it to me as well, if you could, so that we can reset recited as part of that motion.
Okay.
Now, I promised.
Commissioner Thompson, we would come back to his. He had a question on.
Question five, and then we'll go to commissioner spindell on question.
Seven, I think.
Okay, go ahead, Commissioner Thompson.
My only comment on five is where the heading can a clerk be sued. I would put successfully.
Okay, because you can get sued no matter what, but I think we're talking about.
Okay.
So that's, that's, I would just say successfully.
Okay.
What do folks think about that?
Okay.
All right, so.
Successfully sued. All right.
All right, Bob, you had a question on question seven.
Yeah, just one thing in terms of where it says it may be emptied by the municipal court, which includes their authorized representative.
Are we getting to the point where this may be in contrary to the new constitutional amendments that were passed?
Do we need to do we need to define that a little bit more?
There's not somebody, they just hire another group to come out and pick it up.
Any, any thoughts on that, Angie.
Yeah, if I may. So that language is summarized directly from the priorities USA majority opinion, which actually cited the definition, the statutory definition of municipal clerk, which does include that language or their authorized representatives.
So that was clear, the decision referring to the statutory definition of municipal clerk, which always includes their authorized representatives.
All right.
Okay. Good.
All right. And then on question 11.
Here's the draft based on Mr. Thompson.
Yeah, I got a comment on nine before we get to 11.
Okay. Question nine.
The question does the governor body of the municipality need to be.
If we leave that question as is, I think we have to go to the answer.
And when we say no, the governing body of the municipality designates the location of alternative.
Voting sites under with stat 6.855 period.
I would get rid of, but need not also designate drop box locations because that implies that somehow they have the authority to do it.
So I would delete the end of that.
I think.
We should also say the municipal clerk has the authority to designate.
I think we should affirmatively state that in that.
No, the next sentence says that if you look.
No, doesn't.
If you want to add that's fine. I mean, that's how I read the last, but.
It is, it's a sole discretion of the clerk.
Right. I think we should say that affirmatively, the municipal clerk.
Has the authority to decide where drop boxes are placed.
Or utilized.
I just place. I mean, the clerk decides whether they're going to have them or not.
But it's talking about designating the location.
It's a physical. That's what that question is.
I'm assuming because.
You, the municipality, the government has to designate alternative ballot sites.
Right.
The clerk can designate drop boxes. So we need to say two things. One of which is one.
Municipality doesn't draw designate drop box sites.
And two clerks designate drop box sites.
That's fine.
Those are the two things we need to.
I agree.
That's fine. Okay.
We just need to take out the end of that sentence. You can add.
One sentence.
The municipal clerk designates drop box locations.
Period.
Okay.
And now we're.
I'm sorry to interrupt.
I'm not sure.
Can I just ask one question for clarity? So is the consensus to.
Remove the sentence in question lines answer that says that starts with the priorities USA decision.
And then instead replace it with the municipal clerk designates drop box locations.
I think both.
Both. Okay.
I just wanted to make sure I understood the consensus.
Because I think what we're doing is we're taking the language of the state of the decision.
And essentially translating it for the clerk.
Here's what the decision says.
You have the authority to designate where drop boxes go.
Okay.
So it'll save both. Got it. Yeah. Thank you. Okay.
All right. And then.
Question 11.
Per commissioner.
Thank you.
Commissioner Bostleman. Here's what I wrote down.
As an addition to question 11.
Clerks are encouraged to communicate to voters as to the dates,
times and locations of drop boxes, as well as final retrieval dates and times.
Thank you.
Is that what you were looking for? Yes, it is.
Okay. Any objections to that language?
Okay. Any other changes.
Yes. Commissioner Thompson.
The.
The 15.
The last.
sentence.
Or says clerks should immediately.
I think we're going to take out should everywhere. We should.
We need to take it out here.
The other thing is, I think we should instead of the faces,
the stories are lawfully empties or impedes or.
For.
Instead of impedes, we should use this word from the statute interrupts or disturbs.
I'm sort of with Don on the.
Use of should.
In some situations, I think.
This would be one where like.
Like what would it say instead of should.
Clerks immediately contact law enforcement.
Well, you need a verb.
Contact to be the verb.
I don't know.
Contact.
I mean, if we're taking it out, we're taking it out. I'm not.
We're not going to hold this up.
You're saying take out impedes.
I think we should put interrupts or disturbs instead of impedes.
Well, there's both.
The first statute is interrupts, disturbs, and then the bottom statute is impedes or prevents.
The.
I, I missed that.
Then we should use.
In that final sentence, we should just track the two statutes.
And that ends my comments.
Okay. Well, then let's figure it out.
Or impedes, comma.
For events.
Or impedes or prevents the use of a drop box.
Is that what you're looking for? Cause then you're using those verbs from the statute.
Interrupts impedes or prevents.
Yeah.
Okay, hold on.
Hey.
All right. Anyone have thoughts on that?
Okay.
All right.
I am going to run through my notes.
And my suggestion is.
That we take it.
Chunk by chunk or question by question, just for the clarity of our minutes.
And the sanity of, I believe it's Anna who's doing our minutes.
So I will entertain a motion.
To delete.
Question number 13 from the staff's staff's draft.
Is there a motion to delete question 13 from the staff's draft.
So move.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Okay.
Commissioner Millis.
And seconded by commissioner Thompson.
Is there further discussion on question 13.
All right.
Obviously, then.
The paragraphs.
Renumbered up thereafter.
Yeah.
Word. Yes.
Okay.
Yes.
Absolutely. Okay.
Oh, administrator.
Well, if you've got your hand up.
I'm sorry.
I don't know if now is an appropriate time, but with question 11.
I do think we should have a brief discussion about the uniform instruction question that commissioner.
Repal raised.
And whether or not the commission wants to add language there that the clerk is able to.
Provide an insert or something in the absentee ballot that explains drop box opportunities.
Tell you what, let's get through the modifications to the memo.
And I think that's a good point. We'll just come back to it. Let's, let's get the memo tidied up.
And then since we deleted 13, we'll have room for another question.
And then maybe that's a separate.
Maybe that's even a separate number.
That we add.
All right. We have a motion in a second. I will call the role.
Commissioner Boskelman. I commissioner.
Millis.
I commissioner.
Reeple.
I.
Commissioner Spindell.
I.
Commissioner Thompson.
I.
Chair votes. I.
So the, that motion carries six. Nothing.
We have been provided with the.
Written revisions that commissioner millis helpfully typed out for all of us as to question eight.
I will entertain a motion that the commission adopt the revisions is typed out by commissioner millis as to question eight.
I will call the roll commissioner millis.
I.
Commissioner Thompson. Do you wish to make that motion?
So moved. Thank you.
Second.
Moved by commissioner Thompson. Seconded by I believe that was commissioner millis. I will call the role.
Commissioner millis.
I.
Commissioner Reeple.
I.
Shoulder Spindell.
I.
Commissioner Thompson.
I.
Commissioner Boskelman.
I.
Chair votes. I.
Those revisions carried.
As to question 11.
Um, proposed revision.
I will entertain a motion to make the following proposed revision.
Clerks are encouraged to communicate to voters as to the dates,
times and location locations of drop boxes as well as final retrieval dates and times.
I'll entertain a motion to make that motion. Commissioner Bosselman moves.
Commissioner Reeple seconds. Is there further discussion? Hearing none, I'll call the role commissioner Reeple. I.
Commissioner Spindell.
I.
Commissioner Thompson.
I.
Commissioner Bosselman.
I.
Commissioner millis.
I.
Chair votes.
I.
That motion carries six nothing.
As to question five, there is.
A request to add to the heading.
A.
Motion to make that change.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
I.
Are.
Are.
I.
I.
9. There is a request to amend it as follows to delete in the second second second excuse me to delete in the second sentence that phrase beginning with but need not and to add a sentence to the end of that section which reads the municipal
clerk has the authority to designate drop box locations. Is there a motion to make those changes. Commissioner Thompson makes the motion to say a second. Commissioner Reeple seconds. Is there a discussion on that item. Hearing none. I will call the roll. Commissioner Thompson.
Hi. Commissioner Bostleman. Hi. Commissioner Millis. Hi. Commissioner Reeple. Hi. Commissioner Spindell. Hi. Chair votes. I that change carries. As to question 15. There is a request to add the following language to the last sentence.
And after or the following be inserted interrupts comma impedes comma or prevents. Is there a motion to make that change. We also deleted the word should.
And we are deleting the word should. Thank you for that clarification. So moved. Moved by Commissioner Thompson. Is there a second. Commissioner Bostleman seconds. I will call the roll. Commissioner Bostleman.
Hi. Commissioner Millis. Hi. Commissioner Reeple. Hi. Commissioner Spindell. Hi. Commissioner Thompson. Hi. Chair votes. I now we will return to Commissioner Reeple's very thoughtful comments on what do we do about the uniform instructions administrator.
Do you have a suggestion on the best way to address this. Given the current administrative rule about, you know, the commission's prescribing of the uniform instructions. It does seem a little risky to modify that official form at this point.
So perhaps the commission would want to entertain the idea that was suggested by Commissioner Reeple about, you know, allowing the clerks to send an additional insert that informs their absentee voters about drop box opportunities in their jurisdiction.
Okay.
Does anyone have some suggested language of what that would look like.
We'd also be willing to draft something and, you know, potentially get the input from chair Jacobs and Commissioner Millis or whomever the commission would designate to finalize it if that would be helpful.
If I will listen to the consensus of the commission. Do you want to hash it out now or do you want to let.
Commissioner Millis and I work with staff to come up with some sort of language that says, you may add an insert to your ballots explaining where your drop boxes are, and when the final where they are and when the final.
I would think we'd want to say and when the final retrieval. What hours they're open and when the final retrieval date and time is.
Yeah, I think we should do that.
Okay.
I'm not quite sure what Commissioner Spindela the things that we should do it now. I'm fine with it. My question was going to be that was going to be another question or point in the memo.
Correct.
Yes, I think the plan would be that it'd be another question question and answer type thing.
You know, and it might say, may I put an insert into my outgoing absentee.
Ballots regarding drop boxes answered. Yes, you may place a.
An additional insert into your outgoing absentee ballots, indicating the locations.
Dates and times of available locations of drop boxes dates and times of availability of those drop boxes and the final collection date and time for any ballots placed in those drop boxes.
I'm fine. That's probably what the motion should be.
I'll make a motion.
If I might just suggest one edition chair Jacobs, I like what you wrote.
Just to be consistent with the emergency rule for uniform instructions, the commission could also consider.
Linking that answer to, you know, just affirmatively state that such instruction or such insert that you just described.
Consists of additional administrative or logistical instructions pursuant to the new administrative role, just to tie those two together.
Okay.
All right.
I'm trying to figure out how to.
Okay, so the motion is.
To add a question.
Um, may I place an insert.
Um, may a clerk.
Excuse me.
May a clerk.
Place and insert informing voters of the availability.
Of.
Drop boxes and then the answer is.
Yes.
Clerks may place.
And insert.
Informing voters.
Of the availability.
Of drop boxes.
For the return of absentee ballot envelopes.
Those inserts.
Are recommended.
To include.
The locations.
Of the.
Drop boxes.
Dates and times.
Of availability.
And date and time of final retrieval of absentee ballot envelopes.
And then I pasted.
Turny sharps proposed language.
Which is.
Such an insert.
Would be considered.
And then we have.
An additional administrative or logistical instructions.
Pursuant to administrative rule.
And the reference is 6.05 sub two.
In reference to administrative rules.
6.05 sub two.
Can we have them also.
Put the message on their municipal website as well.
And then we'll go back to question 11 saying that they're encouraged to communicate to their voters the presence of that we just didn't question 11.
This is about the inserts mark. This isn't about.
Informing voters.
Yeah.
All right. That is a very long motion.
Is anyone.
That motion.
I have one more question on that.
The last item that you mentioned.
You know, mentioning a rule.
Whatever in there.
The voters probably can not kind of know what that means.
Is that really necessary to put that in there.
Oh, that last part isn't for the voter. The insert doesn't say that.
We are simply declaring that we consider the insert.
An additional administrative or logistical instruction pursuant to our administrative rules.
And then we'll go back to our administrative rules.
6.05 sub two.
Well, I mean, what is that?
What is it?
That doesn't necessarily mean that this is administrative rule.
Right.
Because we have an administrative rule. The administrative rule allows us.
Allows clerks to place.
Logistical and informational inserts into.
Okay.
That's what we're saying.
This is one of those. This isn't a change to the uniform instruction.
This is one of those.
Helpful slips of paper that they can put in.
Similar to how they're allowed to put in a slip about where they have.
You know, early absentee voting or.
As I understand it, Angie suggestion is to make it clear to clerks.
That they can do this and not violate our rule that says.
They can't change the instructions. So we're just sort of.
Tying it to the other exceptions. So.
Okay.
Commissioner Thompson moves this there a second.
Mission or repo seconds.
Further discussion on this. I'll call the role of commissioner Millis.
Hi.
Okay.
Commissioner repo.
Hi.
Mr. Spindell.
Hi.
Mr. Thompson.
Hi.
Mr. Bosselman.
Hi.
Chair votes aye that carries six zero.
I know we wanted to be done.
By 11.
Is there anything else on this item? Otherwise, I know we have a brief item on setting a hearing date on the observer rules.
Do you need the overall motion to adopt this?
Oh, we do. Yes.
There's also a little bit about the election administration manual. That's also in the cover.
Cover memo on page one of your materials.
That's part of this item.
So, Don, you're going to make the.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, we got to figure this out. Wait.
Okay.
And the item that Angie is referencing or train sharp is referencing is.
Is no for it and fix it and then bring it back.
So I would be contemplated by the entire motion. It's not something we have to deal with today.
All right. I will entertain a motion to adopt the draft clerk communication with the.
Amendments we have previously set forth.
Move.
Move.
Mr. Miller's moves. Is there a second? Commissioner Bostleman seconds.
I will call. Is there further discussion on this?
I will call the roll. Commissioner Reeple.
Hi.
Mr. Spindell.
Hi.
Mr. Thompson.
Hi.
Mr. Bostleman.
Hi.
Mr. Miller's.
Hi.
Chair votes aye.
It is adopted.
Okay.
And now we turn.
To page 24 of our materials for a brief presentation by attorney Hunsicker.
Let me just ask a question.
The items and attachment be that's going to be addressed.
At a later time.
Or consistent with this memo. Is that what we just moved on?
Well, I think we're providing that as part of the memo to them that they can refer to as part of their consideration.
Is it attachment be that's part of the Supreme Court decision, right?
No, it's page 19. I'm just, I'm just.
No, part of page 19.
Oh, why should I say that's okay.
No, page 19 isn't a part of this page 19 is where the staff identified.
Areas of the manual that we need to fix.
Okay. And that's not going to the clerks. That's what they're directed to fix consistent with the memo.
Right.
Okay. I just wanted to be clear on that's not hanging out there. That is going to get fixed consistent with this.
Correct. And we may also have to look at the uniform instruction part of the manual.
Okay.
That was all based on this. So, but they're going to bring it back to us.
Okay.
Very good.
13th. Is that what we're talking about?
I don't think we're meeting the 13th. We're meeting.
We still have to look to schedule another special meeting in July.
Okay.
All right.
We're going to have one more.
And can I just ask for clarification just quickly.
Just wanted to make sure you did just pass the recommended motion.
On page one. Okay.
That was my understanding. Yes.
Thank you.
All right.
All right.
All right.
All right.
Go ahead.
Attorney Hunsick.
So this is a very short item.
I'll be brief in my description.
At the June 27 commission meeting, the commission approved an emergency scope statement concerning election observers.
That scope statement was approved on July 3rd by the governor.
It was published in the administrative register on July 8th and on the line nine,
which was this Tuesday.
The joint committee for the review of administrative rules ordered the commission to hold a preliminary hearing and comment period.
Concerning that scope statement. This is a standard practice.
For that committee.
Staff have composed a draft notice and a draft notice of quorum on pages 29 and 30 of your materials.
To hold that preliminary hearing.
We're proposing to hold it on Friday, July 19.
From 1 to 3 p.m.
So if the commission is all right with that date as a proposed time and agrees with that proposed notice and notice of potential.
Orm, which just means that the commissioners can attend, but there won't be any commission business conducted at that.
At that hearing.
There's a recommended motion on the bottom of page 24.
So any questions on the draft notice or, or, or the date that the hearing would be held on.
Any questions for turning on sicker.
Hearing none, I will entertain the motion at the bottom of page 24.
So moved.
Mr. Thompson moves. Is there a second.
Commissioner Bostleman seconds.
Further discussion.
Hearing none, I will call the roll. Commissioner Spindell.
Hi.
Mr. Thompson.
Hi.
Mr. Bostleman.
Hi.
Mr. Millis.
Hi.
Hi.
Chair votes aye.
We will have that meeting on July 19.
Do we have any other business administrator will.
That is everything. Thank you.
I will entertain a motion to adjourn.
Or we can hang out.
Mr. Bostleman moves. Commissioner Reeple seconds.
I'll call the roll. Commissioner Thompson.
Thank you.
Commissioner Bostleman.
Hi.
Mr. Millis.
Hi.
Mr. Reeple.
Hi.
Mr. Spindell.
Hi.
Chair votes aye.
We are adjourned. Thank you all. Please listen when Megan emails you to get another date.
We're going to have to do this again soon.
So thank you all.
Appreciate you making the time today.
Thank you all.
Take care.
Bye.
Recording stopped.
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