March28_2005

COMMITTEE ON COUNTY OFFICERS AND DEPARTMENTS Joint with the COMMITTEES ON TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNITY AFFAIRS

MINUTES: Monday, March 28, 2005 at 4 p.m.

The regular meeting of the Committee on County Officers & Departments was called to order at 4:15 p.m., by Legislator Pinto; the Committee on Technology by Legislator Rogowsky (on behalf of Legislator LaMotte), and the Committee on Community Affairs by Legislator Myers.

COD MEMBERS:
Chair: Vito Pinto. Members: Astorino, Rogowsky, Spreckman, Stewart-Cousins. Staff: Emilia.

TECHNOLOGY MEMBERS:
Chair: Rogowsky (on behalf of Legislator LaMotte). Members: Pinto.

COMMUNITY AFFAIRS MEMBERS:
Chair: Myers. Members: Astorino, Bronz, Alvarado. Staff: Dodds

BOL MEMBERS: Abinanti. GUESTS: Commissioners of the board of Elections: Carole Sunderland (R); Reginald Lafayette (D); Bill Randolph, CEO’s office. Allegra Dengler and members of Citizens for Voting Integrity.

NEW VOTING EQUIPMENT AND PROCEDURES OF ELECTION INSPECTORS:
After a brief recess from the joint meeting with the Committee on Legislation, the three committees continued discussions with the two Commissioners of Elections in relation to the new voting machine equipment for New York State and concerns of the policy and procedures of Election Inspectors.

The purpose of this meeting is to address the issue of recounting election ballots and ascertain that with the upcoming November elections, will the problems be resolved and before the budget is voted on, should Board members know of any additional funding for restructuring, remodeling or any personnel changes that need to be addressed.

Mr. Pinto asked if affidavits, absentee ballots, poll workers, and poll places in each community have the availability of a checklist and the appropriate knowledge to answer voter questions should they have problems with voting districts, proper address, and the proper polling place information. Is every community required to have this information and if not, can the public verify these questions.

Minutes submitted by: Emilia Vita
APPROVED: 7/11/05; ASC/MR; 5-0

Commissioner Sunderland replied that some municipalities have the proper information, some do not, but the County disburses all the information to the election districts, if that information is not distributed or misplaces, it may have to be addressed further when training begins. Each election district has a municipality map and each inspector is trained to answer most inquires and yes it is a problem in some districts, some use this tool, some do not and there is confusion with 4 or 5 tables in each polling places.

Commissioner Lafayette added that all Inspectors are trained that if address is in the district and the name is not in the book, they are instructed to provide an affidavit of ballot. If the address is not there, they do not give out the affidavit. Sometimes, the Inspectors take it upon themselves to give out the affidavit, and most voters demand to fill it out and there have been times elected officials have give “heat” to the inspectors to have them fill out. In case of such issues, the inspectors are to call their Town Hall or the board of Elections.

Voters have complained in crowded polling places, which some poll workers have no voters and just sit there and they feel they should be able to vote at those tables, but they are not registered and some argue with poll workers and then with the BOE. The County BOE does not pick poll workers, they have to be picked by each party, they can be either or, no affiliation with a party, just as long as they are a resident of Westchester County.

The W.C.BOE have suggested they branch out into colleges, senior centers, high school seniors to recruit. The law requires a poll worker to be 18year or older and a resident of Westchester County. W.C.BOE is not centralized and has no control, but the parties have to do or at least agree to have the BOE to be included with recruiting. Training is done in the spring and the fall, and the older workers are thinning out.

There is a reason for E.I.’s to be available all day because of these new problems, and they need to address the problems of that particular district, especially when address and streets are not clarified.

Legislator Spreckman suggests one Election Inspector be designated to direct voters to the proper polling table, answer questions of address and districts and someone to response to those who are new the voting system, especially non-English speaking voters.

Both Commissioner will bring these concerns to the BOE and will address them in the next training session. There is also the issue of budgetary funding for training and preparing a guide for such problems.

Several other issues were discussed, especially about the BOE being sued on various issues, handicapped accessible, municipalities pay salary of inspectors, any added person is on the municipality payroll, which poses problems for additional help. A resolution to these problems is to go to the parties and asked that these concerns be address promptly. The justice department was asked to work with the BOE, but no one wanted to get involved.

The Commissioners explained that there are 17 different pieces of papers to be posted at every single table, and they have been working on placing posters available at each polling place and instruct each inspector to affix these posters where it is accessible to the voters to acknowledge.

Legislator Myers was concerned with the recruiting of high school seniors and was not sure how they are willing to give up a whole day at the polls. The Commissioners mentioned that high school and college students will receive additional credits, and laws need to be changed to incorporate the age requirements and session time.

Legislator Alvarado stated his concern with the absence of “friendly” polling place, especially for new voters and new citizens of the County. He, as a voter, and elected official and constituents as well, are appalled at the treatment of new people. Commissioner Lafayette replied that it goes does to the local people, and he knows in District 17, there are no bi-lingual workers. Commissioner Sunderlee has mentioned this about this district and with many other district that they need to change workers around to accommodate these polling place, again, this is not under the control of the W.C.BOE.

The two Commissioners said that there are bills in both the Senate and Assembly that are addressing centralization of the BOE, and they will address this concern with the State Commission as well.

Legislator Stewart-Cousins clarified that if new legislation is created, most of these concerns can be addressed, and Commissioner Sunderlee said it can be done through individual counties or municipalities.

Legislator Pinto thanked the Commissioners of Elections for there time and expertise and asked them to come back to the committees for further question & answer sessions and to update us of any changes.

With no other business to discuss, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25 p.m., on the motion of Legislator Rogowsky, seconded by Legislator Stewart-Cousins.