Peoria County Election Commission Observer Report

Annual Meeting of the Peoria County Board of Election Commissioners on August 16, 2019 included Chief Judge Paul Gilfillan swearing in Mark Ketterer and Sandra Burke. Election of Commission Officers included Matt Bartolo Chair, Mark Ketterer Vice Chair, Sandra Burke Secretary, LaColis Reed Treasurer, and James Manning Commissioner. Reed’s term ends 2020. Bartolo and Manning’s terms end 2021. Ketterer and Burke’s terms end in 2022. The Chief Judge appoints the commissioners and considers political party affiliation as part of the appointments.
Executive Director Bride discussed the additional security measures (cameras and security badge additions) installed recently with grant money. Training videos for election judges are being done professionally. Budget was approved to be sent to Peoria County. (Notes: Building rental was up $9500 due to real estate tax dispute. Lease is 15 year with 5 year bump if desired. Software and maintenance contract includes vendors in town for elections. All staff qualified for the County’s longevity (5 year) bonus this year. Election related costs are up because 2020 is a presidential election year.)

​The County will write software regarding scanning ballot signatures. The Commission anticipates 15,000-20,000 vote-by-mail ballots and the existing vote-by-mail ballot includes inner and outer sealed envelopes. They are trying to change for efficiency since that type of voting is popular, but to still maintain total confidentiality.
Next meeting will be Tuesday, Sept 10 at 2pm.
Responses to public questions:

• Number of polling places will stay the same. Reductions had been made 2 years ago.
• Discussion about sending out new Voter Registration cards which is called “purging.” This is mandated by the National Voter Registration Act (federal rule) every 2 years. Cards are sent to currently registered people in Peoria County. The Post Office is supposed to return any if the address is wrong. They discussed positives with this process. Comment was made that it seems like “voter suppression” but good to have the explanation.
• Regarding polling locations, most are free – as a community service. If paid, it is $50-60.
•  Suggestion was made about having a drop-off slot for mail-in ballots. That seemed to be a security issue, although noting that the State of Oregon uses all mail-in or drop off voting.

Cheryl Budzinski, Observer, substituting for Irene Pritzker