Forsyth County Board of Voter Registrations & Elections October 11, 2022 Immediately Following the Regular Meeting at 9 a.m. Forsyth County Voter Registrations & Elections Office  Special Called Meeting 1201 Sawnee Drive Cumming, Georgia 30040  MINUTES  Present at the meeting: Barbara Luth, Chairman Joel Natt, Vice Chairman Carla Radzikinas, Secretary Dan Thalimer, Assistant Secretary Anita Tucker, Member Mandi Smith, Director Carol Balcome, Assistant to the Director Karen Pachuta, Attorney, Jarrard & Davis Frank Schneider, Challenger  I.  Call Meeting to Order  Chairman Luth called the meeting to order at 10 a.m.  II. Pledge of Allegiance III. Adoption of Agenda  Vice Chairman Natt with a second from Secretary Radzikinas made a motion to adopt the agenda as prepared by staff. Motion carried unanimously. Vice Chairman Natt with a second from Secretary Radzikinas made a motion to add to the agenda New Business B-J Jeff Tormey challenge. Motion carried unanimously. Vice Chairman Natt with a second from Assistant Secretary Thalimer made a motion  to adopt the agenda as amended. Motion carried unanimously.  IV. New Business  A. Hear challenges to the qualifications of voters and their eligibility to vote in the November 8, 2022 General Election pursuant to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated 21-2-230(a)- - 10.7.2022 Schneider Challenge Member Tucker asked Mr. Schneider if he knew ifMr. Tormey submitted the exact same challenge. Mr. Schneider said he was responsible for his challenge  and could not speak on behalf of Mr. Tormey.    Chairman Luth stated 15,787 voters have been challenged based on the determination and action by the U.S. Post Office to be unmailable - meaning that either the address or the ability to reach this person at this address is not valid. Chairman Luth said the Secretary of State's Office had sent out NCOA notices this year. Director Smith stated the Secretary of State's Office had sent out Chairman Luth asked Mr. Schneider if he had any other evidence for the challenge. Mr. Schneider said this is a section 230 challenge and noted the Post Office flagged either the address or the individual indicating the address as not Member Tucker asked Mr. Schneider if he used the true NCOA to generate this this challenge. Mr. Schneider said yes. Member Tucker said the dictionary does not include the voter status sO she assumes there was database matching that happened to include that column. Mr. Schneider said that was correct. Member Tucker asked Mr. Schneider if he used the voter registration list from the Secretary of State. Mr. Schneider said it was a list from September 1, 2022. Member Tucker asked Mr. Schneider if the list used was for non-profits and companies to keep their mailing list up to date. Mr. Schneider said Member Tucker had identified one use, but he said the list could be used for many  several rounds of confirmation notices this year.  deliverable.  different functions such as this one.  Member Tucker said she sorted the list and 868 names were in different counties that are not under our jurisdiction. Mr. Schneider said all the names on the list were Forsyth County registered voters. Member Tucker said the was one non- valid address on your list because the apartment number was different. Member Tucker said 480 names were invalid and 15306 names that were valid. She said under the non-valid addresses they were generally flagged due to an incorrect Member Tucker said in the Ben Hill County case the court ruled the 21-2-230 challenge violated the National Voting Rights Act (NVRA) requirements to conduct individualized inquiries required for challenges, the NCOA data was insufficient for this case and the NVRA, the date for this challenge was unverified, had flaws and unknown as to its reliability. She said the case said no evidence was presented that was right or accurate, nothing in the evidence had established probable cause that the voters can not change their address for Member Tucker said as in the Ben Hill case these challenges were submitted less than a month before the general election and there is no evidence the Election's Office received written confirmation from any of these voters of a Member Tucker said in the Ben Hill case the judge found no distinction between a 229 and a 230 challenge because the outcome of the challenge is the same  binary number, misspelling or missing street directions.  permissible reasons or that their address were wrong.  change of address.    result - 90 days within an election. She said the true NCOA is a tool used by companies and non-profits looking for accurate mailing lists. Member Tucker said errors in the U.S.P.S. database are abundant and do notj justify an added burden Member Tucker with a second from Assistant Secretary Thalimer made a motion to dismiss the challenge of 15,787 voters based on everything she said. Vice Chairman Natt asked Mr. Schneider if he had filtered for possible college Vice Chairman Natt asked Mr. Schneider if he had done any other research like check the tax rolls to see ifi it is the current address or the projected address. Mr. Schneider said when comparing the U.S.P.S. data against our voter rolls that is Vice Chairman Natt asked Mr. Schneider if any of the names are in Clarke County. Mr. Schneider said not that he was aware. Member Tucker said she did a sort and there were no voters from Clarke County. Vice Chairman Natt asked Mr. Schneider if any of the names were from out of state. Mr. Schneider said not Chairman Luth called the question to dismiss from the challenge of 15,787 voters Vice Chairman Natt said he had an objection to Member Tucker's motion. Vice Chairman Natt said the law says you can challenge a voter up until Election Day. He said the Ben Hill case was from the runoff from 2020 and that decision was for the 2021 runoff and not in perpetuity. Vice Chairman Natt doesn'tf feel Member Tucker's motion is most appropriate for adoption in how it's phrased.  to voters.  students or the military? Mr. Schneider said neither one.  the output from the 230 challenge.  that he recalls.  due to unreliable evidence and within 90 days of an election.  Member Tucker restated the reasons listed in her motion.  Secretary Radzikinas said she agreed with a lot of what Member Tucker said but Vice Chairman Natt said he cannot support the motion in its current format. He said the problem is the motion is basically hand-tying all future actions of this body for the next 30 days saying we will not hear a challenge to any voter's eligibility because it is less than 90 days before an election. Vice Chairman Natt said this law for the right to challenge was not touched in Senate Bill 202 and Ben Hill happened before Senate Bill 202 so it is federal law. He said the motion Chairman Luth with a second from Assistant Secretary Thalimer made a motion to exclude the 90-day feature from the motion but include the other points presented by Member Tucker. Motion carried unanimously.  not on the issue of tying it to the 90 days.  has to be amended or we vote down this motion.    Vice Chairman Natt asked what the motion would read after it was amended. Member Tucker read her previous reasons for her motion to dismiss. Vice Chairman Natt said a 229 and a 230 are not the same thing. He said a 229 strikes a voter from the rolls and a 230 places the voter in a challenged state. Vice Chairman Natt said the voter can answer the challenge and still cast a ballot. He said this motion as a whole needs to be written and simplified. Vice Chairman Natt said it should be a motion to dismiss based on the only material used has not been vetted or validated but simply a NCOA database. Member Tucker asked Attorney Pachuta to weigh in on the Ben Hill ruling from the judge that said a 229 and a 230 were the same because the end result would be a burden on the voter. Attorney Pachuta said that was a temporary injunction. She said part of the National Voting Rights Act is that closer you are to the election the more you sure you need to be of your decisions and disentranchising any voter. Attorney Pachuta said this is why at that time they put in you need to have a more individualized inquiry into data and whether there is probable cause on each voter and that had not been done in that case. She said she would just suggest in this case you cannot do that with 15,000 voters unless you want to be here 24 hours a day for the next several weeks. Attorney Pachuta said the closer you are to an election you need to have probable cause for each voter being Mr. Schneider asked Member Tucker to read again the criteria for the motion to dismiss. Member Tucker restated the reasons listed in her motion. Member Tucker asked Attorney Pachuta to expand on the reasons discussed. Attorney Pachuta said you need to find whether there is probable cause based on the information the challenger has provided you. She said there is no need for The original motion as amended failed with Chairman Luth, Vice Chairman Natt Vice Chairman Natt said there are 16 voters on the list in Florida and several are Chairman Luth with a second from Assistant Secretary Thalimer made a motion to the dismiss the challenge of 15,787 voters based on the fact there is no probable cause and there are flaws in the U.S.P.S. mailing and there isn't  challenged.  ac complicated motion.  and Secretary Radzikinas opposed.  in Sarasota.  enough evidence. Motion carried unanimously.  Added Item:  B.H Hear challenges to the qualifications of voters and their eligibility to vote in the November 8, 2022 General Election pursuant to the Official Code of Georgia Annotated 21-2-230(a) = 10.10.2022 Tormey Challenge    Vice Chairman Natt asked Director Smith if the file was the same as Mr. Schneider's. Director Smith emailed the file to the Board. Vice Chairman Natt said it appears to be the same records based on the number of data fields. Chairman Luth with a second from Member Tucker made a motion to dismiss the challenge of 15,787 voters because there is no probable cause and no further  evidence. Motion carried unanimously.  V. Adjournment  Vice Chairman Natt with a second from Assistant Secretary Thalimer made a motion  to adjourn at 10:41 a.m. Motion carried unanimously.  The above and foregoing minutes are hereby certified as being correct and ordered recorded.  Today's Date:  November 1, 2022  Ball Barbara Luth, Chairman JoelE. Natt, Vice'Chairman R Cilaliigibne Carla Radzikinas, Secretary  PIBIe Daniel Thalimer, Assistant Secretary Dkb Tucbes Anita Tucker, Member