THE BOARD OF ELECTIONS OF CHATHAM COUNTY  MINUTES August 12, 2024  In-Person Meeting / 11174 Eisenhower Drive, Suite FI Multipurpose room  BOARD MEMBERS:  Thomas J.) Mahoney Chairman Marianne Heimes Vice Chair: absent James Hall Trish) Brown Glynda Jones Billy Wooten, Director Shanta Scarboro, Deputy Director Pledge of Allegiance.  STAFF: CALLTOORDER: CHAIR. ADDRESS: MINUTES:  Mr. Mahoney called the meeting to order at 3:321 P.M., gave an) Invocation, and led the Mr. Mahoney welcomed everyone to the meeting and informed the Board that Ms.  Heimes would be absent due toi illness.  July 2024  Motion by Ms. Jones, seconded by! Mrs. Brown, that the Minutes oft the. July meeting be approved. There was no discussion, and thel Minutes were  unanimously approved.  FINANCIALI REPORT: July 2024  Mr. Wooten described the two types of financial reports provided fort the Board's review. One was for the full 20241 fiscal year and the other for. July, the first month oft the 2025 fiscal year. He reported that we ended the fiscal year having spent 98% of our total budget. While a few more expenditures may be posted in the coming weeks, he does not expect them to exceed the budget. Ms.. Jones asked about a charge for internet coverage that appears to be redundant. Mr. Wooten said that he andl Mrs. Scarboro have investigated this before and have been assured by our budget analyst that the charges are normal and only appear redundant. They are part ofa County contract through the Finance department and apply to every department. He agreed to contact Finance again luncheon for him last week and the job opening has been posted to the County website. Purchasing has chosen the new transportation vendor. Mr. Wooten said he has confidence that working witht them willl be a good experience, as they are professionals with many years int their field. Thel Purchasing department guides the process froms start to finish and will: set up the contract and closing meetings. The company will be responsible for providing transportation services for both Early Voting andl Election Early Voting starts on October 14. Voter Registration has not published thei information Wel have been using turnout numbers from 20161 toj predict the turnout for this election. The anomalies in the 2020 election cycle mean that thet turnout numbers from thaty year are not a reliable predictor. Voter Registration estimates that 40,000 voters will vote early. There are still no changes toj polling locations other than the new precinct7-17. Mr. Wooten and Sabrina German met with the County Chairman and the County manager to discuss security and crowd control for the November election.  for more information.  SUPERVISORSREFORT: Mr. Wooten informed the Board that Robert Carney has retired. The office hada a  Poll worker training willl begin in September.  Day.  flyer yet, butt they have told us there willl be six sites.  August 20241 Minutes  Page 1  OFFICIAL    Wev will need security at thel Elections office, especially when we: start absentee processing, and at our four check-in sites. We will further develop a plan with the chairman andi manager to ensure we have what we need. Thel Next] Board meeting will be on September 9 afterl Labor Day. Mrs. Brown asked how precincts 7-16 and 7-17 willl be separated at] Pooler Rec Center andi ifthey will enter through separate doors. Mr. Wooten replied that poll clerks willl be available outside to direct voters andt there willl be signs at the front of thep poll. Mrs. Brown suggested designating sides oft the parking lot to help with directing people as well.) Mr. Hall inquired ift thes staff had looked at the turnouti for the 20181 midterms as an indicator for the November election. Mr. Wooten replied that they had but pointed out that turnout for midterms tends to be much lower than for presidential elections. Mr. Hall also asked whether wes should expect long lines at the polls on Election Day. Mr. Wooten stated that he only anticipates them forming at opening and closing times. We are training poll workers to expect al line when they open thep poll and how to methodically move each voter through without panicking. Previous voting machines were old ands slow, which contributed tol long lines ini thej past. Ms.. Jones agreed, saying there was sO muchi manual documentation and work, which is now streamlined with the new machines. Mr. Hall pointed out that lines in 2020 were partially caused by poll workers being newly trained on new machines; Mr. Wooten added thatt the stress ofthe pandemic, elections being pushed back and combined, and absentee voting sharply increasing also contributed to thei issue. He remarked that poll workers want tol be busy and are happy with as steady flow of voters through the polls all day; hei is confident that  Election Day willl be successful.  OLDBUSINESS: NEW BUSINESS: PUBLICCOMMENT: ADJOURNMENT:  Thej public comment session began at 4:00. Mr. Mahoney adjourned the meeting at 4:01 PM.  August 2024 Minutes  OFFICIAL  Page2    9/9/2004 Daté Approved  Billy Wooten  Pp  Supervisor, Secretary to the Board E  S  Aswde  Notary Signature 110/o0t Date Notarized   Chair  " EXPIRES GEORGIA Febnuay 22, 2027 UBLIC AMCOUN  August 2024 Minutes  OFFICIAL  Page 3