[0:07] room if you or you know somebody
can serve I
[0:28] so
um here's one of my elected classes
[0:33] for everything
[0:41] I don't think that this process is going
to take place before the gubernatorial
[0:45] election
[0:50] do I
I feel like this will be rolled out in
[0:54] phases where it won't empty implemented
Statewide yes
[1:17] the warehouse technicians
[1:21] when the legislative orders came in and
said we're oriented
[1:49] so we
[1:57] is that
[2:00] what what could happen
[2:07] to
[2:10] people
[2:15] are going to have to continue around
people now
[2:18] and
[2:45] foreign
[Music]
[2:49] States
[2:54] hold on I'm connected
you're seeing that firsthand on the news
[3:00] right now
[Music]
[3:01] um
[3:08] we have so many controls like I said in
place around our elections so many
[3:12] checks and balances so many audits that
we do leading up to our election and
[3:18] then afterwards and with the help of the
board and the cooperation with our ROV
[3:26] we don't have problems we're extremely
transparent and I'm a thousand percent
[3:31] about voter integrity and voter
transparency
[3:36] but I really think that we're going to
have some serious problems around paper
[3:39] ballots we live in Southern Louisiana we
deal with humidity and those of you that
[3:45] have worked in an office you know what
happens when paper is exposed to
[3:49] humidity and when it's in a printer or
when it's in a fax machine what happens
[3:54] it's going to jam
so what's going to happen on a Precinct
[3:58] level when that ballot jams either
printing out your Ballot or more
[4:04] importantly what's going to happen when
that ballot that you just hand marked
[4:08] you're putting the scanner and it jams
somebody's going to have to unjam it and
[4:13] it's going to be a commissioner and you
all know somebody in here that if they
[4:18] saw the way Gail voted they would be
talking about it at church Sunday
[4:22] morning
they would
[4:27] but let me take it a step further nobody
reads instructions
[4:34] we deal with that when we're processing
the absentee ballots and it tells you to
[4:40] fill in the dot completely or it tells
you only make one selection or for the
[4:47] Abita Alderman's race they was to select
five well they were selecting six and
[4:53] seven
[4:55] sometimes they will put a check or an X
instead of circling it sometimes they
[5:01] will write not this one and draw a line
to who they want to to vote for
[5:07] sometimes they'll even have their own
commentary about what they think of the
[5:10] candidate on the ballot and and they let
us know
[5:15] um
so when that happens when we're
[5:18] processing those ballots
the board has to adjudicate it because
[5:23] the scanner kicks it out because there's
marks on that ballot on in areas where
[5:29] there shouldn't be marks and the scanner
picks it up so the board all five of us
[5:34] and the board consists of the register
of voter the governor appointee which is
[5:39] Gail a representative from DPAC a
representative from rpac and myself all
[5:44] five of us have to agree what that
voter's intention was yes they raced it
[5:50] it's still showing a little bit of of
Mark on it but this circle is really
[5:55] really dark so we we can all agree on
what their intent is especially if they
[5:59] draw a line and say no this one okay
but what if they do that on a Precinct
[6:05] level
it's going to kick it out
[6:09] what is the adjudication process on a
Precinct level
[6:13] and the secrecy of your ballot I really
feel is going to be compromised
[6:20] so how is that going to be adjudicated
on a Precinct level I have no idea
[6:25] so if you're talking about 141
000 voters that voted in a presidential
[6:31] election in person
and take that plus the absentee ballots
[6:37] times that by three pages
that's how many pieces of paper we're
[6:42] going to be dealing with on Election Day
now let me let me explain this to you
[6:47] whatever Baton Rouge decides
and whatever they decide is our election
[6:53] process Johnny Crane and I are going to
be charged with implementing that we're
[6:59] going to be champions of this process
and we're going to lead the rest of the
[7:03] state with the way that we do it because
Johnny Crane and I share the same I.T
[7:07] person from the secretary of state so we
get it right
[7:14] but that's not gonna you know be the
case
[7:17] I'm very concerned about the direction
that our process is going and the other
[7:23] part that is very concerning is that
I've spoken to so many representatives
[7:27] about this
and they totally did not understand what
[7:31] they voted on
they go no this hadn't been decided yet
[7:35] oh yes it is the governor's already
signed it this went in effect in 2021.
[7:42] Gail has spoken to several
representatives and this isn't a
[7:46] political party issue this is our
Democratic issue this is going to affect
[7:52] all of us
and we need to be aware of the security
[7:57] the accuracy of our elections and it's
not about how fast we're getting the
[8:03] results in it's about the accuracy of
the results that we're getting in
[8:08] again you got anything you want to add
[8:20] Melissa is 100 correct when she said
accuracy is what it's all about this uh
[8:27] last election
we were short one ballot
[8:33] and we know exactly how many we need
this is with the mail-in ballots and we
[8:40] searched and searched and searched and
we found the one ballot before we run
[8:48] our ballots through a scanner we put
them in groups of 50. somebody hand
[8:53] counts 50 ballots we open them they go
through the scanner one of the stacks
[8:59] had 51 in it and it was near the end of
three large cases
[9:07] of ballots and you know we don't leave
we know that that's what we have to do
[9:18] we had to implement some emergency
procedures with the way that we're
[9:23] processing things and they changed the
law to allow parishes that if you
[9:27] received over 5 000 absentee mail-in
ballot you could start prepping those
[9:33] ballots the day before and what we mean
by that is that we have a list of
[9:38] everyone that's turned in an absentee
ballot so we're checking off to make
[9:43] sure we have every ballot in hand for
every person's name that's on the list
[9:48] then we are removing the affidavit
separating the affidavit that's on the
[9:54] envelope we're never opening the
envelope because we can't tabulate votes
[9:57] until election day
so we're grouping these envelopes in 50
[10:03] and we're double checking everything and
we were sharp one before and this was
[10:08] the day before and we recounted
um Gail's been there with me on Election
[10:13] night and
there was a a stack of envelopes that
[10:19] accidentally got put in the trash
and I was furious and I made them rescan
[10:26] all of the ballots we were still short
and I looked at Gail and you could have
[10:30] heard a pin drop because I was Furious I
dumped all the bags of trash out in the
[10:35] middle of the misdemeanor courtroom and
sat on the floor everybody else followed
[10:39] suit and we found them they were just
there was yeah you were there
[10:45] Daryl was there so we account for
everything we dot our eyes and we cross
[10:51] our T's
[10:54] I I don't know how this is going to work
I don't know
[10:59] um
Donnie do you have anything you'd like
[11:01] to add
[11:14] thank y'all I'm glad to be here Melissa
does a great job if it Saint Tammany
[11:19] actually she takes the role of
throughout the state of when something
[11:26] is implemented or something needs to be
done they call on Saint Tammany and I'm
[11:31] fortunate enough Washington we share the
same people that work with both of us
[11:35] but my parents and we're not quite fifty
thousand we have the same issues we have
[11:41] the same issues the county we had same
issues with commissioners
[11:45] my staff about half of them had to work
as Commissioners especially at 5 30 in
[11:52] the morning when you get phone calls
that this commissioner couldn't show up
[11:55] or this one's got the flu and we're
trying to send them all over the parish
[11:59] so it is a it is a big issue that we
have now me and her both and all the
[12:06] clerks in the in the state whatever the
Secretary of State or whatever they give
[12:11] us to run we're going to do it to the
best of our ability I want to assure you
[12:15] of that but
before we get out there and get
[12:19] something that we know is needs to be
fixed we need to get it right the first
[12:23] time and not and so we're trying
um to sometimes you don't understand
[12:29] what we go through in election uh day or
election cycle or that night and that's
[12:36] what we're just trying to point out
about how the Commissioners are and
[12:40] what's going to happen that night and
what's going to happen with paper
[12:42] ballots one of them told me he said you
mean people don't put a circle into I
[12:47] said you ought to see what's wrote on
there you ought to see we see it we go
[12:51] through them now my Parish we used to
when I was elected clerk in 2012 at six
[12:57] o'clock we got there by eight o'clock we
had the early votes counted
[13:01] ready to go on a thing
now it was 1 30 we had to be there and
[13:07] we got through it a quarter to eight
we had right at uh
[13:12] 870 something early votes we didn't
quite have enough to to do it the day
[13:17] before but it's the same thing and when
we're running the election and we're
[13:22] having to go and people are calling Mr
Crane so and so is this at the fire
[13:26] station and and this is going on we're
locked up in a room counting boats so
[13:32] it's kind of uh you come where's the
clerk at well we're part of the ones so
[13:37] it takes away from us too but in my
Parish
[13:41] probably a third of my precincts are in
a fire station I got to be I'm riding
[13:46] around on Friday for a Saturday election
make sure the fire trucks pulled out and
[13:51] I'm riding around making sure we've
thrown uh uh the stuff on the floor so
[13:55] the oil I'm not but that's where we vote
now you imagine with paper ballots
[14:01] us trying to make sure that that they
stay and they're able to be scanned
[14:07] I'm not against an audit Trail and and
neither is Melissa we're not against
[14:12] that but there's machines out there you
can take a piece of paper and stick it
[14:15] in there and that machine will tell you
who you voted for you look at it and
[14:20] that's what you got you hit submit it
votes goes in a lock box and it's locked
[14:25] their stuff out there is what we're
trying to say is what we're trying to
[14:30] get our legislation and our secretary of
state to look at and without Melissa
[14:38] doing what she does I don't know look
I'm in I've got her coming to my Parish
[14:43] in January to speak because it isn't an
issue but it's an issue that everybody
[14:49] needs to be aware of now if y'all tell
us y'all want paper ballots guess what
[14:54] we're going to be the first ones out
there doing the best we can with them so
[14:58] but I just want to say what you're
saying we have the same issues in our
[15:02] small Parish we have the same thing and
we just asked to take a look if we're
[15:07] going to wait till after the governor's
race or we're going to wait a year let's
[15:11] take a look at what's best for the
people of Louisiana let's take a look
[15:15] when Saturday at 12 o'clock Saturday
night all our results are in we're not
[15:22] sitting there waiting on somebody to
drop something off we're not sitting
[15:26] there in our ballots to get a mail-in
ballots you've got to ask for it ahead
[15:29] of time so we know who sent a mail in
ballot and we know who's who sent it in
[15:35] to vote and that day on the precinct
register we've got they voted by mail we
[15:41] know that Louisiana we may be down on
some things but in elections we're at
[15:46] the top and so make sure y'all
kind of
[15:57] are you connected to the machines that
we currently have we would rank first or
[16:01] second in the nation and you all know
that we don't ever
[16:06] would live in our country
but we do lead our country in our
[16:11] elections
um you know going back talking about
[16:14] fire stations we don't control
thermostats in any of our precincts we
[16:18] have precincts in St Tammany that
there's no air and heat in the precinct
[16:23] and when you walk into these precincts
the condensation is coming down the
[16:29] windows it's on the floors we're trying
to to mop things up to make sure no one
[16:33] Falls and you can just feel it in the
air the AC or the heater kicks on at a
[16:39] certain time and then the afternoon it
kicks off and then we're dealing with
[16:42] the condensation because our polls are
open till 8 pm
[16:46] so there's a lot of elements and we
still have neighboring parishes that are
[16:51] still dealing with the aftermath of
hurricanes and they're conducting their
[16:57] elections intense and have porta potties
and FYI Somebody went into a porta potty
[17:04] and there was a water moccasin in the
porta potty so I mean can you
[17:10] you know I would be done
um
[17:13] so those are the challenges that we're
facing and I I welcome anybody to if you
[17:21] want to come to my office I have been
hosting meetings
[17:25] where I give you behind the scene chore
A to Z of how the election starts
[17:31] how we secure our machines and how
they're locked and programmed to what
[17:36] happens on Election Day and election
night and I've had all different kinds
[17:41] of
Civic groups political groups come and
[17:45] just call me and say hey I'd like my
group to come because I'm wanting to
[17:50] debunk the conspiracy theories okay yes
ma'am
[17:57] because our machines are not connected
to the internet
[18:01] okay they're not connected to the
internet in any way shape or form and
[18:06] the machines that we have are like
pre-cell phone age
[18:11] there they were purchased Johnny like in
94 92 something like that
[18:18] they're old and that's why we need new
machines because the parts are almost
[18:23] impossible to find we're having to
gingerly handle them and make sure that
[18:29] they're not being banged around and
people aren't running them through
[18:33] gravel to get them from the Draymond
truck into the precinct so there's a lot
[18:38] of different things you know that we are
trying to contend to keep these machines
[18:42] going
I want to say um
[18:47] I did meet with Larry Freeman who is our
representative here in Abita Springs and
[18:53] while he was sociable with me you know
he was very personable
[18:59] he is worried about himself politically
and I asked him you know I said
[19:07] sometimes you have to do the right thing
and not what's going to help you
[19:12] politically and you know I mean he he
smiled at me
[19:16] but I invited him as I know Melissa has
done other Representatives I invited him
[19:22] to come sit with us and watch the
process because a lot of times our our
[19:27] legislators
they just skim a bill
[19:32] they don't really know and I'm I'm
saying this they don't really know the
[19:38] all the bits and pieces and parts that
it takes to make something work
[19:43] so that's what's frustrating for me when
I'm sitting there and I hear what's
[19:49] happening and I know that these people
are our
[19:55] clueless in the most complementary of
ways
[20:00] you know but um
I would suggest
[20:06] that you tell your friends and your
family what we're going to be seeing
[20:10] here if if this bill is not amended and
it can be amended and that's what I'm
[20:17] trying to do I have a meeting December
5th with a state senator McMath and Beth
[20:25] Mizell and I you know I don't know if
they're going to pay attention to me or
[20:29] not but I'd go sit with my paperwork and
I do know what I'm talking about I've
[20:34] been doing this long enough now
so that's what I would hope that if you
[20:39] know if you understand if you have an
open mind and you see that we don't have
[20:44] a problem we're trying to fix a problem
we don't have please do something about
[20:49] it just don't sit and think well this is
what I'm going to have to deal with let
[20:55] them hear your voices even though they
might not be apt to amend the law they
[21:01] don't like hearing from us all the time
either
[21:04] you know and we we know that we
we're very vocal in this area I'm
[21:09] looking at Stuart because he's the most
vocal person in Abita
[21:14] but um I want to if you have any
questions to anybody have any questions
[21:20] okay come up here
[Music]
[21:26] in my mind the accuracy issue is very
top priority but how much time do you
[21:32] anticipate that this system will
increase the amount of time to vote
[21:37] whereas some people may just say okay
I'm not waiting anymore I mean that's a
[21:41] concern as well correct as far as
[21:46] so like I mentioned earlier we don't
have a voter registration problem we
[21:51] turn out problem and we have long lines
as it is on big elections Tuesday we had
[21:58] some precincts that had really long
lines because everybody was Voting which
[22:02] was great
we don't want to disenfranchise our
[22:05] voters when they show up and they go oh
my gosh
[22:08] look how long this line is and then you
saw where we had eight Constitutional
[22:13] Amendments well we unfortunately we have
people that don't know
[22:18] how they're going to vote on the
Constitutional Amendments and they wait
[22:21] until they get into the booth to read it
and then make a decision okay
[22:26] so if we have these little stations
where they're hand marking the ballots
[22:31] they're going to stand there and they're
going to read it which is going to take
[22:36] up stations for people to be able to
move through the line
[22:41] I'm concerned it's going to promote
longer lines I don't want anybody to
[22:46] think that the clerks are against this
because it's going to cause more work
[22:51] for us because if the clerks were
worried about too much work we wouldn't
[22:56] be clerks to begin with because we work
hard okay
[23:00] it has nothing to do with that
you elected me to be your Clerk and I am
[23:05] the chief elections commissioner for
this parish and I feel responsible and
[23:09] obligated to let you know what's coming
down the pike because you all know that
[23:14] if you'd walk into a Precinct and you
hadn't heard me talk about this and
[23:19] somebody hands you a ballot you're going
to go what is this
[23:22] and then my phone's going to be blowing
up
[23:25] wanting to know how come nobody told me
when did this happen
[23:31] and why wasn't the public notified
the reaction that I've gotten from you
[23:35] tonight is the same reaction that I've
gotten in front of every group that I've
[23:39] spoken to
you're not hearing this about on the
[23:43] news you're not hearing this in the
newspaper you're not even hearing this
[23:47] well you're hearing it some from the
people that are wanting the hand marked
[23:52] Hand counted paper ballots because
they're touting a conspiracy theory you
[23:56] know they're touting they had someone do
a report
[24:00] and you all know that you can run a
report and do statistics with algorithms
[24:05] and you can manipulate that right well
they're showing that there's always a
[24:10] spike in voter registration before
presidential election and then there's a
[24:14] decline well that's like that after
every
[24:18] winner and every summer we clean up the
rolls that's a normal cycle but that's
[24:24] the frustrating part is that people are
only telling you half truths
[24:29] and because they're only telling you
half truths people are going well then
[24:33] that must be true because it's on the
internet
[24:35] we have so many people since the 2020
presidential elections that's YouTube
[24:40] certified it blows my mind
[24:45] get the facts ask the questions
[24:51] Liz come up
you have to I'm sorry
[25:02] What specifically can we do to prevent
this from happening
[25:10] so right now if you feel passionate
about anything I've shared with you
[25:15] please contact your representatives
because the only way that we can change
[25:20] what's happening is for this bill to be
amended
[25:29] oh you look good
so I have a question so the electorate
[25:33] is getting younger and Because unless
you're over 65 you can't vote by mail
[25:38] right so you you know
[25:48] you're just gonna be working out of town
my point is is that you're going to
[25:53] start getting more and more of these
ballots that have to be done on Election
[25:57] Day because that's the only time they
can vote or early voting but they're
[26:01] going to have to vote in person so this
problem you're having is going to
[26:05] continue to increase you know the
quantity we're all dying off sorry but
[26:09] you know there's a lot of young folks
who are very active want to vote give a
[26:13] damn and so your problem is going to get
worse anything working on that side of
[26:16] the legislature
[26:24] uh I have a question with regard to the
problem with paper ballots I can see how
[26:29] much of a problem it is but is the
problem with the election day paper
[26:34] ballots or the uh in advance uh vote by
mail because I really like the concept
[26:41] of voting by mail and it seems like if
they gave you more time or did some
[26:46] other tweet to it that might be okay
whereas you can't fix fire stations and
[26:51] whatnot and for the day by uh on the day
paper ballots
[27:01] that means that we're going to have to
start prepping the ballots more than one
[27:06] day in advance and we did that for the
presidential election we started I think
[27:10] three days three days ahead of the
election we were prepping ballots
[27:15] and preparing for that and on Election
Day we scanned all of those ballots on
[27:21] Election Day because the law says we
cannot start tabulating until election
[27:25] day now other states they actually start
scanning those ballots weeks before the
[27:32] election because they are all paper
ballot state
[27:38] yeah but I mean
you want to talk about opening yourself
[27:42] up for fraud
[27:48] is one other one other question is uh
can what you're looking for
[27:52] Commissioners can people are running for
office be Commissioners and what are the
[27:56] limit
so could they do the tax selections or
[28:00] something like that that are in between
the
[28:03] so so it's only the specific elections
that they're on the ballot for that they
[28:07] can't be
if you decide not to run you can be a
[28:12] commissioner
you too could be a commissioner
[28:19] any any other questions
[28:25] and you may not know this but we have a
paper shortage
[28:29] I am limited to the amount of paper that
I can order at one time so instead of me
[28:34] making an order once a month now we're
placing orders every week just so that
[28:40] we can make sure we don't run out of
paper
[28:44] any other questions
[28:53] hi I'm a poll commissioner and I've been
working for a couple of years doing this
[28:59] and I just want to commend Melissa and
everyone else and reassure you I tell
[29:08] all my friends that there is no way we
could have any kind of voter fraud in
[29:17] Saint Tammany Parish I don't know I
can't speak to other parishes but I've
[29:23] been working enough elections to tell
you we've got double books with the
[29:30] registered voters names if someone wants
to come in and they're not on our book
[29:35] we've got the go vote app we can say oh
well you're not in this Precinct that's
[29:40] that's why you're not here you need to
go to that table and vote or yes look
[29:46] your mother already voted she vote it
says on there voted early and I strongly
[29:53] encourage as many of you to vote early
if you can so you don't have to wait in
[30:00] long lines It also says if they voted by
mail it also says if a person needs
[30:07] assist sentence because we do have
handicapped elderly people who show up
[30:15] with their children their adult children
and say my mom wants to vote and
[30:21] sometimes they have difficulty reading
so they have the ability to have someone
[30:28] help them and that's listed in there
we have so many ways to keep voter
[30:39] Integrity in this parish and it just
devastates me to think that that is now
[30:49] in Jeopardy and I had read an article
prior to the November election that said
[30:56] we were going to have paper ballots and
I freaked out thinking oh my God we're
[31:01] going to have paper ballots in this
November election and no we didn't but
[31:05] when I mentioned it to other other poll
Commissioners they didn't know what I
[31:11] was talking about a lot of them were
like what paper ballots what do you mean
[31:16] they kind of thought I was nuts it's
like we don't we don't need paper we're
[31:21] not going to have paper balance I read
an article it says it's coming and
[31:26] frankly I'm a retired teacher I don't
know if any of you know what a Scantron
[31:31] test is but I can tell you just from
doing a 50 question multiple choice test
[31:42] so many errors so many problems where
erasures or seriously I will go back and
[31:52] recheck it and the Machine counted
something wrong when they had the right
[31:57] answer or they counted it right when
they had the wrong answer that kind of
[32:02] thing I mean it's a machine on a paper
ballot there's so much room for error
[32:10] there really is it can get wrinkled it
can get bent they're supposed to use a
[32:14] number two pencil they decide to use a
black pen or a red pen or all of that so
[32:21] I seriously seriously want to urge
anyone here to volunteer to be a poll
[32:30] commissioner it is it's a long long day
a very long day
[32:38] uh we had we had to be there at 5 30 in
the morning and we didn't leave till a
[32:46] little after 8 30 because you have to
you have to get there early to set up
[32:51] the machines and there's a whole lot of
stuff you have to pull out and set up
[32:58] and post signs everywhere and you got to
be ready and then after they finally
[33:05] announced the polls are closed
everybody's like yes only then can you
[33:12] start taking anything down start
dismantling you're not allowed to just
[33:17] say could y'all hurry up and vote we
need to turn off this machine now no no
[33:21] and now I know we have extended the
amount of time that you're allowed to be
[33:28] in the booth to six minutes
but it took a lot of people that full
[33:36] six minutes or a little more because
you're right they didn't read the
[33:42] Amendments or you're right they don't
understand how to vote properly one man
[33:48] he said I don't understand why why can't
I vote on the other stuff and what he
[33:53] had done he had pushed the button to
cast your ballot on the first screen he
[34:01] thought you had to push cast your ballot
and then it would go to the next screen
[34:05] cast your ballot and it would go no you
don't push that until you're through
[34:10] voting on everything and this guy was so
upset because but I only got to vote on
[34:15] the first thing it's like yeah I'm sorry
we can't open it up we can't let you
[34:20] vote again I am
[34:24] I know but seriously I have to tell you
even in the most contentious
[34:33] presidential election that we had in
2020
[34:38] everyone in line was so polite and with
covid with the masks and standing far
[34:49] apart
everyone we did not have fighting
[34:56] pushing anger everyone
was so well behaved I was so proud so
[35:06] proud that I could be a witness to see a
fair free
[35:12] well-organized well-done election people
really are good citizens and a lot of
[35:20] them bring their children with them so
and I always tell them your mom your dad
[35:27] is a really good citizen because they
came out to vote and you're going to
[35:32] grow up to be a voter too and that's
what they need to hear that's what they
[35:38] need to see and if you feel at all a
spark of wanting to help not just our
[35:48] Parish but our country really have a a
well-run election not where there's all
[35:58] this craziness that people are spouting
because you're a witness you're there
[36:03] you can testify that doesn't happen
where I'm at and I tell you this paper
[36:11] thing if we don't get some kind of
change or amendment to that I know it
[36:20] sounds good people are going to go no we
need a paper trail no we don't those
[36:25] machines are so accurate they give you a
paper trail in effect you get a printout
[36:32] every machine in quadruple gives you a
printout we know exactly how many people
[36:40] voted on that machine and we know
because we've got the tally of the
[36:46] machines and it matches with the voter
signatures there's it just is such an
[36:53] effective and efficient method and it
kills me to think we're going to have to
[36:59] do something different so really I urge
you to sign up and spread the word that
[37:05] paper ballots are going to be a disaster
thank you Annie do you need a recruiter
[37:12] [Laughter]
[37:21] to where if somebody challenges an
election we can go into that device open
[37:26] up and we can manually hand count or
rescan those paper receipts of how you
[37:34] voted now remember
we can't use a receipt like you get at
[37:38] the grocery store because it's thermal
paper and what happens when that gets
[37:42] exposed to the sign it turns black or if
it gets wet it turns black we have to be
[37:47] able to retain those records for several
years by law we have to retain it so we
[37:53] we need that auditable paper trail
that's just going to give us a whole
[37:56] other additional level of transparency
and confidence for everyone with our
[38:03] election
you may be you maybe said this but I was
[38:08] just wondering if the current machines
we have could be modified to print
[38:15] yeah I I heard you say
[38:25] anybody else
[38:40] we want to ask that for this to be
amended but when we say we want it to be
[38:45] amended what do we want it to be amended
to do
[38:53] but does that mean a paper scan even a
paper ballot that can be scanned or we
[38:59] want we want machines like
we just need new machines
[39:05] yeah the
[39:09] right there are there are machines out
there that you work similarly to the
[39:15] machines we have now but they create a
paper trail that goes into a locked box
[39:22] that can be accessed if need be at a
later time but you operate the machines
[39:28] very similar to what we do now but what
the amendment
[39:34] that's in there that we need changed
even our early voting machines will have
[39:39] to be changed too because they don't
have paper ballots
[39:43] so
right
[39:50] that would roll into a sealed container
that it's not a thermal paper it has to
[39:56] be an archival paper that we can
maintain
[40:01] um
[40:05] anybody else
Stewart
[40:11] since you're running out of questions
I've got one that that's my own uh
[40:15] personal favorite is now we have two
states that have uh elections where you
[40:21] have rant choice and I was wondering
what's your perspective on that would
[40:25] that have would that have to would that
make your job too hard to do and how are
[40:31] they doing in Alaska do they have paper
ballots or do they have fancy machines
[40:36] expert on other states elections but I
will tell you that we do have where you
[40:43] have to select you know multiple people
to
[40:47] um in the paper ballots but
some people think that when you have to
[40:52] make okay I need to select three that
they're saying okay this is my first
[40:57] choice this is my second choice it's my
third choice they even do that in areas
[41:02] on the ballot where you only are
supposed to select one but they're
[41:05] telling you this is my first choice this
is my second choice
[41:10] so like I said
[41:13] well it's instructions no
yeah thank you it's already being done I
[41:20] don't know how you do it but for the
military overseas they get to have
[41:25] ranked Choice voting because it takes
too long to go back and forth but giving
[41:30] everybody that would I think would be
great foreign
[41:37] I would just like to say my brother
lives in Alaska and they love ranked
[41:42] Choice voting
[41:45] okay
[41:54] we commission meetings that people want
to have a receipt when they leave a
[41:58] Precinct well that's going to also open
up another level of voting fraud of
[42:03] buying boats okay so we don't want
anybody walking out with ballads we
[42:09] don't want people walking out with
receipts and also dealing with a
[42:13] Precinct level you know Johnny and I can
sit here all night and talk about will
[42:19] this possibly could happen and that
could possibly happen because we we're
[42:22] dealing with it Hands-On where what if
somebody makes a mistake on a ballot and
[42:28] they want a new ballot
so now we have to spoil a ballot
[42:32] document that they were given a new
ballot and then we got to keep track of
[42:36] that spoiled ballot we also have to make
sure that somebody's not walking in with
[42:40] the ballot and trying to get two ballots
put into the machine
[42:45] there's multiple things multiple things
and like I said there's so many laws
[42:52] that would have to be changed and
updated and amended
[42:56] to for us to be able to implement paper
ballots
[43:00] and I don't think everybody realizes you
know our election code's that thick and
[43:06] we have come so far with our election
process to have the controls in place to
[43:11] have the safeguards in place to where we
are leading the nation with our
[43:15] elections and it's just disheartening to
think that we're regressing
[43:20] because of a a choice view that are
saying we want hand marked Hand counted
[43:27] and what they mean by hand counted is
they wanted the Commissioners to stay in
[43:32] the precinct after 8 pm and hand
tabulate all of the ballots
[43:41] you know that is true I I went to a
vendor presentation in Baton Rouge of a
[43:48] lot of the machines and then the I think
two days afterwards there was a hearing
[43:55] that I looked at online
and it was people that had been at the
[44:00] vendor presentation
I wanted to throw things across my
[44:05] kitchen when I was watching this
so many of them were talking about
[44:11] counting the paper ballots they didn't
even trust the scanners they wanted
[44:17] every paper ballot counted and saying a
week we can hire I
[44:23] Aunt Jenny and her 10 kids they'll help
us you know I mean that's really what it
[44:28] sounded like it was very frustrating
[44:33] that's right
yeah that's right
[44:36] Liz
[44:45] so what words should we include when we
write to our representative that we want
[44:50] these changes made this amendment
what do we do to make him understand
[44:55] exactly what we want what are you going
to write to your representative I bet
[44:59] you already have
[45:07] that's it
so you don't want me to say I don't want
[45:11] to hand write it or have Aunt Jenny
counting it or anything like that
[45:15] [Laughter]
audible paper trail okay
[45:32] because then
[45:35] of our
bid for a new
[45:39] we can talk about
we wanted to be able to do this we
[45:43] wanted to be able to do that but we
can't be specific I can't say a vendor's
[45:47] name nor will I say the the vendor's
name that you know everybody calls the
[45:52] devil
um
[45:55] but the other thing I wanted to mention
to you when I was talking to you about
[45:59] the difference between Louisiana and the
other states
[46:02] Louisiana is
they the Secretary of State staff are
[46:07] the only ones that handle our voting
machines they're the ones that program
[46:11] our voting machines repair our boating
machines
[46:15] in the other state the vendor
is there
[46:20] sealing the machines repairing the
machines programming the machines and
[46:25] they're there in their election center
on Election night tabulating the votes
[46:29] uploading them onto the internet
okay so there's your difference of your
[46:35] breakdown of security
because we don't have that
[46:39] the machines are entrusted to me the the
clerks are the custodians of the voting
[46:43] machines and then after the election
they're turned back over into the
[46:48] Secretary of State's
possession Johnny
[46:52] I just I just want to let y'all know as
as your Clerk of Court
[46:57] as as
y'all's representative uh in elections
[47:02] is the chief election officer we're not
here we're just trying to tell you or
[47:08] let y'all understand what's the best
thing out there electronic voting is
[47:13] good there's there's we go in we vote we
have the results there they're accurate
[47:20] and we understand that there some of the
concerns that people have but there's
[47:26] machines out there that will answer all
these concerns and you still go in and
[47:33] vote just like you've been voting you're
not going to see much change and that's
[47:37] what we want you to to understand that
we're trying to get say hey we don't
[47:43] have to go back it's like if you know
covet hit
[47:46] if we wouldn't have our stuff online
the lawyers couldn't come into office
[47:51] there's a lot of things it would have
been shut down but luckily we had
[47:55] everything where you could get on a
computer you could look up whatever you
[47:59] need and business went on as usual and
that's what we want our election we
[48:03] don't want to discourage somebody not to
vote we want to be able to vote walk up
[48:07] electronically vote got a paper trail
shows how you voted goes in and when we
[48:14] open the machines up if somebody
challenges we can open that lock box up
[48:18] take them out scan them and they can
they can do checks and balances with
[48:23] these machines
when this started the first thing that
[48:27] was going to happen was was you're going
to was going to vote by paper ballot the
[48:31] Commissioners would was going to stay
over and count them that's what the
[48:35] original it started as now I tell my
Commissioners that now like Mr Crane we
[48:41] done you can forget about us I'm not
being ugly but I'm just saying it as
[48:45] your clerks and whatever y'all tell us
to do or whatever machine y'all hand us
[48:49] we're going to do our best with but we
think before something is is
[48:55] I don't want to say shove down our
throats but before something is voted on
[48:59] it we had no input in that you need to
know that there's things out there that
[49:05] your Saturday of election or your
Tuesday of election you can run go
[49:10] before you go to work run in there and
vote and go to work and not worry about
[49:14] like you do now so that's that's all
we're doing is trying to give y'all the
[49:18] facts give y'all what's out there
because this got like the guy by us it
[49:24] like to got by the clerks and the ROV
who works for the Secretary of State
[49:29] none of us was on this committee
how do you have a committee and you
[49:34] don't even put your the people that run
the election on there so that's what
[49:38] we're doing I'm not Melissa I appreciate
everything you do and I appreciate Saint
[49:43] Tammany but I just wanted you all to
know because I'm doing the same in my
[49:46] Parish talking to the voters letting
them know we're not trying to change
[49:51] things we just want to make it better
but keep everybody
[49:55] The Experience they have of boating as
they have now so thank you
[50:00] thank you so much Missy
[50:05] it sounds to me like the legislators
knew what they were doing very well by
[50:11] keeping everybody out that might have
had a change
[50:15] in my opinion
for what that's worth I think that they
[50:21] were good with the first bill that went
through that had the wording that we're
[50:26] looking for but then like from what I
understand about a half hour before the
[50:31] session ended this amendment got put in
the required paper paper ballots and I
[50:37] do not think that they had the time nor
the will when since the session was
[50:41] closing to read the entire bill
so you know I in in my opinion I think
[50:47] it was a last minute change you know any
other questions
[50:54] I want to thank Melissa and and and
Johnny crane because they're doing the
[51:01] they're doing the hard work it's you
know they're putting themselves out
[51:06] there and getting this message across
and now it's up to us to do the rest of
[51:11] the work so I hope that you do I
appreciate everybody coming tonight I
[51:16] know it's real cold and nasty outside
but this is so important and
[51:23] since I've Been On The Board of
Elections supervisors this has become my
[51:28] passion so it means so much to me and I
really feel confident in what Melissa's
[51:35] office does and I'm certain that Mr
Crane your office runs the same way so
[51:40] thank you so much for that
[Applause]
[51:51] [Music]