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Uh Chris, anytime you'd like to start
the meeting, you can call that to order.

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Is he on you?
>> Yes. He's muted.

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» This CHIO's

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» I'm muted.
>> My fault. I'm sorry, Ms. Chicot.

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All right. I'd like to call the Erie
County Board of Elections special

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meeting on July 30th to order.
Uh can you call roll call, please, Ms.

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Chicot?
>> Mr. Bal.

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» Here.
>> Mr. Copeland.

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Mr. Drexel.
>> Here. Sorry.

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I'm here.
>> Uh Ms. Sharman. Here.

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Mr. Scutella.
>> Here.

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» Mr. Wertz.
>> Here.

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» Mr. Winarski.
>> Here.

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» All right. Uh
is there anybody

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uh who would like to speak I don't see
anybody, right? Is anybody

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like to speak for the public? Anyone
from the public? Is anyone from the

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public?

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Seeing none. All right.
Uh this is new business, possible

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authorization of county funds to pay
return postage on in absentee ballots.

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Ms. Chicot.

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» Well, it's that time of year where our
vendor is preparing the envelopes for

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the mail ballots, and in order to do
that, they need to know if we are going

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to be paying as a county the return
postage for those ballots to be returned

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to the county.
Uh we pay for the postage going out, uh

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and that's covered by the election
integrity grant, but in order for us to

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have that paid for by the voters, we
bring that to a vote before the Board of

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Elections. So, we're at that time and
the vendor is ready to start printing

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for the envelopes.

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» Mr. Chair, if
>> All right.

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» Um
Ms. Chilcott, it it it's true that um

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this postage that we've paid for the
return trip, we have end-to-end tracking

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on
when that voter put that in the mailbox

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to getting to us, delivery confirmation.
>> Yes.

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» And and not paying for postage would uh
not allow us to provide that end-to-end

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tracking. You know, I'm thinking of 2024
when we had so many issues with uh

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obviously different issue with the mail
vendor

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but, you know, if we might anticipate
some issues uh with things being lost in

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the mail, etc., etc., that in order to
have any kind of intelligence to

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understand if the ballots are coming
back to us in a timely manner, we would

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have to pay for that postage, correct?
>> I don't know that there would be a

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difference. I know that the previous
vendor did not

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um
provide the tracking information, and

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that was a problem. And also, some of
those ballots did not have barcodes as

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they were expected to have. The new
vendor has been compliant with all of

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that, and the tracking system is very
efficient. Uh this is

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this is just a a question that we
normally bring. I don't know that there

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would be a difference in the service.
>> I'm just saying that if we if we're not

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providing that return postage, we
wouldn't have that tracking to know when

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when that mail was received by the post
office and and a delivery confirmation

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from USPS.

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» W- Why does the postage affect How does
postage affect that?

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I mean, whether a person puts a stamp on
it or the stamp is provided on cuz that

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cuz that change anything?
>> It shouldn't it I don't know I don't see

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that that would change any of the
service because it's still using the

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same barcode information. It's still
uh trackable as long as it's in the USPS

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system.
Uh well

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» I guess that's the thing is without if
you were not that customer paying for

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tracking
uh of an item. When you ship things with

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a simple postage stamp
it doesn't come complete with any kind

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of tracking that you can go online.
>> It does if it has a barcode on the

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envelope.
>> Okay.

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» So the previous vendor was not providing
um some of the barcodes on some of the

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batches and they were not tracking the
ballots.

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And uh
in order to track those ballots we had

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USPS create addresses as images and went
through an entire system through the

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United States to track ballots because
it's using a barcode technology not the

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stamp itself that's being tracked. It's
the barcode on the envelope. So people

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if you if we would approve the postage
to be paid

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voters can certainly elect to put a
stamp on that as well. And that's one

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less one that the county would be paying
for. But conversely if voters uh if we

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don't pay for it and voters don't put
postage on it it's still official

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election mail and it'd still be returned
to us and we would have to pay for their

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postage either way. So
uh this is something that that makes it

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easier people don't have to think about
if you look at it that way but at the

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same time we still we have the same
options. The county would still be

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responsible if someone fails to put
postage on it. Uh we would be paying

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that or voters can put their stamp on it
and save the county money.

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» I I appreciate I wasn't sure how that
process worked on the tracking. So thank

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you.

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» Just out of curiosity what it cost the
last few years with this?

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» Uh I don't have it in front of me, but I
think it's varied around 11,000, 15,000,

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maybe
uh 16 or 17,000.

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Depending on the election.

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» And this can't use integrity grant
funds?

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» No.
>> Okay.

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» Just uh from from my perspective,
uh we've been doing this for some time.

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Uh I don't like to introduce changes.
The original reasoning for

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wanting to provide postage still stands
that I don't want to create barriers to

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people returning their ballot.
Uh I've likened it to

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uh
a poll tax, and I know a stamp doesn't

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cost that much, but it still requires
the effort. I don't have a single stamp

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in my house. I'd have to go out to the
post office, go out and purchase a

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stamp, uh
and in some ways that's more

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laborous than even going just to the
polling place on election day. Um I

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think it's a small cost and and a
um a convenience to the electorate,

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helps expand access to the ballot, and I
think that we should continue doing it.

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But also,
I'd like to get away from continuing to

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approve this election by election,
uh cuz I I don't think it would be a

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good idea for us to shift uh back and
forth uh year to year, uh and I would

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suggest that if we approve this that
it's a motion to approve as official

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policy of the election office.

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» Mr. Chairman.
>> Yes, sir.

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» I agree that it's a a small cost, but I
just

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you know, think that like with a lot of
things in life that you know, everybody

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should have skin in the game. I mean, is
it impede me from getting to the the

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polls that I have to put gas in my car,
pay for the insurance, the registration,

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or anybody else that goes? I mean,
there's costs that are incurred just to

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get that. And to me, the
the small

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as said by Councilman Coke, on the small
cost of a stamp, I just I think that

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we've gone out of our way. We've made
elections more than accessible. I think

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that, you know,
people have the ability to come in here,

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vote in person. If they don't want to
take care of that, there's ample ways to

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get in here. I just I think it's one
more cost that we're passing on to the

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taxpayers that not everybody is going to
Other people are going to have to incur

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costs in order to go vote.
Or we're going to force everybody to

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say, "I'm not going to go to the polls
because I'm just going to mail it in

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with the free stamp from the county."
So,

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just my point of view.

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» [clears throat]
>> Thank you.

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» Yep.
>> Mr. Chair?

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» Yes.
>> I still go back to my original way of

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thinking. When we first started with the
mail-in ballots, we did not pay postage

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on them, and we just started to within
the last few years.

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And it's almost

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we're giving something to some people
and nothing to other people. We don't

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give people money for their gas
or

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an exact amount for their getting up,
going out, and going to the polls and

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vote, but yet we're giving something to
somebody

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that it only requires a stamp. So, I
voted the same way the last several

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years, and I'll vote the same way today.

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» Thank you.
Anyone else?

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» Mr. Chair, if I can.
We we

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» Yes.
>> we personally

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sit and adjudicate uh
defective ballots for missing

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signatures, for bad dates, for highly
unusual arrangements of

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privacy envelope not in there, in there
but signed and we we've seen any manner

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of
ballots being returned to us. Um and

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And I I really think you have a scenario
where people might not even realize that

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the policy has changed and still thought
that return postage was paid and just

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dropped these things in mailboxes. I
mean, the number one thing that we can

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do to establish a voter
um

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uh

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voter opinion that our elections are
safe and secure is that they're also

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stable.
And and aren't radically changing from

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year to year, that people are very
familiar with the processes. It's been,

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I believe, 3 years that we've had this
in place.

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Uh and I just don't think it's a good
idea to just shift radically and decide

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based off of whatever makeup is on the
Board of Elections on the given year

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determines
our processes. That

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I understand that there's a partisan
tinge to some of this conversation.

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Uh but I mean, just for the sake of
stability in our elections that we

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should try to adhere to the same
processes.

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» Mr. Chairman
>> Mr. Copeland.

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Yes.

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00:11:20,040 --> 00:11:25,920
» On what Mr.
Copeland is saying, I totally agree with

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him.
Standard way

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without confusing
the voter out there every time we have

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an election.
>> Mr. Chairman,

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uh in response to that, I would like to
make a suggestion that we vote on this

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today so that we can let the vendor know
to proceed with postage paid or not.

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Um and we could draft a resolution for
the next Board of Elections meeting so

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this could be prepared in a policy
format and let the board vote

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um
to uh renew that as a policy or not. But

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let's do a standalone vote today and
have a resolution prepared so that we

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can adopt that as a formal resolution or
not at the next meeting.

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00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:15,240
» Mr. Chucar, uh you took the words right
out of my mouth. I feel strongly with

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Mr. Copeland on the consistency level
here. I'm definitely not in favor of

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changing anything in the middle of an
election year. We just had a primary, we

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did it one way, we're going into the
general, it should be consistent.

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Um I would also appreciate you
um putting together

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um
you know, so that we can have this be

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policy and the next Board of Elections
we can vote on that so we don't have to

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continue to keep coming back and and
voting on this. Like the

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the integrity of the election
is greatly affected by the consistency.

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We don't want to be changing rules on
people. So

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and that's that's sort of how I feel
about this.

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We could put that
this question to a vote now for the

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00:13:02,680 --> 00:13:09,120
postage
uh to be approved for this general

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00:13:06,680 --> 00:13:12,320
election for the vendor. If nobody else
has any

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00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:15,760
anything to
add to the conversation.

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00:13:17,040 --> 00:13:23,280
» Yeah. Mr. Chairman, I guess I'll just
I'm confused in how

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the stamp
keeps the integrity of our elections,

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especially when we're talking about a
ballot that's filled out

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00:13:29,760 --> 00:13:36,720
in a person's residence with
no witness, no anything. So, we're

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relying on a person's personal
integrity. So, I failed to draw the the

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00:13:39,040 --> 00:13:46,640
con-
the line between the the stamp and and

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00:13:43,200 --> 00:13:50,600
having integrity in a a mail-in ballot.
That's all.

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00:13:47,480 --> 00:13:56,920
» Well, it I I can appreciate that point,
but consistency definitely does

189
00:13:53,400 --> 00:14:02,320
matter here. And we're in the middle of
you know, an election year. We're not

190
00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:05,720
I mean, unless we vote otherwise, I
don't think we should be changing that.

191
00:14:06,200 --> 00:14:10,120
» Mr. Chair, I'll make a motion to
approve.

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00:14:10,920 --> 00:14:13,520
» Second.

193
00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:17,920
» Call for the question, Mr. Chilcott.

194
00:14:18,880 --> 00:14:22,840
» Mr. Copeland.
>> Yes.

195
00:14:21,160 --> 00:14:25,040
» Mr. Drexel.
>> Yes.

196
00:14:24,040 --> 00:14:27,000
» Mr. Sherman.
>> No.

197
00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:29,080
» Mr. Scutella.
>> Yes.

198
00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:31,600
» Mr. Wertz.
>> Yes.

199
00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:34,040
» Mr. Merski.
>> No.

200
00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:38,240
» Mr. Bayle.
>> No.

201
00:14:35,520 --> 00:14:38,240
» And

202
00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:42,440
motion carries 4 to 3.

203
00:14:44,839 --> 00:14:47,880
» Anything further?

204
00:14:48,160 --> 00:14:53,640
» Uh
as a separate matter, uh I just wanted

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00:14:51,640 --> 00:14:59,325
to let everyone know that Secretary of
State Al Schmidt will be in Erie next

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00:14:56,520 --> 00:15:00,839
week, and he will be
>> [clears throat]

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00:14:59,480 --> 00:15:07,160
» uh presenting an award to the
Benedictine Sisters of Erie on Monday,

208
00:15:04,240 --> 00:15:10,680
and will be uh speaking at our election
conference that starts at Bayfront on

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00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:13,360
Tuesday.
So, I just wanted to make that

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00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:18,680
announcement. We're happy to welcome
Secretary of State. And we also have uh

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00:15:16,400 --> 00:15:23,800
a citation here for our members to sign
so that can be presented at the the time

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00:15:21,440 --> 00:15:28,160
on Monday.
>> Karen, if you wouldn't mind affixing my

213
00:15:25,360 --> 00:15:30,360
stamp, I would appreciate it.
>> All right.

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00:15:30,640 --> 00:15:38,600
I I have one thing. Karen, um did you
get a hold of Janice Morris, uh Godfrey

215
00:15:36,440 --> 00:15:43,280
Glenn?
>> Uh we have been reviewing we have some

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00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:46,640
potential polling location changes and
uh we're still looking into all of those

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00:15:45,200 --> 00:15:51,040
options. And I forwarded those, we
discussed those at our last staff

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00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:53,760
meeting, and he and his staff members
have gone out to explore those

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00:15:52,960 --> 00:15:55,800
locations.
>> But that was not on the list.

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» Yes.
>> All right. I might If I see them, I

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might give them a heads-up.
>> Okay.

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00:16:00,720 --> 00:16:03,680
» They might get a phone call if that's
okay.

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00:16:02,880 --> 00:16:05,920
» Okay, sure.
>> Okay.

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00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:14,120
» We're looking at having um a Board of
Elections meeting, if not before, on

225
00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:19,040
September 15th to approve the ballot.
That gives us the longest amount of time

226
00:16:16,880 --> 00:16:22,080
between uh
time of approval and getting mail

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ballots out.
Uh we just were able to determine that

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00:16:23,840 --> 00:16:28,839
date this morning, so wanted to
communicate that to the board as well.

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» Thank you.

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If nothing else, um
do I have a motion

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00:16:36,720 --> 00:16:40,800
to adjourn?
>> So moved.

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» All right, thank you everyone.