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Minutes, November 19, 2018 Page 2 <br />necessity drove the requirement for additional help and acknowledged that budget <br />impact was not considered. She added that it may be necessary to request additional <br />funds from the City Council to cover unavoidable spending driven by the higher than <br />normal turnout. <br /> <br />Discussion Items <br /> <br />Office Communication Issues <br /> <br />The Chair called attention to the failure to hold staff meetings in the weeks leading up to <br />the election as an example of poor coordination and communication among the staff <br />that hampered election preparation. Ms. McKenney added that the confusion over the <br />number of electronic pollbooks to be used in the election was a specific example of an <br />issue that could have been avoided by holding regular staff meetings. The Election <br />Manager, now returned to duty, referred to a detailed task list she prepared prior to <br />leaving, that should have been used to guide the staff and facilitate coordination in staff <br />meetings. <br /> <br />Ballot Printing Issues <br /> <br />The Chair expressed great concern about issues concerning printer shortcomings and <br />the compatibility of the ballot paper and scanners used both in the regular precincts and <br />in the CAP. Ms. Morton informed the Board that she has already been in <br />communication with Hart and that they will soon be providing us with software and <br />instructions for certifying our ballot printer. She is also working with them on detailed <br />specifications for the paper to be used for ballots. The Chair emphasized that we need <br />a comprehensive policy addressing all of the technical details and costs of ballot printing <br />in order to make a decision on whether to print in-house or order ballots from Hart for <br />future elections. The GR added that, should we decide to continue printing in-house, <br />printing be scheduled for evenings and weekends in order to minimize disruption in the <br />office during the very busy weeks of absentee voting and election preparation. <br /> <br />Training Issues <br /> <br />The Chair pointed to training as another problem area with this election with preparation <br />put off until the last minute. In particular, while the use of experienced election officers <br />to assist with electronic pollbook (EPB) training was laudable, they were not recruited <br />until just before the training session began and thus had little time to prepare. <br />Furthermore the Board members were told only minutes before the training that they <br />were each responsible for sections of the training and thus had no time to prepare for <br />their presentations. Board participation is customary but requires coordination. There <br />was also confusion as to how many EPBs were to be set up for the training and how, <br />and by whom, they would be employed. It was, however, helpful to have the <br />demonstration EPB connected to the projector for viewing by the entire group.