MikeMooreMedia
Rockingham County Board of Elections Update 09.26.24
Paula Seamster, Director, talks about court process of reprinting ballots, delay in mailing absentee ballots, deadlines. Where and when to register. Early Voting schedule, locations and times. Visually Impaired ballots, voting equipment testing.
336.342.8107
www.RockinghamCountyNC.gov/BoardofElections
- Broadcast on:
- 26 Sep 2024
- Audio Format:
- other
Mike Moore media. Today I'm checking in on this podcast with Paula Seamster, director of the Rockingham County Board of Elections. Paula, I tell you, you're working long hours putting in a lot of extra time there because, and this is my word here, crazy. This is a crazy, crazy month isn't it? It is a very crazy month. Yes, and we've gone through a world we had in the last couple of weeks. So yes, we are putting in a lot of hours. Yeah, I know. And you don't have a large, large team there to do it. So thanks to all of you there for for your extra hard work and getting ready for the upcoming election. But just kind of take us through the last couple of weeks or so. Let's talk first about, oh my gosh, reprinting those ballots. What are sure that was statewide? Yes, it was statewide. Yes, we were put on notice that it was put out through the social media that one of the candidates wanted to be removed from the ballot. But nothing officially had been put in writing and sent to the state board. So we were told to proceed with our process of having our ballots printed. So we had all ordered our ballots and were getting ready for the anticipated absentee ballot mail out, which was originally scheduled for September, excuse me Friday, September the 6th. Right. And I think it was that week of September 6th that we received notification that the state board had received writing in writing from that political party that the candidate did want to be removed. The state board had voted, I think it was four. It's three to two to not remove the candidate's name. And it was sent to court. It went to Wake County. Wake County agreed with the state board that the candidate had to be left on the ballot. That decision was appealed by the political party. The court of appeals of North Carolina overturned that decision to remove the candidate's name. And then the state board filed an appeal to the North Carolina Supreme Court. So all during this time, we had, you know, over 800 ballots ready to go out on Friday, September the 6th. And we received word on the 6th that we had to halt all information. We had to wait on the Supreme Court decision. The Supreme Court actually met late on Monday, September the 9th and upheld the North Carolina Court of Appeals decision to remove the candidate's name. So we were informed at that time that we needed to order new ballots, which we had been given a heads up. We may have to actually reorder these ballots. So of course, it's going to be the same amount. We were also notified on the Saturday before this ruling came out from the Supreme Court that our ballots were going to have a 25% increase in cost due to the printing company having to bring in a third shift and weekend shift because we were not the only state sending out absentee ballots. We were now in competition with two other states. So we had to reprint the ballots which was an additional cost. And the absentee mail out or absentee by mail mail out started this past Tuesday, which was September the 24th. But the military and overseas ballots were actually emailed out on Friday September 20th because we had to have those out by the 21st. So it's been a whirlwind, but we were able to get everything prepared. Everything was picked up. The very first day of absentee mail out, which was this past Tuesday, we were able to mail out 910 absentee ballots. And the Friday before the military ballots, we emailed 15 and the overseas ballots, we emailed 25. So we were busy, but we got it all done. We were not late. Everyone who had already put in their absentee request should be receiving those if they have not already. And since then, we have actually emailed or mailed out 1100 and two ballots as of yesterday afternoon. Okay, wow, I'm taking notes because it's interesting to see these numbers, you know, and what all you've had to do and the delays and the extra work and everything involved. My goodness. Well, thank you for that that backstory on that Paula. The public doesn't isn't privy to that information. So I find that interesting. So now you made I want to go back to and I don't want to just belabor the point here. But you said a 25% printing cost. And now who eats that money? That us, you, the local board? As it stands right now, it is the county who has to pay for that. The board of elections actually had a meeting yesterday. And we I have been directed to ask county management and the commissioners to send a letter to the State Board of Elections for partial reimbursement of those funds, especially, you know, the original cost of the ballots that were printed and the staff that we had to bring in to make all of this happen. Don't know that we'll be reimbursed, but we're going to try since Rockingham County is a tier one county. We would like to get some reimbursement. Yeah, we'll just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best. If not, as it stands right now, the county is responsible for the original ballots that were printed as well as the second set that was printed. Yeah, and those original ones, 800, they were ready to go out. First time, they just have to be what shredded you can't. I'm big on recycling paper. You can't do that, though, can you with that? Can I do that? And it wasn't just that 800. We had actually received all of our ballots. Okay, all right. So it was like 50 there's almost 60 boxes of ballots that will that have had to be shredded because we cannot get the two ballots mixed up. So the original ballots had to be shredded. And then we were waiting on our second set to come in. We did receive the absentee ballots, but we're now waiting for the early voting and election day ballots to come in. And we hope to receive those very soon. Yeah, my goodness. Okay. Well, when I said in the beginning, crazy. That's probably a mild word. Yes, and I have asked if that had ever happened in the history of Rockingham County or North Carolina. And the answer I received was no. It came close one time. But this is the first time that the counties have had to reprint the ballots. Wow. What a story that is. Good news, gracious. Personally, I think you should send a bill to the candidate that caused all the trouble, but we won't go there. Okay, let's talk about our early voting. Give us that schedule there. What's coming up? Okay, early voting will actually begin Thursday, October the 17th, and we'll run through Saturday, November the 2nd. We have four voting sites for early voting. Of course, it's here at the Board of Elections. We have a site that will be at the Eden Library, a site at Zion Baptist Church and Readsville. And there are four sites at the Madison Mayadan Library in Madison. The weekdays, which are Monday through Thursday, the hours of operation for all four sites will be 8 a.m. to 730 p.m. We are open on two Saturdays, which is Saturday, October the 19th, and Saturday, November the 2nd, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. And we also have a Sunday, which is Sunday, October the 27th, and the hours for that Sunday is 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. And again, all four sites will have those hours. You can find these hours on the Rockingham County Board of Elections website. We have this information at all of the libraries. We have sent information out to different organizations, but if anyone is wanting to know the hours of operation, they can feel free to call the Board of Elections office. And that number is 336-342-8107. Okay, 8107. Okay, all right. Yeah, so all of that information right there at RockinghamCountyNC.gov, go to department, scroll down to Board of Elections, and everything you need to know about what's happening with the upcoming election is there. RockinghamCountyNC.gov, departments, Board of Elections. Okay, now let's talk about, you mentioned when we were talking earlier before the podcast about VIPs, what is that? VIPs is the visually impaired individuals. We do not want anyone to feel that they cannot vote, so we actually have a voting portal for the visually impaired. Their ballots are emailed and it comes to them in the form that they would be able to read it or receive it in the form that they need it to be. So we have received a few of those and those were actually emailed out on Tuesday, September the 24th as well. Okay, I know you were at Riverfest and had an opportunity to talk to some of your people there. Always a good handouts and good information and you'll be at some other festivals coming up. Did you want to mention those while we have a moment here? Well, we're still trying to get those lined up. I don't have that in front of me but we will, if everyone will look at our Facebook page, we'll try to put that information out there and we'll try to get that sent out to our Sunshine List and any of you who do not know what a Sunshine List is, it is a list of individuals that want information from the Board of Election on anything that is sent out, if they will call our office as to be added to that Sunshine List, they will get updated every time something goes out, whether it's a festival, voter registration deadlines, early voting schedules, anything. We have about 400 people that are on that right now and anyone that would like to be added, we welcome it. Okay, very good. So yeah, that gives you a little extra heads up there. You also have an event coming up and I saw in a media release, L in a testing next Tuesday. What is that? Yes, that is logic and accuracy. We actually will be testing our DS 200 tabulators as well as our express state machines to make sure that they are reading the ballots accurately and we will be testing that information on Thursday through our mock election. But as the L and A testing is conducted at the end, we run a tape just like we do during Election Day at the end of our testing and I have a total sheet of what each tabulator should total for each candidate. So we'll be testing the tabulator's ticket against my sheet to make sure that all of these votes did count like they were supposed to and that there are no errors. So that we'll be ready and confident enough to know that all of these machines will be accurate for all of the voters in Rockingham County for this upcoming election. Mm-hmm. No problems there. Okay. Deadline. It is open to the public. Oh, yeah. Okay, good. Good. So tell us the time on that and time and date again. It does start at 9 a.m. and it it depends on how long it takes to test the machines. We have done it in three hours before. Sometimes it could take up to eight hours. Oh my God. But we have sent out the notice that if they are interested in attending they need to call our office by Monday September the 30th before noon to get added to the list because we'll need to make arrangements for seating for them to be able to view the LNA testing. They will not be able to take, you know, participate in the testing but they will be able to view the testing. Mm-hmm. Okay. I know you've got a lot going on there but do you know how many have requested to be there for that? Do you have that number right off? Right now I just sent the notice out yesterday right now I've had two. Okay. Yeah. All right. Yeah. That's just gone out but that would be kind of interesting at least be there and just to kind of see that process and what you do and and if it's a long day we don't want to I don't want to spend eight hours there watching you testing equipment. We can kind of come and go can't we? Oh, yes sir. Yeah. Okay. All right. Oh my goodness. I'm not putting in the long hours that you all do. Board of elections. Okay. Now we need to still talk about registering to vote and where we can do that and the deadline and all of that Paula. Okay. Voter registration. The voter registration deadline is Friday, October the 11th. They can come by the board of elections office Monday through Friday between the hours of eight and five. If they're going to the DMZ to update the driver's license or to get a driver's license they can actually register while they're at the DMZ. If they're already registered with if they already have their driver's license they can go on to the North Carolina DMZ website and they can register to vote through there. All of the county libraries in Rockingham County have voter registration forms so they're readily available and if they want to call our office we'll be glad to mail them a registration form. So there's many ways that you can get registered to vote in Rockingham County. Yes. Yes. Give us the the main number there. Board of elections again. It is 336-342-8107. Okay. And you know I'm so impressed and this is statewide of course with North Carolina Board of Elections and right here at home that you are so accessible even letting us come in and watch your test the equipment and all of that. So there's no way anyone can ever say well you know they're kind of doing things behind closed doors there. I just don't know what's going on over there. But you know you're just it's all very transparent as it should be and it's just great what you all do to for us here in Rockingham County to be a part of what's going on with it. The whole election process. So thank you for that Paula you and you and your staff for all of that. Well thank you so much. We try to be we want everything to be as transparent as we can. There are some things we cannot provide information on but 98% of the information will be glad to share it with the public. I mean it is the taxpayer dollars that do fund all of this and you know we want everyone to understand what elections does and how it works and any questions they have they can email us we do have any a generic email which is R C B O E at C O dot Rockingham dot NC dot US that they can email if they have questions or they can call our office and we'll be glad to answer their questions. I'm gonna call the office that that email is kind of complicated. Three three six three four two eight one zero seven. Yeah. Okay. Always available to take a phone call. This has been a an historic month with all of the things the the the reprinting the ballots and all of that and something that had never happened before and oh gosh a lot involved but you've taken us through it in a great way as always Paula anything else before we wrap up. No I just encourage everyone to vote you know your voice is very important if you do not vote then it's pretty much if you don't vote you can't criticize or condemn anything that is done through the elected officials so everyone's vote counts and we encourage that you get registered show up to vote you can vote during early voting you can vote election day you can do absentee voting we try to make sure that everyone has that opportunity and that no one is turned away. Yeah exactly right yeah every vote counts that's for sure and you know I was going to say follow up on that but you you said it very well there already yeah if you don't vote don't come to me I don't want to hear you griping and complaining you know because well you know whatever yeah every vote counts so so make sure you get registered to vote if you aren't registered this is a very very important election all elections are important but when we get to the presidential election and our state officials and you know you're looking at governor and lieutenant governor and the races that we have here and then right here in Rockingham County and some things that we can vote and have an impact on so yeah make sure you don't miss this opportunity. Paula always always great thank you for your your hard work and we'll talk again next month. Sounds great thank you so much. Okay bye. Bye. That's Paula Seamster she is director of our Rockingham County Board of Elections. Let me again give you that contact information 336-342-8107 Rockingham County NC.gov go to the departments list the menu there on the left scroll down to Board of Elections everything you need to know is right there. You