GEORGETOWN — For the first time in months, the Brown County Board of Elections met in regular session without any disruptions or arguments.
Consisting of board members Moriah Votel (Republican), Paul Hall (Republican) and Dallas Hurt (Democrat), along with Director Connie Ayers and Deputy Director Kelly Moran, the board went through its agenda methodically, and tying up as many loose knots as they could ahead of the November general election.
Board of Elections Chairwoman Jo Ann Kattine was not in attendance at the meeting.
Much of the meeting was spent with part-time Board of Elections employee Joellyn Waits going over poll workers at all 32 precincts in the county. Both the Democrat and Republican parties submit lists periodically to the Board of Elections, who sends the lists to the Secretary of State’s office in Columbus to be certified.
According to Hurt, those lists can be continuously updated. The latest list of poll workers were approved unanimously by the board.
The board also made passed a couple of motions in relation to the new board policy handbook passed in August.
First, the board noted that healthcare plans would be available to employees through the county, but that the board shouldn’t make any specific examples of healthcare benefits in the handbook because they are subject to change on a year to year basis. That motion passed unanimously.
Then later in the meeting, the board unanimously approved an amendment process to make changes to the handbook. The process is that a potential change is brought up during regular session of a meeting, and is voted on at the next regularly scheduled meeting.
The board also agreed to upgrade their website in the future, as well as have a chance for the public to learn more about the new employees with the Board of Elections.
Early in the meeting, the board went into executive session to discuss legal matters. No action was taken when the board returned to regular session.
Election day is November 3, 2015. Beginning on October 6, voters can fill out an absentee ballot at the Board of Elections or in person and submit it before election day, if they know they will not be able to make it to the polls.
