By Blake Proctor
Board member Emery White led attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance, and Chair Louella Thompson immediately called July’s regular meeting to order at 5:04 pm with member Michael Aycock absent. She then turned the floor over to Director Chris Williams for a status report.
Mr. Williams reported that Board staff was performing merely routine administrative tasks, such as voter registration, during the last month. Staff also sent out National Change of Address (NCOA) cards, a twice-yearly task performed each January and July.
He reminded the Board of a special meeting at noon on Tuesday, July 20th, called for the purpose of swearing in new members; Ms. Niki Dennis, Clerk of Superior Court, will perform the honors.
Additionally, there will be a mandatory Board of Elections conference from August 2nd to the 4th; the session on the 2nd will be a full day, and the 3rd and 4th will be half-days.
Attendance options were either in-person in Raleigh or electronically at the Bladen Board office. Mr. Williams determined it would be both cheaper and quicker to attend electronically, and he has already provided that to the State BoE.
The deadline for towns to either opt-in or out for one-stop voting in the November election is Friday, August 10th at 5 pm. Following that deadline, no towns will be able to change its option. At this time, only Bladenboro, Elizabethtown, and White Lake have opted in.
Mr. Williams also reminded political party chairs that poll worker nominations for each party are due in his office by Thursday, August 12th; The meeting to elect poll workers from that list will commence Tuesday, the 17th.
He reported that as of close-of-business on the 13th, only eleven municipal candidates county-wide had filed for the several dozen seats open for election; it will be a busy next three days.
On a question by Board member Patsy Sheppard, Mr. Williams reported that he has indeed had a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the February minutes for every year from 2021 back to 2010.
It seems the same request has been made of all 100 Elections Boards across the state by the same party – Kira Wang, possibly a political science student. The request is evidently for a class report or a thesis.
With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting adjourned at 5:24 pm.
About Author
