Board for Registration of Voters

Regular Meeting

Burlington, VT · April 1, 2025

Minutes

BOARD FOR REGISTRATION OF VOTERS MEET: April 1st, 2025 at 6:00pm Where: Police Station Community Room (1 North Ave) and remotely via Zoom Present: Alison Harte, Grace Grundhauser, Karen Rowell, Alex Demoly, Annie Schneider, Lesley Gendron, Lauren Ebersol, Colleen Montgomery, Michelle Lefkowitz, Jeanne Keller, and Youth Member Will Cunningham Absent: Olga Bravo, Mike McGarghan Also Present: Sarah Montgomery, Assistant City Clerk Meeting called to order by Chair Grace Grundhauser at 6:04pm Agenda: Jeanne Keller made a motion to accept the agenda. Passed unanimously. Meeting Length: The meeting was set to end at 7:00pm. Previous Meeting Minutes: Jeanne Keller made a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes. Seconded by Colleen Montgomery. Passed unanimously. Public Comments: No members of the public spoke. Clerk’s Report Sarah Montgomery reported that there are currently 29,114 registered voters. Out of those, 3,855 are challenged. In February, there were 169 new voter registrations, 79 voters were transferred to other Vermont towns, and 40 voters were removed from the checklist. In March, there were 248 new voter registrations, 104 voters were transferred to other Vermont towns, and 13 voters were removed from the checklist. For the March 4, 2025 Annual City Election: 9,823 voters participated. Out of this total, 4,831 cast their absentee ballot prior to Election Day. An additional 1,326 returned an absentee ballot to their polling place on Election Day. The remainder cast in person votes. There were approximately 130 new voter registrations on Election Day. There were 484 changes made to voters’ registrations in March. Sarah Montgomery reported the state has set a launch date for the new Election Management System – May 5th. Once it launches, she will work to coordinate training for the board. Jeanne Keller asked if there were any new registrations for non-citizen voters. Sarah Montgomery answered that there were around 17 new registrants for this election cycle, bringing us to around 130 total. 59 non-citizen voters participated in this election. Alison Harte asked if Sarah would let board members know is she had questions about submitted forms. Sarah Montgomery answered yes, and that she did reach out to a handful of members for clarity. Board Member Terms Ending in June Alison Harte, Alex Demoly, and Lauren Ebersol all have terms ending in June and will need to reapply if they would like to be considered for another term. Sarah Montgomery will reach out to these members once applications are being accepted. Grace Grundhauser announced that Olga Bravo resigned from the board. The board member expressed their gratitude for Olga. Grace Grundhauser asked when that seat would be filled by City Council. Sarah Montgomery answered that it will likely be filled with the other seats that will have terms ending soon. Grace Grundhauser mentioned that the board may want to discuss advertising the vacancy once the applications open. Election Review The board reviewed the Annual City Election. Ward 1 – Colleen Montgomery: She said it was generally a quiet day, but noted an issue with a voter concerning residency. The voter said he was currently living outside of Burlington, Colleen advised he should then not be voting in Burlington, but the voter continued to cast his vote anyway. He was already an active registered voter appearing on the checklist. Grace Grundhauser asked if this voter would appear on the challenge list for next month’s meeting. Sarah Montgomery answered that it could, but that she spoke to the voter after the election and he stated that his legal address for voter registration purposes should remain in Burlington. Jeanne Keller asked if the appropriate action for this circumstance would to challenge the voter, not remove him from our checklist – unless he actively registers elsewhere. Annie Schneider asked if this is voter fraud. Grace Grundhauser said it seems like something the board should discuss with the voter and that she is confident that it is within the board’s purview to challenge the voter if they decide to. Will Cunningham asked whose job is it to report voter fraud? Sarah Montgomery answered that the Clerk’s office reports instances of voter fraud to the Secretary of State, but that voter registration eligibility is the purview of the board. Annie Schneider will reach out to the Secretary of State’s office to determine process. Jeanne Keller agreed that this situation needs to be treated differently than other challenge cases since there was overt action to vote after being told he was not eligible. Grace Grundhauser asked Sarah Montgomery to send the board the voter’s information. She also mentioned that educating the public around residency and voter eligibility may also be helpful – letting people know about the 17 day rule and where they are eligible to vote. Colleen Montgomery noted that this situation was especially frustrating because the voter was also working as an assistant election official at the polling place. Grace Grundhauser asked if this is prohibited. Sarah Montgomery answered that election officials must be registered voters in Burlington. The clerk’s office does verify this before recommending individuals for appointment. Sarah Montgomery noted that if the board intends to challenge his voter registration, they should consider what their next step will be if he affirms that Burlington is his residence. Grace Grundhauser will look into that. Jeanne Keller noted that it would be good to understand this generically regardless of this specific circumstance. Alison Harte asked Sarah Montgomery if she is suggesting that the board challenge the voter, then wait to receive a response before taking further action, so that they can have a written record from the voter? Sarah Montgomery answered that challenging the voter always is the first step the board would need to take to remove anyone from the checklist – she will need to look further into what happens if the voter responds to the challenge affirming they belong on the checklist, but the board disagrees. Grace Grundhauser will look into the procedures more. She also noted that the definition of residency in statute is really a personal judgement, and that there is a gray area about someone’s “intent to return” for voter registration purposes. There are legally valid reasons that a person would correctly call a place their legal residence even if they are not currently there, due to intent. If a person is willing to swear that they intend to return to this address to live, that is something valid to consider. She thinks the next step will be for one of the board members to personally talk to this voter to ensure he understands what residency means, rather than jumping to conclusions. Ward 2 – Laurie Ebersol: Lauren noted that she had several voters whose addresses were reverted to an old address by the DMV. Karen Rowell asked if this was a difference between the legal and mailing address. Lauren answered no, in these circumstances, she could see the correct address listed in the previous address history. Board members speculated that the voters could still have the old address on their VT ID. Grace Grundhauser asked if people with incorrect addresses were showing up in the ward they were supposed to vote in, or the ward that their voter registration address was incorrectly linked to? Lauren Ebersol said that in her experience, voters were at the ward they were supposed to vote in. Grace Grundhauser clarified that the legal and mailing address are intentionally two separate fields. This is because the legal address determines voting eligibility, but the mailing address can be wherever they receive mail. Ward 3 – Michelle Lefkowitz: She noted that she had one voter who was not receiving ballots by mail. She worked with Sarah Montgomery to try to verify their address. She also had a voter that was on the checklist twice – this was resolved. She cancelled her volunteers since it was quiet. Ward 4 – Jeanne Keller: She noted that this is a very well managed ward with a great ward clerk and volunteers. She also had a duplicate voter appearing on the checklist (resolved now). Jeanne also noted a situation where a voter’s address in their registration had been changed without their knowledge. This was referred to the Clerk’s office who worked with the Secretary of State’s office to look into the incident. Jeanne had really great conversations with the ward staff where they were able to learn more about each other’s roles. She found the flow charts to be very helpful in orienting her volunteers. Lesley Gendron noted that an update to the flowchart was made post-election, so there is a new version now. Ward 5 – Annie Schneider: Annie did not have anything to report. Ward 6 – Alison Harte: She had a rough start with difficulty finding the new polling place entrance, but had an otherwise smooth day. Ward 7 – Karen Rowell and Will Cunningham: Karen said she had a good day. She enjoyed chatting with the ward team and with Will. Will Cunningham noted that some voter situations involve a lot of extra writing to explain the situation to the clerk’s office. He suggested having a memo sheet to complete to send to the Clerk’s office. Grace Grundhauser had previously discussed having something similar, but to give to the voter rather than the clerk’s office. Ward 8 – Alex Demoly: Had a fairly low-key day. He noted that he saw a lot of unverified social security numbers – some for newer voters, but also some that had voted before. Grace Grundhauser noted that in student wards, it is more common to see since a lot of those voters do not have VT IDs. Lauren Ebersol asked if the “new VEMS” will help alleviate some of the challenges with names that have punctuation included. Sarah Montgomery answered that the search functionality in the system should be better (not needing the correct punctuation to pull up results), but that alphabetization on the checklist will likely still be an issue. Board members shared experiences where voters were sent to them, but were actually correctly registered on the checklist. Grace Grundhauser noted that is good to walk voter over to the checklist when this happens to help resolve it. New Business No new business. Adjournment On a motion by Jeanne Keller, seconded by Alison Harte, the meeting was adjourned at 6:57pm. Respectfully Submitted By: Sarah Montgomery, Assistant City Clerk

Agenda

Packet

Board for Registration of Voters Tuesday, April 1, 2025, 6:00 PM, Police Department Community Room, 1 North Ave, Burlington, VT, 05401 OR remotely via Zoom. Join Zoom Meeting https://zoom.us/j/93712437108 Meeting ID: 937 1243 7108 1. Agenda 1.1. Motion to amend/adopt agenda 2. Meeting Length 2.1. Set Meeting Length 3. Adopt Minutes 3.1. Motion to adopt previous meeting's minutes File Attachments 1. Board for Registration of Voters 2_4_25 Board for Registration of Voters 2_4_25.pdf 4. Public Forum 5. Clerk's Report 6. Board Member Terms Ending in June 7. Election Day Review 8. New Business 9. Adjournment 9.1. Motion to Adjourn Page 1 of 5 BOARD FOR REGISTRATION OF VOTERS MEET: February 4th, 2025 at 6:00pm Where: Police Station Community Room (1 North Ave) and remotely via Zoom Present: Alison Harte, Grace Grundhauser, Karen Rowell, Mike McGarghan, Alex Demoly, Annie Schneider, Lesley Gendron, Lauren Ebersol, Colleen Montgomery, Jeanne Keller, and Youth Member Will Cunningham Absent: Olga Bravo, Michelle Lefkowitz Also Present: Sarah Montgomery, Assistant City Clerk Meeting called to order by Chair Grace Grundhauser at 6:05pm Agenda: Karen Rowell made a motion to accept. Seconded by Alison Harte. Passed unanimously. Meeting Length: The meeting was set to end at 7:00pm. Previous Meeting Minutes: Jeanne Keller made a motion to approve the previous meeting minutes. Seconded by Colleen Montgomery. Passed unanimously. Public Comments: No members of the public were present. Clerk’s Report Sarah Montgomery reported that there are currently a total of 28,903 voters on the checklist. Out of those voters, 3,971 are challenged. In January, there were 114 new voter registrations, 101 voters were transferred to other Vermont towns, and 110 voters were removed from the checklist. For the upcoming Annual City Election (March 4th, 2025), ballots have been finalized and the sample ballots are now available online. The ballots will be mailed to all active registered voters by Wednesday, 2/12. The ballot contains only local questions and candidates, so both citizen voters and legal resident voters are eligible to vote the full ballot. Jeanne Keller asked how many legal resident voters are registered. Sarah Montgomery answered 120. Sarah Montgomery reported that testing has started for the new election management system. She said it seems very intuitive and it should be an easy switch for system users. The new system is set to be launched in April. Election Prep Grace Grundhauser shared that there are just enough board members available to provide coverage for the upcoming election. She reported that unfortunately none of the BRV alums are available to help (except for Larry for a two hour shift). She shared the schedule: Ward 1: Colleen; Ward 2: Lauren; Ward 3: Michelle; Ward 4: Jeanne; Ward 5: Annie; Ward 6: Alison; Ward 7: Karen; Ward 8: Grace Page 2 of 5 Sarah Montgomery noted that the ward 6 polling location will be moving from the Edmunds Middle School Gym to the Edmunds Elementary School Gym, so the main entrance will be off of Main Street. This shift is to increase accessibility. Mike McGarghan asked if ward 4 will still be at Elk’s Lodge. Sarah Montgomery answered yes. Grace Grundhauser asked if ward 2 would still be at the ONE Community Center. Sarah Montgomery answered yes, for one more election. Mike McGarghan asked if there would be hot spots or Wi-Fi for each location. Sarah Montgomery answered that all locations should be using Wi-Fi now, and that the login information will be on a sheet in the materials binder. Grace Grundhauser asked members to each reach out to a handful of volunteers listed on the Google spreadsheet to recruit for the upcoming election. Members can go into the spreadsheet and make note of who they plan to reach out to. Mike McGarghan said that he worked with a few volunteers in ward 7 that expressed interest in helping again. Alison Harte asked about how much volunteer support will be needed. Grace Grundhauser answered that per previous board discussion one support person at any given time in each ward will be sufficient. Grace asked members to try to get responses by the middle of the next week at the latest and she will send out a schedule with all volunteers then. Grace Grundhauser said that she will plan to do the usual election prep training on Thursday, 1/27, from 5pm - 7pm. The board discussed where the location for the training should be and decided to default to City Hall if the space is available on that date. Jeanne Keller expressed interest in what members need to know about setting up in the morning at the polling places. Karen Rowell noted that she usually needs to ask for an extension cord. Mike McGarghan, who usually works ward 4 (where Jeanne will be working), said that he also usually needs an extension cord for set up. He recommended making initial contact with the ward clerk and inspectors as well. He noted that, in November, the placement of the checklist tables were close to the BRV table, which made traffic flow difficult. This would be helpful to communicate with the ward clerk. Grace Grundhauser said that the polling place is set up the night before. Mike McGarghan said if Jeanne wanted to be proactive she could reach out to the ward clerk in advance. Grace Grundhauser shared reminders from the Election Day guide about setting up. She said to arrive at least 15 minutes early (which sometimes doesn’t feel early enough) to set out supplies, get the laptop started and logged in, and try to connect with the ward clerk. She noted that connecting with the ward clerk is dependent on their availability. Mike McGarghan suggested adding file organizers to the supplies so all the paperwork can be organized on the table. Karen Rowell may have some she can donate. If not, Sarah Montgomery will look into providing some. Alison asked if the most recent Election Day guide was updated in August of 2024. Grace Grundhauser confirmed. Page 3 of 5 Grace Grundhauser reminded member to check in with ward clerks about the supplemental checklist and the legal resident checklist. Alison Harte asked if the BRV members have copies of both. Sarah Montgomery said that they are given a copy of the legal resident checklist, but not the supplemental checklist. Mike McGarghan asked if a copy of the legal resident checklist could be sent out. Sarah Montgomery said she could share the public version of the checklist, which does not have any confidential information. Grace Grundhauser shared other things that are helpful to check in with the ward clerk about, including same day voter registration (administered by the ward clerk or their designee) and the checklist flag cards. She mentioned that something that may vary ward by ward is how challenge responses are handled. Some ward clerks will choose to send all challenged voters to the BRV. Other ward clerks prefer to handle challenged voters, who do NOT have address changes, right at the checklist tables. Sarah Montgomery shared that either way is fine, depending on the preference of the ward clerk, but that any challenged voters who also need to edit their address should be sent to the BRV member. Grace Grundhauser mentioned checking with the ward clerk about available translated materials and interpreter services. She noted that the phone interpreter services are fairly new. Sarah Montgomery said that she doesn’t believe it has been used at a polling place, but it has been used at the Clerk’s office. She explained that to use this service, dial the phone number listed on the instruction street and enter the listed code. This will connect you with the interpreter service. They can also help identify the language if needed and connect you with an interpreter. It then becomes a 3 way call (using speakerphone) with the election worker/ BRV member, the resident, and the interpreter. Jeanne Keller said that the most important thing for the training is the scenarios and how to use forms correctly. Grace Grundhauser asked if the board wants to put any announcements out on Front Porch Forum prior to the election. The board agreed to put out information including, where to vote, how to register to vote, and who is eligible to vote. Lesley Gendron shared some updates she made to the flowchart showing Election Day processes with voters. She added visual cues such as screenshots and adjusted some of the content. The board gave positive feedback. Lesley said she would add a few items and then share it with the board. Will Cunningham asked what to do if a mistake is made? Sarah Montgomery answered that if a mistake is made with determining a voter’s ward/ district, the best thing that can be done is correct that in the registration moving forward, and document the situation. Grace Grundhauser said she has often wondered if the board needs a memo form to document these types of situations. She noted that if there is a scenario where the BRV is denying a voter registration application, the board should be giving them a written denial decision, so the voter can take that to the judge if they choose to appeal the decision. The majority of members said that they tend to just make extensive notes on the existing Page 4 of 5 forms. Grace will share a memo template document with the board to see if it is something that would be useful. New Business No new business. Adjournment On a motion by Mike McGarghan, seconded by Jeanne Keller, the meeting was adjourned at 6:58pm. Respectfully Submitted By: Sarah Montgomery, Assistant City Clerk Page 5 of 5