Board of Registrars - Regular Meeting

[Music] to the uh 11425 Board of registar meetings this meeting uh of the registrars will come to order the time is 12 o' uh I will call the RO Lisa yits present John bonina present Mike Janette present and I am also present uh so the board would like to welcome Mike to his first Board of virra meeting as the interim town clerk so Mike welcome glad to have you on board appreciate it thank you thank you glad to be here yeah yeah all right uh item one uh end of year report so has everyone taken a look at the end of year report um I got your emails back so I I think it's okay um obviously so what we did this year was a little bit different we went to if you remember one of our previous meetings we talked about going to something that was a little bit more number one that pretty much we all got to see before it got put into the report by the town in that uh we all had input in could see it and it was a little bit of an expensive format from what had been done in the past so um I was able to by the help of all of you and Mike as well was I was able to get uh the information that we needed for that and so um I I think it came out pretty good we stayed pretty much to the to the template that we had agreed to use from one of our prior meetings and um so that part of it I think came out pretty good Dan so I I know that we had talked about it a little bit yes so I just wanted to bring up the so I pulled the numbers for us okay for for the financial report y I don't know if you got like however you guys would like to do it so I'll show you guys exactly how it was turned in last year okay from

from the board this is how we turned in the financial report um to the annual Town um report so so that's what it looked like from last year so I asked accounting they got me the numbers for the exact same groups um those were the exact same sets that were over the $2,500 magic number and so I just wanted to make sure that we we had that as part of our report that was going to be submitted from this board right that's perfect um I did notice that I forgot all about the financial part of it I to look so as you all know probably right at the end of the they'll they put out a big book I happened to look at last year's book and and to in on the second page was the financial cour which we had we as a board had nothing to do with candy would do those numbers so if you want to just take a quick look so Mike was able to get those numbers right Mike from the powers that be on the left side is the 2020 that sheet on your left hand is the 2023 that's the print out I made a copy of it out of the book and so on the right is numbers that so we have to create that document um as you know so this is I guess the narrative we have we all sudden on the narrative report of the board and then there's the financial number piece to it and so we'll we'll have to create that docum and and so just so you guys know the the top section that was missing was uh when I sat down with um the financial people Financial Group they told me that the the salary portions of this was not necessarily our responsibility so so what they asked for was just all of the expenses that were over the $2,500 number okay so for me in including like on I did the one for obviously the town clerk's office so I also just sent my own expense report but the the salaries and things um are going to be done by

accounting that's that's what I was informed of so that's why when I printed it out I just printed it out as the sheet the way that we would have it be laid out right there yeah so if we can abbreviate sounds like what you're saying is this this year sheet will be an abbreviation of last year correct yep it's just going to be those it's just going to be those expenses that the board um had had occurrence that were over $2,500 and that's the same list as last year there was nothing else on there that would have gone over the number so that's all that we would need to have posted and it's because the salaries are covered under a different portion of the annual report yes different department yep correct yep that's what I was informed of when I when I was going over some of this information with that group thank you okay and so really it's this is abbreviated might just explain it's abbreviated because of that okay that's great do you want to try to create that document or do you want us to try so so I certainly can go in and just make those changes and have it typed out exactly like that and I can have it sent to the group and then if you guys want um you'll just can include it with the packet with the um sheet of the summary for the year and that's fine to be fair I don't know I know the select Board gets it I don't know who for I I mean I can speak to Amber so if you can create that document yes I'm I'm comfortable approving the report as the narrative that we've read and what's going to be created on the financial piece Mike knows exactly what that needs to be so I would suggest we vote to approve it and then when Mike gets me that document we'll submit them all okay because we can see what how the document is going to look yeah that original page is perfect and then I think our financial report the way that I'll have it typed out is going to be exactly like last year um obviously aside from having the salaries listed on there um and we'll just have it submitted as one item and I I think that's that's all that they were looking for from the town administrator's office great so so if I could just ask a couple

questions about it um LHS Associates is who are they so that's the group that like works on all of our machine so they come in and test our machines they do um you know so I see basically all of our election materials they kind of are the group that does all the work on that stuff for us okay and um Mass mailers were things like yeah all of the things that we yeah all like so you know over 4500 mailin um ballots for the November election and um you know a couple thousand for each of the other um three um were included in that okay and then the graft and police were for the polling sites right correct yep that's that's inclusion Solutions what is that group oh can I see sorry oh that's the old one so just be clear all right you're using last year so might not my it's still on yeah I I have that I have that yeah I I I I could check the breakdown in in our system to to let you know exactly what that group is for yeah um I just when when I had accounting help me um find the numbers they just printed it out and that's how it was listed on our payments is just like that's what that that that's the payment that we made to that particular group and obviously it was over the $2,500 number so um I can I can try to figure out exactly what that company well it might be good in case somebody asks us you know sure what is this what is this for you know because it's it's a town budget so you know yes and and again I I would be very secure in saying that I I would anticipate because we have like obviously the voting machines we have all the voting materials um the state obviously sends us like the ballots for other um elections but for the local we actually create it

ourselves and have our own vendor that prints out all of those um election things so so so that could possibly be one of those groups that also does that for us um plus you know all the envelop and things that have to get sealed are um you know so that there's a number of things obviously that like we have to request and so I I would generally guess that that is encompassed in all of the election materials that that we got sent for the you know fiscal year of 24 yeah it's interesting that we had more elections this year but we had less police cost just well so so again ju ju because the fiscal year here is July yeah so technically 24 would have included oh I see um all of 23 you know starting the the the 23 year so there actually was a couple of Elections that would be included in our 25 budget instead so like the big one this year on 115 that's going to be part of fiscal year 225 so that police sense grouping was going to cost us additional funds for the extra security um you know because of obviously um you know the size and some fears of that election possibly being a problem um you know we we we did all those trainings and everything and the state was a little concerned and so you know obviously it certainly went phenomenally well in in terms of like what the clerk's office and and this group I think you know sitting with you guys at at that last meeting I know um doing the audit um I I think it couldn't have gone any better but but that will reflect on our fiscal year of 20125 and not 2024 that makes yeah that would be the most I would say that for sure Jack that's the most expensive election we're going to have so whatever expenses incurred yeah we're incurred at that 2025 115 that's going to be in fiscal year 25 and even though the election happened in 24 okay

yeah good great great explanation pick up yes yes I'll yep yep and I'll like like uh Dan mentioned I will put this together with the new numbers and I will send it to the entire group and we can I know we approved it for now but certainly everybody will just give the thumbs up we'll have it we have it submitted absolutely so I will take a motion to approve the 2024 end of year report so move do I have a second second any discussion all in favor I I okay four zero on that one yeah thanks for doing that that's yeah that was great really help all right and to be you know I I appreciate that Mike even wanted to talk it's it's nothing on the on the three previous years or whatever it's the financial piece was never really talked about too much and so we didn't have experience with it so again another good thing I feel like our board is like hey all right so let's move into this and so we're expanding and I I love that type of stuff so and Mye thanks for abely I'm very glad big big shout out to Cindy from the ta's office as she sent me the copies of the previous years and so obviously because she knew that I would you know at least for the time being like meet with you guys as the with the board of registrars so she me the 2023 copy of the report so that was fantastic and so I was able to see the financial stuff and I was able to request those numbers and help to present it today so I thought that was awesome of her to I agree really good thank you cind yeah okay item two uh Varys deleted voter extract so um I in in our previous meetings when we talked about you know trying to take a hard look at the voter RS and see if there are things that we needed to do there um an extract that the the state does produce is a deleted voter file extract so I know for you know the the back and forth we had with the previous

clerk a little bit was you know yep we're getting out of peace maill and you know and she was you know office was under staff but she was trying to get out those the the the folks we identified whether they were deceased whether they were duplicates whether potentially they had moved to have them taken off the roles um this file I think think I know for me if uh that I'm aware of it now if if we had access to it we could see and maybe on a on a more routine basis hey you know we all ask the clerk's office could you send the deleted voter file for this month however we thought you know um and and as kind of a checks and balance to see that yes the voter roles this work is being done to remove I I mean so that was you know this is the conversation that we're having we didn't I didn't know that file existed but now I do know it and so you know I put it out there to all of the bo to say is this is this something that yeah maybe whether it's monly whether it's quarterly that we ask um Mike could probably go over it a little bit better I imag I think it's a v file yes okay so yeah so please the report which was fantastic because what was requested is that we had them remove all of the excess that was you know attached to our system so that file that I sent over is the most up to-date of all the deleted groups in 24 and so um just quickly because since this is how we do it um so for example today I'm certifying some births and some deaths um that occurred um in the past couple of weeks um as we get them in um you know from Worcester or whatever wherever somebody's born that that city or town has to send them to us before we can certify them so um after I certify a death what I do is I go into V and I remove that particular voter whether they were a voter or even just a regular citizen that no longer votes and

I remove them from the system um they get deleted as deceased so so we do that and then um we also obviously not that they would be getting registered but the new babies in town will all get put into the system and added to families um that are attached so obviously you'll see that like you guys I'm sure are going to receive your census very soon if you haven't already um and and so that's how that's stuff happens and the last thing I'll say because I just want to it noted is that the state is very tough on us about removing voters that you know parents or um people that live in a house will tell us have moved the problem is is that we have to have a wet signature of that particular person before we can remove them from the list now we can make them inactive and then after a year they can then be removed but that's a major issue for us because obviously I and it's so unfortunate because like I've seen people like mail it in and say like oh we asked for a removal and so unfortunately that we have to have that signature so we've been trying to do our best to explain that so somebody actually came to the counter today um and you know she had her daughter and son-in-law who don't live at the house and she wanted to have them removed so I just explained to her like listen if you can put their names at the bottom there's a little space at the bottom of the census and if they both sign and there's a wet signature that gets brought to our attention we're able to remove them right away so that's unfortunately part of the reason why we actually have some people on there that may have moved away other states aren't great about getting back to us to have them removed some states are better than others some counties are better than others and so yeah so we do our best to keep up as as quickly as we can when we have stuff like that occur that's a great explanation Mike thank you you're welcome very good and I know you say we and I I understand but you know but we are the we you know what I mean like I know you're referring to to the town clerk's office but essentially that's our role too you know and this is I don't want to say the struggle but this

is the conversation we've had with candy in in as the years go it's it's like I understand what you're getting at you know but not being in your office with you as people that really are task with the same task you are as town clerk but slash really registar that's our our our thing too you know so but but that was a great explanation and and you know it was good elaboration of what I think we had suspected or we you know we kind of knew was going on but that was it was articulated very well can I ask uh one question related of course um if if you remove if you become aware that somebody has moved out of town you can put it inactive even though you don't have a a u a wet signature so so generally what would happen is is that yes if you if you get information in and we don't have a signature but you know somebody has given to us like you know written the name out at the bottom and a new address and everything so not only so we go above and beyond in theory because what we do is we mark them as inactive and then the new address down at the bottom that's been listed we mail them a letter that says I am no longer a active me uh citizen of Grafton or I am still an active voter in the town of Grafton and then there's a spot for a wet signature on that particular letter that we mail out and we actually send them a self address stamped envelope so that they can actually mail that back into US yeah so I have sent out I mean last year we sent out dozens and dozens to different states to different towns inside of Massachusetts new cities um and we did get a number of them back with you know check marks that I have moved so then we were able to go in and when we get that letter in we'll you know put that in with the rest of the Town census to that that person is no longer there um and then we will be able to physically

remove them from the system yeah so it's quite complicated actually to remove the state requires that additional go-ahead which you know I do understand because certainly if somebody maliciously says yeah he or she no longer lives in Grafton and then they go to vote and we've removed them because somebody said yeah hey you don't live here anymore because so and so said you don't then we would incur a major issue okay so so that's why we're more hesitant about yeah making sure that like that we get a full signature on somebody before they're actually removed from the okay but so like those people that showed up at at the um at your office yesterday and and said that they well son-in-law or whatever yes um you couldn't put an ey next to it until you yeah I I I wouldn't put an eye next to it until we got like the paperwork back that was from the the household okay um you know so so everybody will get one assigned to your particular household and then the person generally that like is on the mailing list would be the person that signs the bottom of it for us and if they make changes on there of course we'll go in there and make the changes like you know jobs and things like that but if they ask specifically to have somebody removed if their signature is not down at the bottom we're going to mail a letter that's and and like that goes into the computer that says we mailed this letter on 114 um and until we hear back they would just be on that list okay all right well that that explains a lot for me you know in terms of um you know how things happen because uh we were wondering you know why things didn't move quicker to remove but now that's that's pretty it's amazing the process that they make you go through and again like I said earlier

I do understand because there every once in a while somebody would do something inappropriate like please remove you know so and so from the list because they no longer live here but the person you know is living in town and would very much like to vote in the upcoming you know sure oh yeah you can see I do hear you there and I appreciate that your concern for the you know the citizen that does I'll use the word disenfranchise from voting however I I'm I'm nearly certain if they were to show up at a polling place that they'd have the ability to to do a a a a ballot that's a conditional ballot that's gonna get provisional ballot thank you um that's gonna get but but I but I completely understand I I you know what I mean it's it's the signature piece I think is is the hard part it's just like you know you've explained it well you know we do understand you know but getting at those things and trying to identify you know that group of folks and the duplicate folks and you know as we talked about before Jack this board can hold a we can if if you had information that wasn't good enough let's say clerk's office looks at it and says there's not enough here for us to either make a voter inactive or to in their opinion this board has the ability to legally have that voter come in you we we T talk you know it granted it's not done a lot I realize it's but you know if there was something that you know if in talking in the clerk's office and and Mike a a regist and you know we disagreed you know how we want it to go about it our board can have hearings we can bring people in and and we could do that ourselves but um I can see like you know i' I've been at this a little longer than the both year and um it's I've been nothing but my confidence is always reins stilled in how things are done in this town it's like with you know how the town clerk runs elections and you know I mean I I you know as someone that perhaps felt like well I you know I kind of raise an eyebrow at certain things I do but it's just not to the level or or certainly the the you know these isolated incidents anecdotal

incidents it's not to the level where it's just like yeah we really have a problem here in town I I I I just don't believe that so that's my two cents on that yeah I I mean the thing that candy I think helped me to understand was there's checks and balances yep so that's the thing that you know we I feel fairly confident that we're moving in the right direction with our elections and yeah I mean as I said I I know and I talk about it a lot is 2024 and every four years like that are like you know it's like playing in the Super Bowl like you've got four elections that are going to happen throughout the year yeah and the one thing that certainly I would take from that is as as you know even just the interim clerk is you want the citizens of Grafton to just be able to come in cast their vote and know that everything is being done um you know professionally and that every vote is going to count um and that these elections are being run the way that they would hope and quite frankly I thought last year was absolutely spectacular we get audited by the state the audit goes phenomenally well um the machines generally did their jobs um our election teams did their jobs you guys came in um with candy at the time to do the audit I thought that went fantastic like with the group of election workers that were able to come in and help us that day I don't think all the towns are able to get 18 workers so that that process doesn't take 3 days you know to get done um so so so I really do think that when you have a year like that that is when the most could go wrong and I think when I we hit you know December 1st and then January

1st to turn into 2025 we ended 2024 on the best kind of note with with four successful elections and and people of this town can know that they were run well um that the results were exactly the way that were set up and um you know especially after reviewing like with the audit M you know that's we got exactly what we were supposed to get done in in 2024 with with the biggest year you can have even even the one the one that you you folks met with on the 18th of November with the the military person that you know missed missed the cut off and had to do I mean even that was an odity kind of but but you know even that went went well so yeah see I think that that's F and you know those the people that are overseas and things like that we want to absolutely make sure that those votes count you know for me particularly um you know I had family in the military and so if somebody's across the pond serving somewhere I absolutely want to make sure that that those people get a chance to vote in in their elections here all four of them on on a year like that or a year like this to still be able to vote um for you know what I think is one of the most most important elections you can have which is the local so we'll definitely make sure that we try to make sure like for me um whether it's me that ends up as the permanent Clerk or if it's somebody else and I go back to my role as the assistant I will do absolutely everything I can to make sure that the elections are run as well as they were last year for sure that's great thank you yeah that was perfect that was good uh okay so um I did pass along that deleted voter file yes so it looks by I I I just quickly this morning it looks like we had over a thousand voters that were deleted I could be wrong about that mic but I think it was a th in 2024 so clearly people are you know the the clerk's offic is looking at these things and the people that are assigned to it whether it was Mich or candy are certainly you know that's that's a lot

of movement on a ro file I was surprised it was as large well I wonder how many of those were like duplicate so oh that's a good point yeah but yeah good point sure but now we can you know I I guess what I'd like us to understand too it's just like you know if we can allow the clerk's office to do their thing and have the at least the materials to take a look and perhaps be in communication with the clerk's office on a on a fairly regular basis without bothering them too much to say hey can you answer this or that I I think Mike's been great with regards to his response to our be question to you know um um well and if I if I just just to speak on why there may have been so many because of that presidential there were people that were registering at their new places and you know when you register like at the registry for example yeah those deletions come right through to the V system so we delete those people like on a daily basis so sometimes we might have had 10 people to delete in a day yeah um and so like because of the major election the presidential of course people were registering in other places so there were a lot of deletions that ended up happening people signing up in other towns people like you know deciding to you know register at you know if they were at school at upen they were registering down in Pennsylvania instead um so those things were happening so I think that that's why you would have a lot more deletions in a presidential year I I would anticipate yeah yeah I I couldn't pull uh from like 20 I I I don't know if I can pull from like other years from them but the extract from the previous year I would assume that that's why 2024 had more deletions than normal no it's good insight into why it is the number would be you know if a thousand is high and I agree with you and I haven't seen it in previous years so I don't know if I run it again you know in on December 31st of 2025 maybe it turns out that there's only 600 and that would make a lot of sense to me right just based on the elections that are going to happen this year comparatively to last year and so

that presidential election year where people are certainly more involved now the people that are on our roles that really perhaps shouldn't be but didn't do anything in those off- presidential years didn't go to their town and so in and to to re-register where their new address is I I think to your point right and so as a result of that that for lack of a better word exposed those voters on eye roles it's like yeah no they don't live here not you know you can see they've registered now in whatever other Town Milbury Auburn and and so that that was good so that's a great explanation Mike thank you yeah that makes sense all right any further discussion on varus deleted voter extracts no okay item three user policy so Mike I guess maybe this is more directed at you um we did talk to candy during the year about perhaps it maybe one of us or all of us somehow getting ver certified on varus um I I know that she knows or she had said that the state seems to be going to a mod a more modified system and there was some thought of perhaps delaying any of that if that was going to happen um until the state transitioned over to a a new system I I mean I can understand I I think what seems to be happening now is for me personally is would I like to be on ver so I could come in and take a look at things certainly do I understand the security concern about that 100% right it's I I know the computer system is here it's it's a it's a closed system it's just comes into the clerk's office in various towns people have sign on to do the work um whether it's looking at a removal but as a clerk I can understand how that and as the office is a concern that people know what they're doing and do the right thing you don't want to go into that state file and that you know have myself do something that isn't right in the file and then they're looking at the clerk's office going hey what happened here it's just like well that was one of the r STS so I I I do understand that part of it um I just didn't know if you know as I say in the previous CL seemed to feel like yeah at

some point maybe that's a conversation to have to put either one of us or all of us on Varys I just my term V RIS um I don't know if that's how you feel about it or if you you know if you had any thoughts with regards so um it's something that I certainly could talk to the state about that the group that runs that program are changing it over they mentioned this summer they're doing whatever their improvements are okay but what I can tell you is that for us we individually get a key card for it and so you know if candy was going to be on V her key card gets pushed and so all of the changes and things that she does inside the system get marked as like you know so like my code would be G RF MJ okay so like if I sech certify somebody from the registry and update them in the system and they get a new they've registered to vote at the RMV or whatever it is so if you go in and double click on their name it'll say that like this has been updated by grf MJ so I know that I was the person that did that update right um and so that's something that I would have to discuss with the state because they're the ones that give us the key codes for all of the people that are allowed to be on the system so um that so obviously candy will have been removed by them right and then Nancy also no longer with us in as part of that program will will also have her key card returned I believe and so um for me like I like I continue to say just you know because I'm not the clerk I'm the inim clerk and so they're going to do the search and whoever ends up being the clerk will be able to certainly work with you guys and work with the state um if it was if if I should be so fortunate to have the opportunity um I would certainly be willing to reach out to them and ask

them what the proper protocol is and how they would proceed with getting key cards and things like that because even if it is me I I also then would of course I'm going to I would need my own ass I'd need an assistant clerk um as I'm doing both of those roles right now um so so the the request would obviously be um you know as as soon as I could to get somebody up to speed so that I can have somebody else that can do some of that work cuz right now it is just Todd and I he's phenomenal um a incredible learner um has done absolutely everything we could have asked of him um and so that's why it it it would be pertinent to find um somebody else to be able to like go in there and do some of those changes um but again as somebody that's not actually like officially the clerk just inm role um that's something that I would be able to look into you know after the process has completed great yeah the the um this something we have talked about in the past and the question of whether we need to actually do it or we need to have information so that we can do what we're mandated to do um and that would be working with you to produce those that information so we could review it so that we you know that would be okay too right you know I agree rather than feeling like we had to go into Varys to do it if sure and that's that's why like you know for example like I Dan has made a couple requests of extracts that I've been able to go in there and print out and you know again we'll do our best to get them formatted properly so that like they're EAS easily viewable um and certainly when you guys make those requests it it even though it's from a particular board um it acts just as a public records request and so you know I I can go into the system and request the EXT ract and that they generally do them like a couple of times um however their schedule gets set up

and then I'd be able to that it'll show up in my system and then I'll be able to try to do the formatting um so so like when you guys are looking for something like that um that is generally something that we would be able to go in there and try to figure out for you I mean if we were in terms of frequency how often would we want that to happen every quarter or well I think you me if I'm not mistaken you mentioned it at the last meeting I think you said potentially monthly monthly but considering what I've just heard about the amount of work involved sure and uh you know I've always viewed this as as a little bit of taking that work that whether it was the board that even if it was just one of us right like I initially the conversation with the previous clerk tended to be having extra bodies in the clerk's office can be a difficulty and you know wasn't really I think addressing the point right we had so it appears that you know that it so the four people that were in the office previous Mike and Candy and Todd and Nancy all can get into this the that system that by law we also should be able to get into right they're not Registries but they have access to a system we are in Legally we have a right to get in there however I think we've been sensitive to how the office runs and you know I think we you know certainly for me personally I took a step back it's like okay I guess I understand I think the the the piece that wasn't fully explained to me a few years ago was um but you have a right to do it and and and if you ask for these extracts we're happy to get them for you um I I think that's maybe you know I mean I think with Mike you know I I think that's going to be a little bit of a different bloging which makes me feel a lot better it's just like yep someone that's a little bit more friendly to the to the idea of hey we're not trying to run your office but we're just trying to do our job here as as far as oversight of of the Ral piece so uh you know I

mean it might come up so it seems like you know uh to kind of put a lid on it maybe to some extent um I'm happy to get you know Mike's right there's some undecided things you know whether the new system hasn't been put in place yet whether Mike's not officially our town clerk yet um so absolutely there are some when those things get settled and perh you know perhaps we would revisit as a board and say okay how do we want to do this are we happy just not having anything to do with Varys or we would we like Mike to kind of pursue this as he said he would be willing to do with the state to see do we want it to be the three of us maybe one of us would say could we be you see this of other boards in towns it's like they're the rep for something right um the let's say rep commission they have someone on um CPC right they're they're on that board but they also did the set thing maybe it' just be one of us or whatever but I'm happy to delay that conversation you know until you know things settle down and you know and again I I think it's good timing only because as Mike said 2024 was the Super Bowl of Elections with four now we're in that L certainly this year um in in next year will be State elections I believe you know there'll be some state election and then for obviously the presidential again but you know now we're in that kind of a low period where I think if you know Now's the Time to kind of go hey let's take a look at things and and if this things would like to see that we feel we could do better as a group or whatever perhaps we could try to St to Institute those things sure yeah yeah yeah okay sure yeah anyone else for the discussion on item three okay perfect that was great uh item four post elction audit meeting minutes okay so we've um we've done a good job of we've got I think we're pretty much caught up except for that post uh audit uh minute meeting um so I know for me I put a little note in here come clean up confusion who is responsible for a minutes so Mike I I don't know if you know there there's

in 2023 this board um we went through a reorganization and in that candy was made the clerk of the board not the T you know she's the town clerk y she's also the clerk of the board so the responsibility of taking minutes and doing that stuff and and you know you would probably know this too right I sent her a few some of the recordings that I sent I sent to her and she transcribed them and whatever else so um towards the end of the year for whatever reason that that kind of fell off and we're kind of scrambling who wants to put together the minutes so we we did do some of that we we did uh two of the three meetings we did with regards to this one now it's kind of like okay can we get can we all talk about the information hence I appreciate you sending in that the form you brought us with the post audit stuff yeah that would be that would be it you yeah yeah that that's a good one although I will tell you that you know and I I I know this form exists the town of Princeton so I don't want to get too far into the weed you know we as a board decided that we if you guys remember in a previous meeting that we were going to all go to the meeting and we were all going to participate as running the recount in effect candy did she knew our stuff she you know in effect that was Mike and Candy kind of doing that and we kind of took a step back um I think you know we what happens in other towns and I and it did happen in Princeton was that their board said nope go ahead town clerk you run it they weren't there and as a result of that that generated meetings from their audit and they're pretty extensive um I have them I have the minutes from them so um it as as part of her packet or the the the clerk there they also added a um the the standardized audit file that that every town submits which is this um having to do with uh the audit and and that really just laid out numbers and on the back of it it asked for some description as doesn't have the descriptions to The Backs side of it really the longest short of it is we can all try to Cobble

together some information and there there's nothing pressing with those me minutes so point one would be um well certainly Mike gave us input on what he saw and I had some notes too I I don't think I sent them to you guys but I'll I'll get them to you and then perhaps collectively can come up with um how to set that up I don't know if Mike wants to have any input in that part of it he was there too so perhaps if we all looked at it um and then if there was anything we wanted to add we could I don't think we're going to be able to recreate the minutes that maybe some other towns have done with their extensiv but certainly I think we'll be able to to get the flavor of what it is you know what what it is yeah I mean I think if you include the form at the back yeah yeah I and then going over essentially just you know what took place right because obviously you guys opened up the containers and then the group you know counted the ballots into the 50s and then we had the teams doing all of that stuff and you guys then did the rechecks and like placed it back into the booklet and then you guys of course watched the other town clerk from from Holden um she was our she was our numbers yeah nice Jean was terrific and so I think as long as we lay it out like that and then include these numbers at the back that should definitely be satisfactory to to what took place on that day great I I don't disagree I I I I you know I don't disagree I think you're right about that um part of also with this piece though is now moving forward how do you you know is is because I I guess with candy got like so Candi was the clerk of the board and my understanding here is really typically in the L talks about the town clerk will be the clerk of the board of registers however that doesn't you know I mean if you felt as though you didn't really want to be the clerk of our board and we you know were to make someone else the clerk I mean I I guess that would be in play um or do you want to continue what candy did prior to those

last year meetings but before the the the meetings that we're talking about now she did you know she did the minutes on that part of it would Center the stuff so so I you know I hate to keep harping on it but just simply because I'm the interim clerk I do I don't want to make a decision on the board because it it the next time this board meets it might not be me sitting here so so I would I I would I would want to make sure that like whoever it is they can then make that decision about whether or not they would be like the clerk of the board okay but until that point if you guys wanted to yeah so like for example today's meeting if you guys wanted to put together the minutes of today's meeting and then we all can review it and somebody sends it to me I can certainly get it posted and you know I'll I'll review and we'll we'll we could so that's a deviation from what would be typical practice I.E you put together the minutes so and I appreciate that I hear what you know it's just like but so when we talk sadly sometimes though with boards when we talk about well we do it collectively and then it's like we but we didn't assign you know what I mean I'm I'm I guess what I'm trying to say and I don't mean to hammer the point myself is that you're the clerk of this board that you know that is the case so but if you know in in C I hear what you're saying like you know moving forward after this meeting I appreciate that and for this meeting if someone said okay I'll do the minutes for this meeting great um then we wouldn't have to worry about this meeting but at at you know the the until we I guess we could restructure the board until we have that meeting where we say okay new chair new Vice chair new clerk um you're filling in for candy so candy was the clerk of the board sure I mean listen if you if that's how you guys would like it to go I'll I'll certainly review the this meeting and I can do the minutes on it I've I've done I'm the person that was responsible for town meeting minutes in 2024 so okay you know certainly that's about 80 additional pages of minutes so for each

meeting for each meeting oh my God W that's a lot yeah that'll be in the annual Town report from the town clerk so you guys can take a peek wow at the minutes we did for that I'm sure it was a lot yeah um how about this how about you and I co-o this meeting you know what I mean like I will take a look at you know as far as creating the minutes this is meetings the only you know we have that the audit which we can all like we shoot emails back and forth how about you and I are the ones that are responsible for the minutes for this particular meeting and then we'll see where we are at our next meeting as you say perhaps you're the clerk and you know you can give it some time to think it over um yeah it it's there is some legal ease with regards to the town clerk being the clerk of the board um but let's do that and I will stay in contact you know so as as quickly as I can learn the job you know I'm just doing my best to to continue to Captain the ship in the correct direction and and if it and if it is to be that way then I would have absolutely no problem and uh certainly you know we do all the postings of all the minutes we post all the agendas and so if it if it came to our office is going to be the ones in charge of doing the minutes for the board of regist us then that's something that I would absolutely do so that's fine all right great this one though for today you and I will we'll we'll C sure they just you yeah okay perfect uh where are we so we're still talking about user policy oh no I'm sorry we moved on right so this was postelection audit meetings um so we touched on that we're going I'll try to I'll send out the other piece and I I will try to I do have the the meeting minutes of that Princeton meeting if either of either of you would like to take a look at it just to see you know what's in there and try to use it as a little bit of a boilerplate for what we're going to try to do but just so you you know you have a reference you

know what I'm talking about when I say wow they you know they went over like as you remember from our meeting they had you know there was some ballots that W in contentions you know the the people that were re in the recount said Gee we don't agree on this and we made a decision as a board to say yep we like that um you know my recollection is that probably happened like four or five times may have been more I you know just summarize it yes right so this is where we're at we're going to be summarizing you know we're just going to basically say hey that was our job we looked at how that worked on it looked at a ballot and we made a decision right so yeah so you perfect that's how that's how we go about it okay any further discussion on post elction audit meeting minutes okay item five town clerk document used to clarify voter residency status um Mike I think you did that really right we you you talked about in in some of our previous discussion here um and and so really so the the and correct me if I'm wrong but so the form we send out at the beginning of the year to if you know on that form you could say this person that's left this person left and if they sign that they could be removed from the voter correct right so so that would be one document used um what about any other documents you know like so let's say it was like a mid let's say there was some question as to and I think but I think you already touched on that too there is a for is it a form letter or a postcard that goes out a to the voter y it's a it's a letter that gets mailed to the new address that we would have listed for them and then it just confirms that they were at were they still at that address or is there any way we can get get a copy of that letter is it a form letter that's sent out by the state or is it a something you guys CFT no no it's something from us yes okay the state the state isn't going to help you do it they just ask that you do that at some point can I come by and pick up a copy of it um yeah I'll try to see or I mean it's going to be a public if you want me to

public records requested I'll do that too I think I can probably I'll I'll try to see if I can find because we okay yeah that'd be great yeah I don't know if anyone you guys might not be interested in take a look at it but so so really it would be the letter that they sent you know just like to to see that what's on there from an educational perspective but it's not like a critical so it is listed in Mass General 5137 by the first Monday in June regist regist so this you know so this is I guess this highlights the point that I think you know Mike hopefully you get from our side of it too and we certainly appreciate where you come from but um by the first Monday in June the registr must send a confirmation notice to all persons you know it's not the town clerk this is you know by law Mass General law the regist must send a confirmation notice to all presidents who appeared in the annual register of Voters last year but not on the current list it must inform them that their name may be removed from the bloa list if the voter fails to respond to the notice and does not vote in the next two banal elections so you know it's it's it's the Mandate is for the board it's not for the town clerk a member of the board I I agree with you you know what I mean I I I'm just trying to make it clear especially in Mike's new capacity like you know that yep nope this is we're all in this and you know and I'll be the first one to say thank you on behalf of the regist regist Janette for for sending these letters but you know it it really does boil down to how much do we want to you know either be involved or take a look or whatever it else you know what I'm saying so so that's all I'm trying to say by that that's it yeah um well I think having going back to our previous discussion about you know having um you know um a list of uh from the the Varys or whatever it's called deleted Voile the deleted voter file okay that you know whether we decide it's monthly or

quarterly um you know we'll have a a good understanding better understanding I think of as to how the system works which is um what we want right I would agree I mean I think we've always been in this position we we kicked around in various different ways really the clerk's office is doing our job and I'm appreciative of that but in in this board or I see it as collaborative I I don't yeah I think I think the board defers to the town clerk as a member of the board to do the bulk of the work for the rest of the board yes I I think that's right but I I think for this the way our current board is made up though we'd like to just be a little bit more involved or or get or have a little bit of better idea of what's Happening well just knowledge of it knowledge I think is the key you know because uh if if you know again once again if we're man uh have a mandate to oversee and be part of the process of elections in town then you know we want to be accountable to the town's people so we want to know what the hell's going on that's agreed and not that there's any question uh on my part that things aren't happening the way they should it's just I want to be able to say the people a lot of other people question how things are done as Board of regist you want to be able explain to them how it is to make sure that as the clerk has always made us feel comfortable with how things have been done we want to be able to pass that on to other people that may ask the same question I agree with that yep 100% yeah all right anything further on documents used to clarify residency status item five no okay uh we can move on to item six vote on minutes so the 11 16 minutes 11 uh I'm sorry yeah 11620 that's the list I have for so um that none of us were at that meeting that was you know Candy provided us

those minutes um I I we've touched touched on this previously you can be a board member of a board and approve minutes even if you weren't at the at the meeting that of whose minutes you're approving um and that is the case for all of us with regards to this uh I looked at I I did go into that 2020 yearly report because that's where these that's where that for our first minutes that's where they come from there's no mention of of that meeting on the 16th of November um which kind of makes sense that was because it was uh that overseas ballot piece again and I can tell you although we did have it this year we we did you and I were at the at where we took a look at that ballot this was the first year I've seen it so I I think it's an uncommon thing to have to have happen although in 2020 was another presidential election so um I guess all I'm saying is um Candy seemed confident she provided the minutes to the meeting she seemed confident in those minutes so I have confidence that those minutes are appropriate um but you know and if if if we're gonna we'll put it out there we'll put it up for vote and we'll see how people feel and if if there's something else we have to do about it to go at that then we'll do it a different way but are are you saying there was no minutes or there were minutes that just were lost or what we can't find what I'm saying is is that so this was in 2020 yeah so somehow those minutes were never right like so done expeditiously yeah right and you know it's and yeah done expeditiously you know would you know doesn't seem that there was a taping of the meeting it's not on it's not a video of the meeting so the the minutes were produced by candy and her best recollection of the meeting oh sure yeah do we do we do you have those have you seen them have you reviewed them oh good

she sent them to all of us but let me see if I can she did okay I don't remember see if I can that's fine you know if no no I I think you should you know I mean so this is this is what she sent out okay take a minute we're not in a rush yeah so a meeting of the board of registration was held Monday November 16 2020 in town clerk's office meeting was called to order at 12:30 and the fwbs received via mail were counted and added to the election totals motion was made to adour the meeting and was seconded right y That's yeah okay Mike had you seen it yeah okay yeah so um I will take a motion to approve the minutes from the November 16 2020 meeting so move do I have a second I second any discussion all in favor I I okay that's passed unanimous LE 4 zero on the November 16th minutes next up is the October 1st 2024 meeting minutes has anyone have has everyone had a chance to look at those yes candy sent those ones up too um okay I will take a motion for the approval of the minutes of that October 1st meeting so move do I have a second I second any discussion all in favor I is that an i Mike you you with us okay yep so that's 402 also 4 z uh we got one more November 8th uh November 8th 2024 has everyone had a chance to review those minutes yes

I prove them took me a while but I got it yeah that was a stellar that was a long meeting that was a hell of a long meeting I long I had to review it on tape and then take extract what I could from it that was a long meeting well done well done um do I have a motion to approve the minutes from the November 8th meeting so move do I have a second no second all in favor I I so those minutes are also approved for zero uh and one last one right one more 18th okay 111 1824 good job thank you yeah has everyone been able to review these minutes okay perfect um do I have a motion to approve the minutes from the November 18th meeting so moved I have a second I second all in favor I okay so that takes care of our minutes all right again we'll be working on the that other set of minutes from the from the election piece so that should be for our next meeting we can talk about that we don't have to really um at some point I imagine we can talk about when you want to try to schedule it maybe in a couple months or whatever maybe we'll see about be because Okay so um item seven on the agenda is old business so some of the old business that I kind of wanted to touch on is last year for this meeting we talked about whether it was early in person election stuff um whether this board felt we wanted to have early in person we will have a May election yeah Mike right local local election corre the 20th uh the 20th and that was what we weighed in on so I mean I guess I'm going at what I think is going to have to be an upcoming agenda item using old

business the stuff that we've gone over previous right so um if it's in May we're going to have to probably make it um I'm I guess I know you're not but but there is like a deadline so I would want to make sure that this board had a setup meeting like even if it was in I I forget I forget the I'm sorry I I can't recall the number of days ahead of time but this board is the one that controls whether or not there is inperson voting and so um you know there's Wonder there's it you have to have um I think mailin voting available for local elections which um that's of course on us but um the early voting is is decided upon by this board correct so and and there is a time yeah standard that I I I can't recall off the top of my head but there is I can't remember if it's 45 days in advance or whatever it is but this board decides whether or not we're going to do person voting for that local um and so that's something that I think again I know whether it's me or whoever it is but it should be on an agenda that's coming up like even if it was next month sometime like you know maybe even like a month from today would be perfect because I want to make sure that that gets done and taken care of so that um our office that I certainly still anticipate being a part of in whatever capacity um knows whether or not we're going to do early voting for that election would be fantastic if we can if we can put that as a as an agenda item for the next time I hear everything you're saying and I agree I will take a look to so next month perhap like you know perhaps I'm I'm pretty sure two years ago we did it in March but you know you and I whether the mic whether we shoot emails back and forth let's confirm that when that notice you know what that time frame is I'll I'll check the elections calendar to okay to see what the state requires

for that decision to be made ahead of time how how long it is required let's unofficially say we will meet again in either February or early March you know what I mean right so next month would be February and then early March yes and of course if I found out that for some reason it was needed to be made a lot sooner we certainly I would certainly let this board know and we'll accelerate a meeting could happen you know as soon as we could make it happen okay yep perfect you just said a meeting now if you wanted to I wouldn't you know we've done a pretty good job of communicating back and forth you never he might might like have a seminar to like you know I'd like to confirm I'd like to check my own calendar too you know if you don't mind but I appreciate that sure but we can certainly be in discussions about it I yeah absolutely emails back and forth that's that's no issue with that whatsoever um early in person so that's what we talked about there uh and also Mike with regards to early in person one of the other things that gets talked about here is the clerk's office versus the gymnasium so um I I guess I don't want to put the you know one before the other but that's going to have to come up too it's I believe that the state understands Grafton to use the clerk's office as the alternative site so in in the past we've said oh you know candi's brought it forward we voted on it as a board it's like you know we're gonna have it in the gym yeah you may if you wouldn't mind if you would take a look at that too to see if that's going to be part of you know what I mean like if I'm guessing if if we have early in person if the board was to vote for it you'd want to have it in the gym and so if you wouldn't mind taking a look to see how that's going to play itself out I guess maybe we'd have to vote I would I would probably be inclined to put that on an agenda item both that at our next meeting will will decide early in person whether it is and then where if we say no early in person the the location will

be moot but if we say yes then we'll move right into the change into the municipal gym right yeah and I'll certainly save that to discussion but I can also get you guys I think it's somewhere the number of people who showed up for early voting in a couple of the earlier elections obviously November stands on its own there was two weeks of early voting people clearly showed up to that but the numbers of in early voting in person for the first couple of elections last year was very small so that's something that I'll go over with you guys again I'll try to gather those numbers to give you guys an idea of what those kind of numbers look like as Dan put together for the local election you know you saw the turnout numbers percentage wise obviously November was always going to be a large number which makes perfect sense of course that that's natural y but the local I think was like 23% of the turnout of registered voters so um that's something of course that I would if again if if I'm sitting here with you guys in the next meeting which would be fantastic I'll I'll certainly get you guys the numbers and we can have that full discussion okay great that'd be great thank you I I I'm going through some of these other things that I had thought about with regards to Old business and some of it is really it it you know the flavor of our conversation so far certainly for Mike you have been you know hey it it's better let's resolve the town clerk issue and who's going to be so some of this is moving forward and so it's really not I I I I don't really see too much of it here um reorganizing the board that will come up again uh probably we might be able to add that as an agenda item for our next meeting uh P worker training in 2025 that was an old that that happened to be an old thing I'm I definitely whether it's a full training or if it's just a gathering of the body of election

workers if if if I was in charge of that I'm absolutely going to do that I'm going to make sure that I have a big meeting with everybody I can get involved I'll try to find a date that works absolutely best for his many of those election workers and if you guys we can certainly turn it into a well because we'd have the Quorum there um if you guys wanted to come and and so we'll set that up like that great um but but certainly I want to meet with that team because I know how fantastic a job they did I know how good those wardens and clerks are um that helped us run those four elections last year you know I was here 4 a.m. to 4:00 a.m. on Election night um in November so you know working 24 straight hours and I know know how hard those wardens and clerks had to work so I would very much like to meet with that team again thank them again for last year of course but then to go over what to expect this year and and getting people making sure that we have a team set for 26 as there'll be three elections next year so we're gearing right back up towards it it's never you know even though this year seems a little quote unquote easier you're always in preparation for the major things that are going to come up in the following years so so I think it would be fantastic to have that meeting SL training if that's the way it worked out that's great great great very good okay yeah some but as I say I have some other items here but but I think that you know they have more to do with what wait there can be a subsequent meeting it's really it really is in reference to to to our next agenda item so we'll wait and see we can we can talk about that and see if there's things we want to have on there for you uh does anyone else have any old business things we've talked about in the past that you know had a question about moving forward not at this time okay good so that's our last agenda item uh if there is no further business I intend to declare this meeting adjourned any further business anyone

can think of any further discussions anything like that okay um I declare this meeting adjourned the time is 104 all right all right that was great good can't see to much thanks great thank you guys app welcome you know nice to work with you one of new things got jump these meetings but and I brought my census with me a thank you very much Todd and I Todd and I have been grinding away in there we're going to do our best yeah it's yeah it's fantastic thank you guys you know I I think it's I'm looking forward hope you like our me like you know they're fun I don't think candy you know it's like I don't think she liked it too much it's like we love to hear from the clerk office we love you know like to to hear what's going on I mean I I just think that's the favor as I've said to like everybody that I've met with you know I love this building I have a lot of fun I like you know make it a point to try to you know go to each one of the offices and like you know if we the clerk's office can help and um you know we'll do everything we can and so you know I'm just doing my best to like get all the answers for everybody I'm doing public records requests I'm trying to do all the certifications the states of pain in the butt letting me in as like the burial agent and things like that so they've been just like incredibly impossible it's just so funny I I had sent something on the 20th of December and the person that like runs that system then sends me something back on January 9th that says actually I also need these three pages from you so I said you know what would have been fantastic is on that Friday when I sent you this if you you sent that back to me I would have been I I only took the one holiday off those next two weeks so you were I would have been very happy to mail this to you you could have come back it would have been in your computer it would have been awesome that would

have been so great but now here we are of course sure just delaying the process from the state your subtle and kind suggestion the way you phrase it it's just like I'm I'm fearful that's going to be it's one of the most amazing things of all time is like when you just are trying so hard to get things done um and and just to keep you guys informed yeah yeah just because I'm always very open about all this stuff so before candy had left I have a trip that's starting on Thursday of this week so I'm out next week my sister had a baby in Florida congratulations so I'm taking conratulations that baby's new grandfather my dad and my my younger brother and uh we're going to go to Fort Lauderdale for for like the week awes um so we're going to get to see the little guy so good um so it'll be terrific but but again as you guys can imagine I'm oh listen Jack yeah that's as an Italian I'm I'm I'm not nearly tan enough so like I got to get back qualified for it so I'm looking forward to it yeah it'll be awesome and like so I just wanted to make sure I gave you guys that heads up so um obviously I won't be doing like the the email stuff I'm trying to get Jonathan to see if I can do a if I can somehow I don't really want to take the work laptop just in case one of these companies like God forbid like anything happened to like my work materials so like I'm going to try to see if I can possibly have them help me get like just the emails to my phone so I can take a look so I don't come back to 350,000 of them but but I just wanted to give you guys that heads up but you know starting that Monday the 27th I'll be back and like you know we'll work on whatever it is that we need to do okay perfect excellent pretty sure we Cann not Bo I will commit to not bothering you for the oh no no just I mean yeah as you I know that's not what you get I've Lo yeah I've lost those other two and so Todd just in there trying to do I did 10,000 I'm happy to advocate for your office to go hey like you I have no I have zero PS these guys have been these

guys are fantastic like I said I love this building everybody's been very helpful the ta's office is fantastic group they've been nothing but unbelievable for us so so I have great faith and like that's what I was like because you know getting the state so that I could get the eight births that I had in the system and the multiple deaths and like just cleaning that stuff out before I go will make me feel much better about heading out and yeah being able to like take a vacation instead of it just being like me waking up at 6:45 every morning worrying that something crazy is happening here but I feel very confident that like everything will be taken care of so it's good great what is what is the um timeline for instituting a new clerking position it's like how long do you have to do this crazy yeah sure so so so the job's been posted I'm going to send I actually am sending my application materials today I I put my stuff together before like last night while I was getting ready to go to bed so I was like you know putting the final touches on my yeah own application packet and so you know and then you know certainly uh those guys will keep me informed as best they can so um unfortunately I wish I could give you guys a better timeline but I I just yeah I have I don't know if they I don't know if they plan to or if they planned or had to make a decision within a second yeah you know you know the the the the select board was fantastic about making sure that they got me appointed at at one of the meetings they were terrific um those guys are awesome they they you know they they got that done very quickly and um like I said the ta's office couldn't have been any better about this stuff I I really appreciated it and so like yeah like I said to you guys during this meeting you know I'm just doing my best to make sure that we get everything going in the right direction because I know the you know the town meeting not till May and the elections not till May 20th however

before you know it it will be April 15th and you're thinking like oh my God we're a month away and you can't yeah and you can't do with just two people in the office you need to be able to hire other people to be you want make sure that the whole team's working and it was great obviously you know last year to have before um you know to have Nancy as like the helper in the afternoon like you know she was putting those things in alphabetical order by streets so that when we pulled them at the places you know we're reviewing signatures on there and like checking them in and time stamps and oh my God and the other day the guy of course the timestamp guy comes in to replace our plate so it's a beautiful plate so that everybody can see it and then the timestamp stopped oh I literally stamped something on Monday morning and it was January 9th at 1 or January 10th at 1:20 when he left the office after fixing it and so he I call him and he goes ah this is just my luck so he comes in yesterday I'm just thinking like yes sir just you're Al I have to so that these meetings can so now I'm in there like I'm like clicking it down so that I have the right date and the time and I'm stamping it right from there I'm hand doing the time stamp at least you're able to just so you guys know that's what it's been no I mean we're note really honestly but you're right we're not in this so you know I mean if we seated the day to day I'm sure Shak my head going I don't know how he does it I would love to one day try to exp like because the job as assistant town clerk was fantastic and it's a ton of stuff and then you see the things that like while Todd and I and the other admins were like doing our pieces y to know what was happening in that back room is honestly shocking it's shocking to know don't change records requests and no no no no no that's why I really love although you should have every right to change this is for real I loved the opportunity to do it in the

inum because it gives me what is expected I'm getting the proper training and so I feel fantastic to have these weeks gearing up and then being able to do the interview and things like that also to know what you're getting into absolutely like do I really want the job and that's why today you know these are things that I'm like checking off before Thursday afternoon when I get on that plane you know I just want like if my checklist gets done just then I'll be on that Fort Lauderdale the beach see you know like just partying with the college students right as much as you can Expos quite no no those days are over that's fantastic yes yes yes we're we're yeah past the party time for sure yes come on you're not that old well past well past those guys absolutely like well well past that time yes have a few cocktails Maybe you'll get this catch the spirit you'll jump in I went there once that's the problem when you hit this age though Dan I don't even want to do the cocktails anymore oh no oh fair enough I don't want to deal with the pain of the following after that's I understand thank you oh you're welcome Absolut bye guys bye bye Lisa bye Lisa nice to see you this is great this is really great I'm so glad you know thanks guys going to try to do the best we can for

to e e e

e e e e

e for