Board of Registrars - Regular Meeting

We can go. We'll have to do roll call. Yes. Okay. Good morning. Welcome to the board of registars meeting March 10th, 2026. Uh my name is John Bonina. I'm chair of the board registars. And we also have Amy Barry and Lisa Yutz. and Rachel Gurstein on the phone. Great. Thanks for making this happen. Okay. All the issues. Thank you. Thank you for sticking with it.

Okay. So, um we'll call the meeting to order. Uh first agenda item is uh approval of the minutes from our Tuesday, February 24th meeting, 2026. Has anybody uh have any uh Well, let me make motion. Motion to approve. Uh yes, I make a motion to approve the meetings from February 24th, 2026. Second. Second. All right, Rachel. Any discussion about that? Should have called discussion before. Yeah,

I get it. All right, so I think we're all set with that. Um um okay and uh our next agenda item is the upcoming select board meeting on March 17th um 2026 in which we will be presenting uh at the select board. So we want to talk about what the agenda is and how that's going to happen. So I guess we did have some information um that we talked about in our last meeting. Um but um so we need to talk about um uh what the mission and uh role of the board of registars is and I guess that um as chair I'll I'll quote it from the state handbook.

That's perfect. Yeah. Are you fine with this? Um yeah, I mean I think you know when I looked on the uh town website you know there's a a lot of information there about what we do um you know so um definitely if they start asking questions so need a lot of help from folks so um just in terms of you know the specifics but uh you know and uh is there other topics uh Uh uh we want to talk about the the videos. Yes. Yeah. I haven't gotten those yet. Bob, I touched base with him yesterday. He has all the information he needs. He's working on those. So

Okay. All right. If for some reason they're not complete, I will communicate that to you. But um I will send them to you prior. Okay. When when I get them, but there was no wording changes or anything, so they're pretty okay. Same as what we said. Yeah. And he's going to follow that. Was that expected to happen before the meeting or just I I got the indication that he would probably be able to get them and so Okay. I'll communicate that with you in an email. So are are we going to demonstrate it there? Probably won't have time to We can just point them to where it is on the website. Okay. All right. And the packet can have a link in it. Yeah. That Yeah. Okay. If we Yes.

Yeah. That's part of the that's part of the utility of going to Slateboard is that we can put information in the packet and that's available to anyone in in town, right? So, it's a nice way to disseminate that opportunity as long as it's available in time to get the packet information to the meeting, you know. So, right, logistics may right we can at least direct them if it's not available and maybe if they're not all done, some of them will be and then we can just say the others are to follow. Okay, good. What else should we um the early in person?

Yep. I already submitted the letter based on the recommendation from the last meeting that we don't have in person, but we are offering the early vote by mail. Okay. And um

I I was I was wondering if um you know we should discuss briefly like uh questions you know that we could we could anticipate and like I will pose one cuz I don't I don't know the answer. Um when I first joined there was some discussion um but I don't remember the complete you know history of of the structure. You know it's there's three um members you know of the board of regards. it's an odd number and so that you know we don't have like you know equity in terms of political party and I I personally don't think that's a problem but I think people will ask well how did that come to be the structure opposed to other other options

so this is actually a board that is created by the state and the um both the um town committees the Republican and the Democrat they send the names in the board of reg or the board of selectmen appoint the members. It's not a committee that was created by the select board. It's a committee that was created by the state. But Right. Okay. So the like it's like nominations go in and the select board chooses.

Right. But they do do like right now there's two Democrats. So that the next um spot that comes up will be a Republican. And then the next person that's up, which would be 2027, would be John. And then both parties will be able both town committees will be able to submit. So it could be two Republicans and one Democrat or it could be two Democrats and one Republican or an unenrolled if they don't name aren't submitted. If if you don't get enough,

right? because if you don't get enough if the Republican or the Democratic town committees can't produce names to give to the um select board then select board can appoint someone and that appointed person can be on right but that's under you know very specific situations I know that it was in place when I started but they typically will push for to have a party member Yep. Mhm. Yeah. I mean, it does um this may come up too. Your term is expiring the end of the month. So, yes. But the town committee, the Republican town committee was reached out by the select board and they did submit names.

Oh, they did? Yes. So, they'll be appointing that. Okay. Okay. Good. So, um have has the select board indicated at all um any you know any direction they want want us to go in or no cuz we had asked them if we could come so they don't really have any okay expectations I mean I did submit the letter for the no person sure in-person early voting and um I will give them the videos.

Okay. Good to read. Um, so, um, yeah, we're not going to have a lot of time, no to talk about it from what I understand. Yeah. Um, so just a basic, but there could be questions and Y about what we do. Mhm. So, yeah. All right. Anything else, Rachel? No, thank you for that answer. That was very helpful.

Okay. Um that's good. Um so um we already covered the kind of the uh PSA with community television, right? Agenda item. It's um hopefully will be ready soon, but

I feel good that some of them will be done if not all of them. Okay, good. Yeah. And uh so um is there anything anything else in terms of uh agenda items before we I don't have any I mean if you feel comfortable the select board really we invited ourselves to it and so I think if we just stick to the fact that we did the videos that about the local election and the state is um putting in place the times that we do the in person for the primary and the state election in November. So,

okay, we're just making that one recommendation. That's the only one that's asked of us for this year. Okay. Um, I I I just kind of anticipate that somebody might have some questions about where we're at with things um in terms of, you know, what u uh the process of, you know, what we're doing um recruiting poll workers to, you know, having the voter list updated or things. So, the poll workers are actually appointed by the select board and if they don't do it, then the board of registars are responsible for that. Okay.

Right now I have 68 poll workers and I'll be doing the training in April with th the um election workers and so I already sent the notices for those out. Okay. And um in on January 20th I attended the select board meeting as the town clerk and I gave them the election calendar. Okay. And so the nomination papers are already coming in for the local election. Okay. They were available on February 2nd all the way through March 31st. Okay. So, they're fully aware of everything the schedule. Yeah. And it's also on the website. Okay. Good. Very good. Mhm. Nice job.

Thank you. All right. So, um I guess we just have to move to our next uh agenda item, which is to uh schedule our next meeting. Yeah. And um yeah, it's kind of sad that you're leaving. Oh, well, nobody said I'm leaving. My name was one of them that was submitted. Oh, it was it was to submit three. So Oh, I didn't realize it could be re Yes. redone. Yeah. Yeah. There's no term limits as far as I know. So Oh, good. Yeah. Okay. We'll see. All right. Hello. Good luck. Good luck.

Thank you, John. Yeah. Okay. So, um, we can't have a party then, I guess, until we know for sure. Yep. Anything yet. So, okay. So, we should find another time. Yeah.

So, one thing is May 1st um is a Friday and that's the last day to register to vote for to um the town meeting and the election because they're on the same warrant. So, if any of you want to come, I will be open from 1:00 to 5:00 and to collect um voter registration in person. If anybody wants to come, that was one of the things I rolled out in January. You can look at your calendars and let me know. I don't need more than one person to come. And luckily, we have three elections, so anybody there'll be more times after that. Sure. But if anybody wanted to think about that date. Yeah.

Okay. All right. Rachel, you got that too? Um, yes. Okay. Um, Amy, could you um send us an email like just to remind us, but um you know, as as far as I know, I could I could do that. Okay. I'll just set a little table up for you. I um haven't typically had people come in in person to register, so Well, we are always open because it's the law, so we do that. Okay. Do they just mail in? How do you if they don't come in person to register at the last minute? How do they So you can register online with the secretary estate website. Yep. Yeah.

And so typically on the Monday I double check to make sure if some some came in at midnight or whatever, I do get the everyone from the first. Do we post it on the website? Yes. Okay, good. So yeah. So that's that's good. Okay. So I'll put Rachel down for this date. Is that okay? Sure. Yeah. I will send you a note, Rachel. Thank you. Yep.

Okay. Um All right. So, in terms of do we need to meet before um any particular date or anything? No, I don't um I don't think I we don't have any specific dates. I mean, we'll meet after the election to see if anybody did overseas, right? You know, but I'll communicate that with you. So, okay. Can we attend? You want to? Yep. I'll send you a note. I don't want you to come to the same one as anybody else. Um so that we don't have to post it as meeting, right? We'll spread you out

for the election. No, election training. Okay. Okay. So, you're having multiple election trainings? I have six scheduled. Oh, I did it over two weeks and I worked with the senior center to work around their um classes and their lunches so that if they were going to come to lunch, they could just come to training. And I'm going to do it in small groups. So, and that's cuz you're conducting it versus the state person coming and just doing one. Oh, okay. Wonderful. Good. It's great. I would like to attend one of those. Okay. I'll send you the dates and just make sure you all spread it out. Sure. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I did two evening ones and two one two mornings and two lunch ones. Best instead. All right, sounds good.

So, um, in terms of the next meeting, um, I guess we could wait until, uh, after the election. Yeah, maybe we could. And then I'll send an email out a little before so because I'll know if people have requested and then if not, we'll just have a wrap-up meeting. Okay. So, the election is the 12th. The 19th. The 19th. The 11th is the town meeting.

Okay. Um Oh, right. So, you're going to be busy. All right. Um, so we could uh possibly go into uh to June. I guess June would be a great time because I expect the state will send the postcards in July. So, I'll just give you an update. Okay. In June for, you know, the September election. All right. Um, so do we want to try uh say uh the 8th of June

at 10:00 a.m. or the 9th? Either one. the 9th probably might be better for me, but um I don't know how either way it's fine with me. What about you, Rachel? Does June 9th at 10 a.m. work for you? Yes. There's one calendar that I have to to check, but I'm going to I'm going to say that that it's that it's fine. I'll double check as soon as I can. Okay. Let's let's play on it. Good.

Okay. All right, sounds good. All right. Um, and there's no public comment to make. We have nobody here. So, um, I guess he'll we'll entertain a a motion to adjourn. Sure. I make a motion to adjourn our meeting. 10:28 a.m. Um, second. A second. Second. Okay.

Yeah. Second. And I'm sorry, I was writing it down the time. Okay. All right. Okay. All right, Rachel. I'll send you a note before the first. Okay. I'll I'll make it out of my calendar, but I'll just the details. And uh yeah. Um, thanks for making the phone available so we could I can still participate. Appreciate that.