Blog

Jun 26, 2023

Elections board to meet Tuesday in Dobson

”Through the multi-partisan assistance team program I found that I was not only able to accomplish the important mission of helping residents vote, but I was able to spread some sunshine among these

”Through the multi-partisan assistance team program I found that I was not only able to accomplish the important mission of helping residents vote, but I was able to spread some sunshine among these individuals,” said Carol a member of Wake County MAT. (Photo: Wake County BOE)

There are no elections coming this fall for Surry County but the candidate filing period for those seeking local office next year will open on Dec. 4.

Well ahead of any of filings, primaries, or ballots the Surry County Board of Elections will be holding its regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday, August 22, at 4 p.m. in Room A of the Surry County Service Center located at 915 E. Atkins Street in Dobson.

According to Surry County Elections Director Michella Huff, appointments will be made for precinct officials for 2023 through 2025 at that time. These are important appointees who are charged with facilitating the activities at polling places on voting days and the ballots.

According to state statues precinct officials will, as needed, count ballots at the polling place, make unofficial reports to the county board, certify the integrity of the vote and the security of the official ballots, and return said ballots and equipment to the county board upon completion.

At Tuesday’s meeting, another agenda item deals with a proposed Board of Elections Saferoom. This may conjure up an image of a James Bond super villain, but Huff agreed the term, “Probably sounds more exciting than it is.”

She explained the county may have a chance to receive funding to provide a “saferoom” for ballots and voting machines she said, “Beyond the measures we already have in place.”

At its peak, talk about election integrity and security reached a crescendo in Surry County and at board of commissioners meetings. Local speakers and national figures such as professor David Clements visited the county to discuss paper ballots, statistical anomalies, and voting machines they claimed may have a hackable modem.

One of the broadsides fired at the 2020 election and more broadly at election security had to do with electronic voting machines and whether they could be manipulated.

The possibility of creating a more secure holding place for voting machines and ballots may come as some relief for those who have felt that election security, regarding electronic voting machines, has been lacking.

Huff said Monday that she was reviewing the SAFE Assessment report from the North Carolina Department of Public Safety that had recently arrived and would be discussing it at the meeting Tuesday.

Also, appointments will be made for the multi-partisan assistance team for the county. That team is tasked with aiding with mail-in absentee voting and other services to voters living in facilities such as hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes.

Assistance teams can aid with voter registration, requesting an absentee ballot, being a witness for an absentee ballot, and then aid with the marking, sealing, and when needed even mailing the ballot as the voter’s agent.

The state board said, “In the event that a resident requires the help of a team member with the actual marking of a ballot, the voter’s selection is kept in strict confidence.”

According to the North Carolina State Board of Elections those teams are made up of a pair of county appointees who have different party affiliations — or who were selected unanimously by a bipartisan county board of elections.

The goal is to guarantee that not being able to physically get to a polling place need not prohibit someone from their constitutionally entitled vote. Ensuring that the team is made up of people from a different party or who were selected by members of both parties at the county level will better ensure the integrity of that vote.