Agenda - Council - 09/24/2024 - Laserfiche WebLink

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looking at the JPA and the election equipment agreement as she believes they could make changes to this for the 2024 election. Councilmember Woestehoff shared that he was not prepared to discuss anything other than polling locations this evening as that was the topic of the case. He said he would fully support moving the polling location from Central Park to St. Katherine Drexel. He added that he would also like a lot of feedback from the County if they are looking at changing anything for this year's election. Councilmember Howell said if the Council is not prepared to have this discussion this evening in regard to the JPA and the equipment agreement then she would like to see this discussed at the next Work Session meeting. Councilmember Riley asked if State law requires them to use the electronic poll pads. City Attorney Knaak shared that he believes they do have to use the electronic poll pads. City Administrator Hagen added that using only paper poll pads is allowed for municipal elections only. Councilmember Howell asked if the JPA with the County does not cover these and they nullify the agreement, if the City would then have to purchase their own equipment or go back to using paper poll books. City Attorney Knaak explained that the County can impose the kind of materials that are being used and in turn, they are answerable to the Secretary of State in terms of the system they choose to use. Derek Lind, Anoka County Election Integrity Team, shared that his understanding is that the State mandate is for the machine tabulators, which was passed in May of 2023 but did not include poll pads. City Attorney Knaak said he would have to look into this. City Clerk Schmidt added that it is her understanding that they cannot make a change to the equipment that is used to administer the 2024 election. Councilmember Musgrove noted that there are some cities that do not use electronic poll pads. She agreed with Councilmember Howell that the JPA is not beneficial to the City. She said the accountability seems to be off with this agreement where the City takes on all of the liability and the County holds all of the data. She noted that they should be protecting the data of this City; however, the electronic poll pads give anyone real time access to the data. City Attorney Knaak explained that it is the counties that run the elections and the cities are answerable to the counties. He stated that electronic poll pads were introduced as a way to reduce potential voter fraud as it would be able to tell in real time if someone had already voted somewhere else or submitted another ballot at an earlier date. City Council Work Session / September 10, 2024 Page 6 of 13