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Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 10:45 AM BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Maricopa County, Arizona (and the Boards of Directors of the Flood Control District, Library District, Stadium District, Improvement Districts, Housing Authority of Maricopa County, Housing Authority of Maricopa County and/or Board of Deposit) "The mission of Maricopa County is to provide regional leadership and fiscally responsible, necessary public services to its residents so they can enjoy living in healthy and safe communities” Board Members Clint Hickman Chairman, District 4 Jack Sellers, Vice Chairman, District 1 Steve Chucri, District 2 Bill Gates, District 3 Steve Gallardo, District 5 County Manager Joy Rich Clerk of the Board Fran McCarroll Meeting Location Supervisors' Conference Room 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor Phoenix, AZ 85003 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS The Board of Supervisors of Maricopa County, Phoenix, Arizona, convened in Special Session at 10:45 AM on Friday, March 27, 2020, in the Supervisors' Conference Room, 301 W. Jefferson, 10th Floor, Phoenix, AZ 85003, with the following members present: Clint Hickman, Chairman, District 4; Jack Sellers, Vice Chairman, District 1 (telephonically); Steve Chucri, District 2 (telephonically); Bill Gates, District 3 (telephonically); Steve Gallardo, District 5. Also present: Fran McCarroll, Clerk of the Board; Kelly Gardiner, Minutes Coordinator; and Andrea Cummings, Legal Counsel (telephonically). ACTION 1. CANVASS THE RETURNS FOR THE MARCH 17, 2020 PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE ELECTION Canvass the election returns for the March 17, 2020, Presidential Preference Election in accordance with the Official Results prepared by the Maricopa County Elections Department. The Maricopa County Elections Department has prepared the Official Returns from all county precincts, declaring the vote for the Presidential Preference Election held on March 17, 2020. The Elections Department requests that the Board of Supervisors canvass these returns and approve the Official Canvass for this elections pursuant to A.R.S. 16- 645. The Board of Supervisors is required to canvass these returns within ten days following the election. The Official Canvass is on file with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and retained in accordance with ASLAPR approved retention schedule. (C- 06-20-441-7-00) Chairman Hickman opened the Special Meeting of the Board of Supervisors explaining that due to the Coronavirus epidemic, the format for Board meetings has changed and this meeting would be conducted via Webinar. The necessary social distancing will create meetings that have a different process. Chairman Hickman stated Supervisors Sellers, Chucri and Gates as well as the presenters were attending the meeting telephonically while Supervisor Gallardo was present in the conference room. Scott Jarrett, Director of Election Day and Emergency Voting presented the Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 Page 2 of 6 Canvass. Mr. Jarrett thanked the Board for consideration in the approval of the Canvass for the March 17, 2020 Democratic Presidential Preference Election (PPE). Mr. Jarrett introduced Adrian Fontes, Maricopa County Recorder. Mr. Fontes acknowledged the many County departments that contributed to this election process. He stated the combination of planning, innovation and years of elections experience was a “recipe for success.” With the Coronavirus impact, many individuals worked diligently in the days leading up to the election to reconfigure site books, revise training procedures, relocate polling places and redistribute equipment. The challenge to compress 229 Precinct Polling locations into 148 Unassigned Vote Centers was a huge undertaking. The new equipment that was initially distributed had to be collected, cataloged, and redistributed to the new Vote Centers. He thanked the many people who worked together particularly the “behind the scene” people. He said he was proud to be a partner with the Board of Supervisors and was confident that, as a team, they will overcome any challenges that arise in the August and November elections. Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 Page 3 of 6 Scott Jarrett reviewed the Voting Options slide 1. There were a variety of options available in order to accommodate voters including the military and overseas ballots that were sent out within the prescribed timeframe. Mr. Jarrett gave detail on each of the options listed. Mr. Jarrett reviewed the Election Day Response slide and explained some of the criteria that went into the redesigned election day model. He explained a number of challenges that came up including poll worker resignation and the difficulty of getting cleaning supplies. The main focus was to position the Vote Centers where the propensity for in-person voting was high. These decisions were compressed into five days with the ceaseless efforts of employees and volunteers. In the above slide, the heat map shows a high density of in-person voters from previous elections. This information helped guide the last minute changes. The darker hues on the map indicated the high density and the yellow dots represent where the new Vote Centers were located. Mr. Jarrett stated minority voters were another consideration when deciding on locations. Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 Page 4 of 6 Mr. Jarrett reviewed the Election Day Response slide and gave credit to the many volunteers who showed up. As the plan changed, the volunteers arrived to pick up or drop off the equipment and supplies that had already been distributed around the County. With over 80 polling locations closed, County employees staffed those locations to redirect the voters to the nearest Vote Center. He thanked the County Manager’s Office for assisting with that staffing. The County employees were the backbone of the Election Day activities. There were IT members from Office of Enterprise Technology and the Recorder’s Office who were positioned around the County, available to take care of any problems that may have come up. Mr. Jarrett reviewed the Canvass Report slide showing the results of voter turnout on Election Day. Maricopa County had a historic turnout in both mail-in and in-person voting. Mr. Jarrett compared 2016 democratic voters to 2020 democratic voters and saw an increase of 1200 voters while seeing a decrease in provisional ballots during the same years. He stated the evening voting wait times did not exceed 10 minutes. Rey Valenzuela, Elections Director, thanked the Board for their support. He thanked the many Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 Page 5 of 6 citizens who stepped up during this crisis and helped make this election a success. Mr. Valenzuela stated Maricopa County worked as a team from leadership to volunteers and said this is an example of “best in class.” He touched on a variety of innovative steps the elections department took to ensure citizen’s right to vote was preserved. He echoed many of the previous comments made and the many “moving parts” that were a challenge for the team. Scott Jarrett stated the new tabulation equipment made a big difference in the expeditious counting of the ballots and adjudication process. Supervisor Gallardo talked about his 14 years of experience in the Elections Department and could not imagine how to manage an election during a pandemic. He saw great effort, teamwork and leadership for this election and he thanked everyone who contributed. Supervisor Gates echoed all the positive comments. He thanked Mr. Jarrett and Mr. Valenzuela and their entire teams as well as all the volunteers and employees that came out to assist. Motion to approve the Canvass of the Returns for the March 17, 2020, Presidential Preference Election was made by Supervisor Gallardo, seconded by Supervisor Sellers Ayes: Sellers, Chucri, Gates, Hickman, Gallardo ~ Supervisor Gates left the meeting immediately following the vote ~ Supervisor Chucri thanked everyone who came out to participate. It is this teamwork that makes Maricopa County “best in class.” He asked Mr. Jarrett if there were any surprises about how the new equipment performed. Mr. Jarrett said there were some lessons learned as is often the case with new equipment. He stated training on how to setup the machines will likely resolve most issues that were encountered during the PPE. Chairman Hickman confirmed with the Clerk there were no public comments during this meeting. Supervisor Sellers said he was very impressed with our teams as they all came together in this very difficult situation. Chairman Hickman stated he was very proud in how Maricopa County and the state handled this election when other regions were cancelling their elections. He said he appreciated the Elections team, and to have other departments step in at the last minute to help was great. Chairman Hickman said planning has been very important and with this election behind us, we move ahead with experience to the August Primary and November General Elections. He expressed particular appreciation to Mr. Jarrett for his dedication to the election and its success. MEETING ADJOURNED There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned. ______________________________ Clint Hickman, Chairman of the Board ATTEST: Special Meeting Minutes Friday, March 27, 2020 Page 6 of 6 ____________________________ Fran McCarroll, Clerk of the Board