DeKalb board approves polling-place changes, PR contract and poll managers; director reports 89,000-piece return-mail backlog

The DeKalb County Board of Registration and Elections voted unanimously to approve a set of polling-place changes proposed by staff, approved a contract with Profile PR for communications work and approved the list of early-voting and election-day poll managers for the upcoming June special election.

Polling-place changes approved by the board include temporary relocations of Shamrock and Valley Brook precincts from River Church at Valley Brook to Laurel Ridge Elementary for the June election only, and a set of approximately 10 permanent relocations prompted when host facilities became unavailable. Staff said the permanent changes reflected site availability, accessibility and utilization assessments. The board approved the notice to publish these changes in the county legal organ on April 17.

Some specific moves drew questions from board members. For example, the Hugh Howell precinct was moved from Smoke Rise Baptist Church to Smoke Rise Elementary School; one board member noted the move was nearly 2.8 miles by a simple distance check and asked whether closer options had been considered. Elections supervisor Jay Catherwood told the board the elementary school is inside the precinct boundary and staff had evaluated alternatives, some of which were unavailable.

The board unanimously approved entering into an agreement with Profile PR to provide communications services; the contract had a short, minor revision reviewed by the board and was characterized by one member as “pulling us out of the fire several years ago” for prior work on outreach and messaging.

Director Carly Smith gave a detailed administrative and operations update. She reported the county’s total number of registered voters as 600,358 (an update from 600,231 when the packet was posted), with 513,878 active and roughly 86,400 inactive voters as of 9 a.m. on the day of the meeting. Smith told the board there are over 80,000 pieces of return mail (precinct cards, confirmations, letters) to be processed and later in the meeting the number was clarified to about 89,000 pieces. Staff have hired temporary personnel to process roughly 22,000 pieces weekly with a goal of completing the backlog before the end of the registration period for the June election.

On budgeting, Smith reported the fiscal 2025 budget for the department was $14,603,522. Requisitions and outstanding purchase orders totaled about $956,936.69, expenditures between January and March 31 totaled $1,383,724.73, leaving about $11,882,000.79 available in the system as reported in the packet.

Smith also reported preparations for the June Public Service Commission special election (two districts), the first day to mail absentee ballots is May 26, and the office had received 26 absentee ballot applications at the time of the report. Staffing updates included recruitment for six funded positions and the announcement that Tonza Clark, deputy for communications and public affairs, is leaving the department at month’s end; Charlotte Salsby (formerly director in Athens-Clarke County) joins as registration and elections manager.

The board approved the updated list of early-voting and election-day poll managers for June and any subsequent runoff. The board also moved forward with the legal notice and mapping process to notify impacted voters about precinct changes.

Ending: Staff will post the legal notice, continue outreach to impacted voters, and proceed with the backlog processing and early-voting preparations; the department will provide maps and additional explanatory materials to the board when feasible for future polling-change items.