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Election committee approves Eclectic ballot packet, shortens printed receipt deadline to 10 a.m.
Summary
Martin's Additions Election Committee approved the contractor Eclectic's ballot packet with a single change: the printed ballot receipt deadline will read 10:00 a.m. on May 21 to reflect the contractor's postal pickup schedule; the committee also approved envelope return-addressing and postal-tracking arrangements.
The Martin's Additions Election Committee approved the ballot packet supplied by contractor Eclectic and directed that all printed ballot instructions show a 10:00 a.m. deadline for mail-in ballots to be in Eclectic's PO box on May 21.
The committee's chair, Elizabeth (committee chair), said the deadline should be 10:00 a.m. “because that's when their post office delivery is,” and asked whether members wanted the printed deadline changed from 5:00 p.m.; members agreed and a motion to make the change was moved, seconded and approved by voice. The chair said she would update both precinct versions of the ballot and the instruction page accordingly.
Why it matters: the committee said the 10:00 a.m. deadline reflects the contractor's practical mail pickup time and reduces the risk that ballots placed in the contractor's PO box after pickup would not be processed as mailed-in on election day. The packet includes two rotated precinct ballot forms to prevent positional bias in candidate ordering; the committee verified both forms were present in the PDF files delivered by Eclectic.
Supporting details: committee members examined the sample No. 11 outer envelope and No. 10 inner privacy envelope and discussed where to place the voter's name/address and the return address. The committee voted to put the VMA (the village) as the return address on the outer envelope so misdelivered items go back to a local address; the privacy envelope format was accepted as presented. The chair said Eclectic confirmed it will use the same postal-tracking system used last year.
The committee also agreed that the mailed printed instructions cannot contain live hyperlinks; instead the instruction text will reference the election committee page on the VMA website, and the chair will post the live links on the website version before distribution.
Next steps: the chair will send the committee's marked-up instructions and envelope preferences to Michael (village manager) for forwarding to Eclectic and will request a test mailing; the final voter-roll spreadsheet will be delivered to Eclectic by April 7 so printing and mailing can proceed.
Quotes in context: Elizabeth, the committee chair, said, “That actually should be 10AM because that's when their post office delivery is.” Michael, the village manager, provided the packet files and will help coordinate the test mailing and website links.
Ending: The committee approved the packet and the instruction edits; the chair will send the marked-up files to the village manager to forward to Eclectic and schedule a test mailing before the full mailing.
