Charlotte County Electoral Board raises office access and key-control concerns during registrar training

The Charlotte County Electoral Board recorded concerns about office access and key control after the registrar and staff attended training in Salem, Va., leaving the registrar’s office locked during an Aug. 18, 2021, meeting, according to the board’s minutes. The meeting was held in the old juvenile courtroom and ran from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Chair Claudette Powell and Secretary Glenwood Foster were present for the Aug. 18 meeting. The minutes state the registrar had announced at a prior regular meeting that he and staff would attend training and that the chair would be at the office in case anyone came by. The record notes the chair had been on the board only two months and had limited training; the secretary volunteered to be present as well.

The minutes list multiple operational impediments caused by the locked office: Electoral Board members could not access the refrigerator or microwave, the office copier was inaccessible when the secretary needed copies for the board, and the secretary’s attempts to contact the registrar received no response. The record also notes that, historically, the office was sometimes closed for the day while the Electoral Board attended training and that those have been opportunities for chair training.

During the day the minutes record several interactions: a phone inquiry from a resident about voter registration that staff would follow up on after returning from training; delivery by UPS of an envelope from the Virginia Department of Elections that was placed in the registrar’s drop box; Mr. Wells and Ms. Hill each returning "Officer of Election willingness to work" forms; and Kurtis Jones visiting with questions about multiple tracking labels on a box of precinct folders and offering to serve as an Officer of Election. The minutes also record a call from Tanya Pruitt of the Virginia Department of Elections asking that new board members’ contact information be updated in the ELECT system.

The chair attempted to assign Officers of Election but the minutes say there were not enough willingness-to-work responses to complete assignments, and they cite Code 24.2-115 of the Virginia election laws as the governing statute for assignments. The meeting ended when Chair Powell locked the door.

The minutes close with a procedural concern raised by the secretary: "Why does [a] Chair that has been on the Board only two months have a key to Registrar's office?" The record notes the prior chair—who served two years before assuming the secretary role—never had a key. The minutes recommend identifying who possesses keys, purging loose keys, and changing locks as appropriate to secure the office and clarify access procedures.

No formal motion or vote on changing keys, locks, or access policy is recorded in the minutes; the record is signed by Chair Claudette Powell and Secretary Glenwood Foster.