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Elections supervisor reports budget position, voter-roll updates and staff changes; staffers describe SB214 implications
Summary
Elections Supervisor Shannon Nettles told the board the office is under 50% of its budget at the end of January, shared poll-worker training and early-voting dates, announced upcoming staff turnover, and staff described how proposed state legislation (Senate Bill 214) could have affected counting procedures absent recent legislative assurances and budget language.
At the Feb. 19 Camden County Board of Elections & Registration meeting, Elections Supervisor Shannon Nettles gave the office’s operational update, saying the office was under 50% of its annual budget at the end of January and that funds exist to proceed with an Annex relocation project, though the move depends on the construction timeline.
Nettles announced poll worker training dates for April 1, 2 and 7 and reminded board members that early voting begins April 27. She asked the board to convey to county commissioners the benefits of office space at the Annex and noted the county budget submission deadline is March 20. She also reminded members to complete mandatory KnowBe4 cybersecurity training and said staff member Shawn Boartright’s last day will be March 9; Joey Yacobacci will serve as interim county administrator for six months.
Elections staff Dennis Irvin and Rockney Carter reported on their recent GAVREO visit to the state Capitol and discussed Senate Bill 214. According to the minutes, Irvin said SB214 would have “mandated hand marked paper ballots for use on election day” while retaining ballot-marking device usage for advance in-person voting, which could have required hand counting of ballot-marking-device–generated ballots — an amount he estimated could be “upwards of 20,000” ballots in Camden County for a November election if the advance-in-person mandate held. Irvin and Carter said committee leaders amended the current fiscal year budget to add $15 million to acquire and test a new voting system, and that committee chairs gave assurances against including hand counting in future bills that would change Georgia’s election system.
Rockney Carter provided voter roll statistics: as of Feb. 19, Camden County had 44,112 active and inactive registrations and 38,983 active voters, up from 38,897 at the end of January. Carter said staff work with the Georgia Secretary of State, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Health and county and regional partners to maintain accurate rolls.
