Committee presses nominees on nonpartisanship and late ballot rules

During the confirmation hearing the committee focused several questions on how nominees would separate prior civic activism from the nonpartisan duties of boards and how they would handle late or ambiguous mail-in ballots.

Committee members asked whether nominees would need to silence past activism in an election year; Aria Castillo said her organization is a 501(c)(3) that does not endorse candidates and that she would not use the board to support candidates. On late mail ballots, members asked whether a ballot arriving after a deadline (for example at 7:03 p.m.) should be disqualified; Castillo said she would rely on evidence and office procedures and that, if clear evidence indicated a late drop-off, she would not validate such a ballot. Jonathan Simons said he would apply policy fairly and without regard to party, race, religion or other prejudice.

The exchange highlighted the committee’s focus on preserving access to the franchise while also ensuring consistent application of existing rules; nominees repeatedly committed to following the law and the Office of Elections’ processes where applicable.