MINUTES OF THE IOWA STATE ASSOCIATION OF COUNTY AUDITORS ELECTIONS STANDING COMMITTEE MEETING
FEBRUARY 8, 2011
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Conference Call Phone Line Opens at 2:55 p.m........................................................................ 1
Call to Order.......................................................................................................................... 1
Resolution asking the Executive Board to call off the February 11, 2011 extraordinary statewide meeting to discuss the voter ID bill. Senate Leadership is confident the Senate will not consider it this year. For that reason, it is thought to be a waste of time, effort, and expense for something that is not going to happen this year. Unless the status of the legislation changes, it should be handled through our regular procedures outlined in the bylaws, and discussed through normal channels and at scheduled meetings........................................................................ 2
Resolution asking the Executive Board if it is interested in launching a web site survey on the legislation and whether each auditor is for, against, or neutral regarding House File 95, or if they would prefer to have the Elections Standing Committee initiate such a survey........................................................................................ 4
Appointing a Committee to craft language, amending the bylaws for purposes of clarification for consideration for action by the Election Steering Committee (For a recommendation to the Resolutions Committee)........ 5
Other..................................................................................................................................... 5
Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett said it is 3:00 p.m. and he asked everyone on the conference call to state their name one by one. Pat Gill, Danielle Dunham, Kristi Everett, Lisa Rowenhorst. Slockett asked if anyone else was on the call. No one else responded and Slockett said he would like to wait a few minutes to see if anyone else calls in. He said he had a quorum, but everyone does not seem to be on the call yet. Gill asked how many people are on the call. Slockett said Pat Gill, Danielle Dunham, Kristi Everett, and Lisa from Sioux County, and myself; that makes a quorum.
Slockett called the Iowa State Association of County Auditors (ISACA) Elections Standing Committee Meeting to order on a conference call from the Johnson County Administration Building, 913 South Dubuque Street, at 3:00 p.m. Members present were: Woodbury County Auditor and Recorder Patrick F. Gill, Story County Deputy Auditor Danielle Dunham, Pottawattamie County Deputy Auditor Kristi Everett, Sioux County Election Administrator Lisa Rowenhorst, and Johnson County Auditor Tom Slockett. Sioux County Election Administrator Lisa Rowenhorst asked if it matters that she is not an auditor, but is listening in for Sioux County Auditor Lois Huitink. Slockett said no, that is fine.
Slockett asked the members present for discussion. 2011 ISACA Secretary-Treasurer and Woodbury County Auditor and Recorder Patrick F. Gill asked Slockett if he has access to his email. Slockett said yes. Gill said he just sent Slockett a resolution. Slockett stated that he has received it as an email attachment. Due to the file type, Slockett said he is unable to open the email attachment and will need technical help. He asked Gill to read his resolution aloud.
Gill read the proposed resolution as follows: "Resolution calling for the cancellation of a statewide meeting: whereas information provided by several county auditors has been that the Iowa State Senate has no intention of taking up House File 95, whereas a statewide meeting of county auditors to discuss House File 95 will result in considerable expense to the Iowa State Association of County Auditors, whereas a statewide meeting of the county auditors to discuss House File 95 will result in considerable expense to the individual counties of Iowa, whereas the bylaws of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors state that the Executive Board and the Legislative and Elections Standing Committees shall be prepared to meet with legislative liaisons as necessary to discuss legislative proposals, especially when the Iowa General Assembly is not in session, and whereas the bylaws of the Iowa State Association of County Auditors further states the legislative liaisons are authorized to call such meetings upon the approval of the President and First Vice-President as applicable. Now, let it therefore be resolved the Elections Standing Committee asks that the ISACA Executive Board cancel the statewide meeting scheduled for Friday, February 11, 2011 and direct the legislative liaisons to call a meeting as provided for in the bylaws to discuss House File 95 and to recommend action.”
Slockett asked Gill if that is a motion. Gill said yes. Slockett said Gill moved the adoption of that resolution. He asked if there is a second; if there is, they can discuss it. Dunham seconded the motion. Slockett asked Gill if he wants to discuss the resolution or if others would rather discuss it first and have Gill summarize.
Gill said at this point, it is pretty apparent to him, from everything he has read from Black Hawk County Auditor Grant Veeder, Floyd County Auditor Gloria Carr, and Slockett, the members of the State Government Committee have no intention of taking up House File 95. He asked Slockett to expand on what his conversation was.
Slockett said he spoke with State Senator Joe Bolkcom, and Bolkcom was virtually certain that there would be no action on the voter ID bill this year in the Senate. Slockett said Bolkcom indicated that the Subcommittee Chair, State Senator Dick Dearden, the State Government Chair Jeffrey Danielson from Black Hawk County, and Iowa Senate Majority Leader Michael Gronstal from Pottawattamie County, and the entire Democratic Caucus, which controls the Senate, are in complete agreement that they do not like this legislation and it is not going to come up. Slockett said Bolkcom said he was certain of that; there is always a 1% chance that something can happen during the last minutes of the session, but he said that is not going to happen. He said Bolkcom was very certain.
Slockett said Bolkcom did disagree with Veeder’s report. He said that Veeder quoted Danielson as saying that he did not think the auditors should take a position on the bill, because it would indicate bias. He said Bolkcom strongly disagreed with that; Bolkcom thought it would be advantageous if the auditors did take a position. That is something that ISACA and the Iowa State Association of Counties (ISAC) do every year, and this is something auditors know a lot about. If auditors have a strong position on the issue, Bolkcom thought it would be helpful to state it.
Slockett said he asked Bolkcom what he thought about the idea that ISACA should not waste a lot of time, effort, and expense on the topic if it is something that is not going to happen. He said Bolkcom completely agreed with that, and thought that is a very strong consideration that should be given to the bill. Bolkcom was positive that the bill is not going to come up this year. Slockett said if that is the case, then the time, effort, and expense of having a statewide meeting to discuss the bill immediately seems to be unnecessary and expensive. ISACA would be better off, as Gill expresses in his resolution, to just handle it through their regular channels. They will be ready if the bill comes up again next year. Slockett asked for opinions from others.
Gill said if he can get everyone’s email addresses, he will send the resolution to them. He said he has re-saved the document in a format that he thinks they will be able to open. Slockett said if Gill just replies to all on the last email Slockett sent, that should provide Gill with the necessary email addresses. (Deputy Auditor Chris Edwards finishes downloading a file from the internet so Slockett’s laptop computer can read .docx files.) Slockett said he now has the resolution open on his computer, so he will send it to everyone. He stated that the email has been sent, and he asked someone to let him know as soon as they receive it. County Deputy Auditor Danielle Dunham and Pottawattamie County Deputy Auditor Kristi Everett stated they received the email.
Slockett asked if there is anyone present on the conference call besides Gill, Dunham, Sioux County Election Administrator Lisa Rowenhorst, Everett, and himself. No additional Election Standing Committee members or guests responded. He asked if there are any suggested changes or discussion about the resolution. He asked if the group is ready for a vote. Hearing no response, he asked a second time if the group is ready for a
vote. He asked the Elections Standing Committee members present to state their votes one at a time.
Gill said before he votes, he wants to talk to the other two members. He asked if they are uncomfortable with considering this resolution since they are not auditors. He asked if this puts them in a difficult position. Dunham said no. Everett said she does not think so. Slockett said they are full elected members of the Elections Standing Committee so he thinks it should be fine. Gill said he does not want the others to think that pressure is being put on them to vote for this. Gill, Dunham, Everett, and Slockett voted aye. Slockett said the motion passes unanimously by a quorum of the committee.
Slockett said he does not think there is any urgent necessity to immediately pass this resolution unless people would like to do so. He said this agenda item was included in case the previous Resolution did not pass. If someone wants to make the motion to approve this resolution, he would be fine with that, as well. It might make some people uncomfortable; he does not know what kind of response they would get, but no one would have to respond to it.
Slockett said he thinks one of the problems is that one of the political parties is for this and one is against it. He thinks some of the auditors are against it, but they are somewhat uncomfortable in taking a position against their party. That is something the Elections Standing Committee might want to take into consideration before deciding to initiate this survey one way or another.
Rowenhorst asked if there was a request to have the survey done. Slockett said no; that was just something he included as a possibility. He said if they were not going to ask to call the meeting off, he thought it would be a good idea to see what the auditors were thinking in order to prepare themselves for the meeting. That was his thought in including this agenda item. If the meeting is called off, Slockett is not sure the Elections Standing Committee needs that information. However, it would be useful information to have. The Executive Board could still do the survey, or the Elections Standing Committee could do it. However, Slockett said he is not disposed to make that motion now that agenda item D has produced the Resolution.
Slockett said there was a discussion at ISACA’s previous meeting and Veeder suggested that ISACA seek clarification of some of the language in the bylaws to facilitate better communication with the steering committees. That is the main reason Slockett put this item on the agenda. However, since agenda item D passed a Resolution, he does not see an immediate need to pass a motion for this agenda item unless someone would like to. Slockett said he would be happy to entertain such a motion if someone wants to make it. There are not many auditors listening in on this call; Slockett said he would like to have Veeder on the committee if one is appointed. Since Veeder is not currently available to be asked if he could serve, Slockett would prefer to skip this agenda item unless someone else has strong opinions about it. No one made any comments so Slockett moved on to agenda item G.
Slockett asked if the people on the conference call would like to discuss anything else. Gill said he would like to know if an inquiry can be made to the Executive Board about whether there is any thought about ISACA being involved with the ownership or having any roll with the Precinct Atlas. Slockett said in his opinion, this is premature. He thinks it is something that might be discussed, but ISACA is currently receiving a lot of new information about what the Iowa Secretary of State intends to do and what the situation will be. Slockett thinks it is something that could be considered, but it would be unprecedented for ISACA to own a piece of elections equipment like that. He can think of reasons why ISACA should probably not do that. Slockett asked Gill what his thoughts are.
Gill said there has obviously been some more lack of communication in regards to the Precinct Atlas and the Iowa Secretary of State’s interaction. From what has occurred so far, ISACA never seems to know what is going on. This is certainly a topic relating to the elections area. ISACA has the power to do something like that according to the bylaws, and they have done that with the real estate site. Gill would simply like to make the inquiry to see if that is being considered. He said the Elections Standing Committee does not have to do this, but it is something that crossed his mind when he started reading those emails.
Slockett said he was also surprised that a meeting was scheduled without polling anyone about their availability or their thoughts about having one. He asked Gill if he was thinking of having the Elections Standing Committee pass a resolution or if he was thinking of having them make an informal inquiry. He asked if Gill was just bringing this up for discussion. Gill said he was thinking of making an informal inquiry. Slockett said it would be good for the Elections Standing Committee to discuss it. He said he is not sure, but from reading the email that Gill referred to, it seems that an auditor apparently independently met with the Secretary of State and independently asked the auditors to attend a meeting prior to the ISACA meeting scheduled for February 11, 2011.
Slockett said one of the things in the letter said that it was doubtful they would have much information available at the time of the meeting. He personally thinks that is not a good reason to have the meeting. Perhaps Ken was just taking advantage of the fact that there was already a meeting and that he would have a chance to discuss the situation with a number of auditors. Given the lack of information available, Slockett said he would like to have it on record that this was discussed during this meeting, that the Elections Standing Committee recognizes there was an individual auditor requesting to meet with auditors about the Precinct Atlas, but they did not think that was sufficient reason to have a statewide ISACA meeting. Slockett asked if the people on the conference call agree or disagree, and he asked how they feel about the fact that another meeting has been called prior to the ISACA meeting.
Dunham said she would not have known about this new meeting if she had not received Slockett’s email. Everett said that without Slockett's email, she would not have known either. Slockett said he assumed the email was sent out to everyone. Everett said she thinks it was only sent to auditors, and Pottawattamie County Auditor Marilyn Jo Drake has been sick for two weeks. Slockett said he is sorry to hear that. Dunham said the auditor in her county never got it. The email says it was sent to the 2010 auditor list, so she does not know if the list has been updated to include new auditors. Slockett said that could be the case.
Slockett asked if he is correct in stating that while the Elections Standing Committee recognizes there is another meeting that is scheduled prior to the ISACA meeting, they do not think it is sufficient reason to hold the statewide meeting. He thinks that was implied in the Resolution that they just passed. However, he wants to be able to let people know that the Elections Standing Committee discussed this, and they knew about the meeting, but given the new information on the status of the legislation, they do not think it is a good reason to continue to hold the meeting as scheduled. He asked if those present agree that they took their knowledge of the meeting into account when voting for the Resolution.
Gill said he thinks it is appropriate to state that they understand another meeting was scheduled in order to take advantage of the previously scheduled meeting; the Elections Standing Committee considered that, and they still went ahead with passing the initial Resolution. Slockett noted there was no disagreement with that statement. He said he will assume there is consensus on that unless he hears any disagreement.
Gill said with the Elections Standing Committee present, he would like to discuss whether they are aware of the concerns that were expressed about the bylaws regarding the process that was used to establish the Exploratory Committee. He said this somewhat relates to agenda item F, as far as putting together a committee. He does not think they need to do that at this point; he just wants input about whether they are aware of what concerns the Elections Standing Committee had about the bylaws.
Slockett said he is aware of the concerns. He said the bylaws pretty clearly state that the Elections Standing Committee and the Legislative Standing Committee have a role to play especially when the Legislature is in session to consider legislative proposals. The mechanism in the bylaws states that the legislative liaisons can call a joint meeting of the Elections Standing Committee and the Legislative Standing Committee to discuss those issues. If that is done, Slockett thinks there would be much better communication with the rest of the county auditors about the topics at hand. He said Veeder suggested that clarifying language be added. It is kind of an option of the legislative liaisons about whether to call a joint meeting. He thinks Veeder had in mind making it clear that there was a responsibility to cooperate and communicate with the Elections and the Legislative Standing Committees during the Session.
Gill said he wanted to poll the rest of the Elections Standing Committee on what their understanding is of the procedures for the bylaws and if they were concerned that the Elections Standing Committee was bypassed in the process of putting together the ISACA Photo ID Exploratory Committee (Exploratory Committee). Slockett said he thinks in the past, the guests and the Elections Standing Committee agreed with Veeder that their needs to be some clarifying language addressing the need for better communication, cooperation, and more transparency in the operations of ISACA committees.
Dunham asked if this came about just because the legislation moved too quickly and they were not aware of its speed. Gill said, in reading the opening paragraph of the Exploratory Committee's report, they were made aware in November, 2010, of the Iowa Secretary of State’s intent to aggressively push for the voter ID legislation. Dunham asked if that was at the Iowa City meeting. Gill said yes, but there were no minutes posted of that meeting, and he still cannot find any minutes. The Exploratory Committee was appointed at the January 5, 2011 meeting and those minutes were not made public. He said Slockett was supplied (with a draft of ) those minutes later, where they actually took action as far as the legislative priorities that were established; they pushed some of them to the wayside.
Gill said this committee was put together and there was no discussion with the Elections Standing Committee about the process. It was Gill’s expectation, after he heard that when the current Iowa Secretary of State was elected, he was going to push for the voter ID legislation and he expected ISACA would follow the spirit of the bylaws and that the Elections Standing Committee would have been included in that process. The Elections Standing Committee was not notified that anything had taken place until the Exploratory Committee had already been to Florida. The opening paragraph of the Exploratory Committee's report mentions that they tried to arrange meetings with Missouri and Indiana, and all of that action was taken place without consulting anyone other than the ISACA Executive Board. Dunham thanked Gill for that clarification.
Slockett asked if there are any further points, motions, or discussion. Hearing none, he asked for a motion to adjourn. Gill moved to adjourn, and Dunham seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Adjourned at 3:40 p.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By Nancy Tomkovicz, Recording Secretary