The Mystery of the Ballot Shortages Continues — Still
The Commission said that the subcommittee — made up of commissioners Daniel Young and Xara T. Marshall — would present its findings at a routine meeting held today.
But after meeting behind closed doors during an executive session that lasted more than an hour, the Commission announced, well, nothing.
Intense frustration permeated the rest of the meeting. Attendees complained that none of their basic questions — about the logistics of the investigation and whether documents detailing the review would be public — had been answered.
“It’s like the carrot being dangled in the public’s face,” said Carroll Cox, a member of the public who testified after executive session. “The public’s just going to fall off into the oblivion with no answers.”
Young said he and Marshall, with the help of other commissioners and the , had already concluded the investigation and determined what problems caused the ballot shortage. But he couldn’t divulge what the errors were, citing legal constraints that bar the Commission from elaborating on personnel matters.
All he could say was that the subcommittee interviewed six Office of Elections employees and that their names and other details would be revealed at the next commission meeting, which is scheduled for later this month.
“We’re not trying to sweep anything away,” said Young. “We just cannot go any further with the personnel stuff — by law. By law, we can’t do it.”
Commission Chair William Marston said that commissioners will start deliberations immediately and have a report “that should address what the public expects to see” ready by the next meeting.
“We want to be very sure that it’s done in a proper way,” he said.
Meantime, Chief Election Officer Scott Nago said that the is working on filling four vacancies, including the critical ballot operations section head position.
One of the positions — that in election support services, which handles logistics and budgeting and falls under the civil service sector — is in the process of being filled.
The other three can’t be filled until they are converted to civil service positions, a step that Nago said has yet to be completed.
— Alia Wong
