Last Thursday we listened to a presentation from Commissioner John Zornow and Deputy Commissioner Mindy Robinson of the Wayne County Board of Elections.
Opening and Invocation led by Scott Healy.
Wellness Report – Helmuth Reinhardt is in a lot of pain, Hannelora is struggling as well — please keep them in your thoughts and prayers — maybe send a card or give them a call; Adam’s wife, Colleen is recovering from COVID.
Guests: Mindy Robinson, Guest Speaker; Luis Alonso Barbosa, Exchange Student
Snapple Facts:
- Chimps can develop their own fashion trends
- It takes 200 muscles to take a step
- The flamingo can only eat when its head is upside down
- Adult humans are the only mammal that can’t breathe and swallow at the same time.
- There are more fake and real flamingos
- Jellyfish don’t have brains.
Announcements and Happy Moments:
- Service Above Self - October 26th at the American Legion
- Gary Reilly - selling raffle tickets for Camp Onseyawa
- Camp Onseyawa Annual Dinner at Club 86, 5:30pm, Friday 11/10
- Festival update: $18,767.00; $9,100 through raffle — total $27,867 — great job!
- Eastern Cities Fellowship Reception at the Strong Museum of Play sponsored by Rochester Rotary on Tuesday November 14. Click here for more information and to register
- Doug Forgue - visited his son in Oregon. His son is responding well to his treatments.
- Holly & Marc’s oldest daughter, Megan ran her first marathon, Marc ran a half marathon – Holly and Ryan cheered them on (Ryan says it’s the last time he’ll stay on the sidelines). Grace is in Texas and Holly & Marc are officially empty nesters!
- Donna Johnson - her son Fred will be honored as “student of the month” at his High School. He also is going to County Qualifiers for golf at Sodus Bay Heights Golf Club.
Birthdays: Mark Thoms, Katie Pullen on 10/2
Club Anniversaries: Steve Hassler, 5 yrs
Queen of Hearts. Bill Doebler did not pick the Queen - the pot continues to grow.
Program: Steve Hallagan introduced Commissioner John Zornow and Deputy Commissioner Mindy Robinson from the Wayne County Board of Elections. Mindy grew up in Savannah and lives in Clyde with her three children ages 21, 14, and 9. Her oldest is a student at Keuka College. She has been a Wayne County employee for 11 years, first with the Stop DWI program and then with the Board of Elections. Mindy was promoted to Republican Deputy Commissioner in 2022 and oversees over 61,000 registered voters in Wayne County.
John Zornow is a lifelong resident of Newark. He is a grandfather of 4 and great grandfather of 3. He worked for Eastman Kodak for 30 years. John has been a Newark Rotarian since 1997, served as Club President in 2013-2014 and on the Newark Village Board from 2010 - 2014. He is currently Chairman of the Board of Finger Lakes Community Action (WayneCap). He was appointed Election Commissioner in 2018 by Bob Oaks.
The Wayne County Board of Elections administers elections in Wayne County in accordance with New York State Law. In recent years the election system has changed and will continue to change. It is helpful for us to be updated.
The Wayne County Board of Elections (WCBE) is a nonpartisan organization. They are located at the public safety building on Route 31 in Lyons. (7376 Route 31, Suite 1200, Lyons NY).
Mindy spoke about her ties to Newark and thanked us for helping with the Shop with a Cop program. She knows from personal experience the impact this has on the participants (both the officers and the residents).
New York State offers an early voting option. On presidential vote years they average 1,000/day — non presidential years maybe 100/day for the early voting.
The office audits voters. They send out the cards you receive that list the voter information for your location — they must input all the changes that voters make on those cards when they are returned. Some changes: residents can now register only 10 days prior to an election. They will be using “poll pads” — like an iPad that will be used to register residents when you show up at the poll to vote.
They need Poll workers — they make $20.00/hour non taxed. They are using “on demand printers” — so no more preprinted ballots. With these printers, your ballot will be printed when you come in to vote.
Absentee voting — There are a variety of qualifying events for absentee voting. For the comprehensive list click here.
Security issues: There must be bi-partisan participants for any work or adjustments made to voting machines.
Questions:
- Will voters be using the “poll pad”? Answer: The workers will be pulling your information and the voter will then sign on the pad.
- Signatures - if there is a discrepancy in the signatures - what are the options? In New York State workers cannot ask for identification.
- The votes are tallied on “cards” that are in the side of the machine. These are delivered by the Wayne County Sheriffs office on election night. They do an audit to make sure the number of the paper ballots matches the electronic card count.
- How easy is it to cheat? Very, very difficult
- Regarding the hours for poll workers: why can’t the length of the shifts be split? They want consistency with the workers so there can be no question about the integrity of the votes.
- Are there any states that require ID’s? Not sure, Mindy thinks Texas, Florida - there may be others
- Has there ever been problems at the poll sites: there have been some errors over the years in spite of their best efforts.
Reminder: Early Voting starts on October 28 through November 5th
For more information about our Wayne County Board of Elections click here
Next week is an open meeting.
Closing thought: “Fear kills more dreams than failure ever will.” Suzy Kassem