Election commission sworn in, plans for election coordinator

County Clerk Sarah Smith, right, swears in Garland County Election Commission members Ralph Edds, left, Gene Haley and Kay Ekey Wednesday at the Election Commission Building. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record
County Clerk Sarah Smith, right, swears in Garland County Election Commission members Ralph Edds, left, Gene Haley and Kay Ekey Wednesday at the Election Commission Building. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record

The 2021-22 Garland County Election Commission that was sworn in Wednesday will conduct business differently than previous commissions.

Gene Haley, who was elected Wednesday to a fourth term as commission chairman, said the three-member panel will no longer be a working commission when day-to-day administration of elections transfers to the election coordinator position the Garland County Quorum Court Human Resources Committee created last month.

The Republican Party of Garland County reelected Haley to a fourth term on the county election board last month. County Republicans also reelected Ralph Edds to a third term. The county's Democratic Party Committee elected Kay Ekey. She joined the commission on an interim basis last year, serving the remainder of Elmer Beard's term after he retired.

The party that controls the majority of the state's seven constitutional offices also holds two out of the three seats on county election boards. Republicans have controlled all seven offices since January 2015.

Haley has run county elections since he joined the commission in January 2015. He said he's applied for the coordinator position, which will be under the county judge's line of authority. If he's hired, Haley said he and other commissioners can do administrative work in the same physical location without violating the state's notification law for public meetings.

"The way we've operated in the past as a working commission really doesn't work under Freedom of Information rules," Haley told the commission at its meeting Wednesday. "Any time two of us are here it constitutes a quorum, and we have to record it and give notice to the media outlets. There's just no way it's going to work.

"The county has proposed hiring an election coordinator to act as staff and do what I do now, program elections and that kind of stuff."

Haley said a special meeting can be called if a policy matter, such as amending the county's list of polling locations, needs to be discussed. The law requires at least two hours' notice for meetings that aren't regularly scheduled.

"Our communications are open to the public," he said. "We can't get in any phone conversations or email conversations. We'll have to do it as a proposal on the agenda and talk about it in a meeting. If it comes down to where it's something we need to discuss, I would feel obligated to contact both commissioners and say we need to put that off until we have a meeting."

The quorum court Finance Committee advanced an ordinance earlier this week establishing a $36,000 salary for the election coordinator. The ordinance transferred funds from the part-time salaries line to the full-time salaries line in the election commission's general fund-supported budget to pay the salary of the new position, which would be the election commission's only full-time position.

Haley said Wednesday that the commission didn't spend $180,000 of the more than $500,000 the quorum court appropriated for the commission's 2020 budget. In addition to the savings, the election commission received more than $150,000 in reimbursements. About $109,000 came from the state for expenses the county incurred during last year's preferential primary elections and from county school districts for expenses from last year's annual school election.

Haley said the county was also reimbursed $44,000 from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act for personal protective equipment the commission bought for last year's general election and extra staff it hired to clean voting machines during early and Election Day voting.

The commission will meet March 5 at noon to hold the ballot draw for the May 18 annual school election. Ten positions on the county's seven school boards are up for election. The filing period runs from Feb. 22 to March 1. County Clerk Sarah Smith told the commission election packets are available at the clerk's office in Room 103 of the county courthouse. Packets were also sent to school districts, she said.

Candidates are required to collect the signatures of 20 registered voters in their district.

All seven districts held their 2020 elections during the March 3 preferential primaries and nonpartisan general election, putting their 2021 elections on the third Tuesday in May.

The state education code allows annual school elections in odd-numbered years to be held on the third Tuesday in May or the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. The districts had until 100 days before the Feb. 22 start of the filing period to request the November date. Haley said no district made a timely request.

Garland County Election Commission members Kay Ekey, left, Gene Haley and Ralph Edds hold a meeting Wednesday. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record
Garland County Election Commission members Kay Ekey, left, Gene Haley and Ralph Edds hold a meeting Wednesday. - Photo by Richard Rasmussen of The Sentinel-Record

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