Columbus, Georgia

January 9, 2003



The Board of Elections and Registrations board meeting was held January 9, 2003

at 2:00 P.M.





Members present: Jan Dickens - Chairperson

Margaret Jenkins

Kenneth Barfield

Eleanor White

Walter J. Wright, Jr.



The Chairperson called the meeting to order.



Motion was made and seconded to adopt the November board meeting minutes. Vote

was unanimous.



Motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes of the December board

meeting as amended. Vote was unanimous.



COMMENTS:



Ken Barfield stated that something needed to be done about the access to the

Elections Office. He stated that he had a problem getting here. He stated that

we are inaccessible to the public. Jan Dickens stated that she agreed with his

statement. Mr. Barfield made a formal request that the board direct Mrs. Boren

to provide them with statistics that will show a draft, chart, or something

showing the number of people that have been in this office to register to vote

over the last six months to see if there has been a decline statistically.

Something that the board can put in their hand to demonstrate the problem.

The board wants to show that the public is not accessing this building and that

we are not accessible to the public. He also stated that he does not see any

public activity in this office much at all. Jan stated that she has had calls

from people to see about getting in this office to register to vote and that

she diverts them to a bank because of it being more accessible to them. Ken

stated that if the Council is going to permanently adopt this security

situation that they have now, then he feels we need to be accessible on a daily

basis to the public. He based this on the fact that the East Wing is open for

the public to buy car tags. Ken stated that he feels if anyone goes to the

Justice Department to complain we will be in trouble.







NEW BUSINESS:



Ken stated that he wants to see a new American flag and also a State flag for

the office.



OLD BUSINESS:



Revision of Board By-Laws: Ken told the board that he was just about finished

with the by-laws, and he will have them to the board in approximately a month.



November Election Report: The board was told that Nancy would have a report on

the November election to the board at the next board meeting in which she

attended.



CORRESPONDENCE:



No correspondence.



Ken asked about the letter that was written to the board members concerning

having the board meetings in Council Chambers and having the meeting

televised. Margaret asked Ken's rationale for changing the location and the

way the board meetings are being conducted. Ken made a motion that beginning

as soon as possible, and as soon as the people who handles the Government

Access, that the meetings be moved to the Council Chambers and be televised.

The motion died for lack of a second.



Being no further business, the meeting was adjourned.







Diane Scrimpshire Jan Dickens

Recording Secretary Chairperson