Monroe County election officials report early-voting update, warn of changing student-ID rule

Nicole Brown, Monroe County clerk, told the Monroe County Election Board on April 23 that 332 of 1,129 absentee ballots had been returned and that an unclear transcript line recorded votes cast at Election Central.

Brown described a rolling legal situation around Senate Bill 10, recently enacted legislation limiting use of student identification for voting. "We just got the stay, meaning we are no, we are not able to use IDs at this time," Brown said, summarizing guidance she said she received from the Secretary of State's office after a federal injunction was briefly in place and then was affected by an April 20 Court of Appeals decision. She said poll workers are being kept up to date as the case proceeds.

Election supervisor Kylie Ferris read a statement from fleet and building director Richard Krider outlining planned physical upgrades at Election Central: new voter-registration furniture, replacement of worn chairs in the early-voting area, updates to an entrance pedestal and activation switch for ADA accessibility, and changes so staff will no longer need to prop open a door.

The board also discussed parking for early voters. Brown said people can use the Trades District parking garage for 50 cents per hour to reduce ticket risk. Republican board member Danny Shields pushed back: "Something about having to pay to park vote just doesn't sit right with me," he said, noting that a parking ticket would cost about $30.

Brown said poll workers will receive de-escalation training before the general election; Democratic board member Penny Gins asked that training include emergency procedures. Ferris described binders kept for each polling location containing emergency-exit and shelter-in-place plans and invited board members to review them in her office.

The board set its next meeting for May 4. No formal vote related to the early-voting update was recorded in the public remarks excerpted in the meeting transcript.

Note on reported figures: the transcript included one line that appeared to record the number of votes cast at Election Central but the digit sequence was unclear; the clerk's stated absentee-ballot total (332 of 1,129) is reported above, and the exact Election Central figure was not specified in the available transcript excerpt.