Good morning. Call to order the meeting of the Philadelphia City Commissioners Board of Elections for Wednesday, April 29th, 2026. This meeting is in compliance with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. Philadelphia
city commissioners are a three member bipartisan board of elected officials in charge of elections and voter registrations for the city of Philadelphia. Each commissioner is elected to serve a 4-year term that coincides with the municipal election cycle for mayor and
city council. The commissioner set and enforce departmental policies to administer voter registration and conduct elections in accordance with federal and state voter registration and election laws. The city commissioners were created by the Pennsylvania
assembly in 1711, but they focused on taxation and held various regulatory powers throughout the centuries. The commissioner started maintaining border list in 1799 and took on more election related responsibilities, but didn't emerge in its current form until the
adoption of Philadelphia Homewood charter in 1951. We will start off with public comments. Before beginning their comments, commeners will state where they live or if they are not a resident of Philadelphia and that they are Philadelphia taxpayer. Public comment is
not an opportunity for dialogue or Q&A. It is public comment, a chance for you to tell us what you think. Each speaker will have two minutes to speak. However, I may extend the time and my discretion. Public comment must concern matters on today's meeting agenda. Finally, it is
my responsibility to preserve the order and decorum of the meetings. As such, profane, slanderous, discriminatory, personal attacks will not be tolerated. If you wish to make a public objection to a perceived Sunshine Act violation, please raise your hand and I will
recognize you. Outbursts will not be tolerated. Anyone wishing to offer public comment, please set forth. Hearing none, we'll now move to our email report. Secretary Bluestein, are there any email public comments?
>> Thank you, Chairman. As of 9:45 a.m., there were no email public comments. >> Thank you very much. We will now proceed to old business. First, we have a report from our director of election operation and administration, Mr. Joe Lynch and Mark Johnson. Joe, we'll start with you.
>> Sure. Good morning, commissioners. >> Morning. >> This is our public meeting update for April 29th, 2026. At the election warehouse, all units have been busy preparing for the upcoming election. The voting machine service unit is working on the final test. The e- pole book unit
has been finishing preparations for its operations and upcoming testing. The election materials unit has been working to ensure that the supplies needed for all pole workers are ordered, organized, and ready for packing. We currently have six machine demos scheduled. The request
form will close on May 3rd and will not be available again until the day after we certify the election. To date, in our voter registration report, we have processed 122,286 voter registration applications. Of
those, 21,750 were paper and 100,536 were electronic. All applications are up to date and are being reviewed. The last day to register to vote or change your voter registration is Monday, May 4th,
2026. Also, the second shipment of street list came in this past Monday. The county board of elections approved 77,691 vote by mail applications, which is 4,340 added from last week's total. Of those
43,1334 are paper applications and 34,557 are electronic applications. This includes civilian overseas, military and federal voters. They are currently caught up on processing. Voters will
will need to complete and and return their application to the county board of elections office by 5:00 p. p.m. on May 12th to vote by mail for the primary election. Also, as of yesterday, April 28th, 76,321
ballots have been sent to voters with 1,265 being returned. Those numbers are without 200 that that's without the 231 federal federal voters being sent ballots with 27 of those being returned.
ID verification letters have gone out to voters that either did not include their required proof of identification on their absentee/mail and ballot applications or their proof of identification could not be verified by the county board of elections office.
Voters who have received this letter may submit their proof of ID to the county board of elections via email at philly electionfill.gov, fax, US mail, telephone, or in person. Voters have until midnight on Tuesday,
May 26 to return their proof of identification for the general primary and special election. The county board of elections office located in city hall room 140 is open for for in-person mail ballot services.
Voters can request an absentee, mailin, or replacement ballot in person, return it all in the same visit. Offers hours are 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p. p.m. Monday through Friday. Friday, May 8th, 2026 is the deadline
for the filing cycle. Second Friday pre- prim pre- primary campaign finance reports. All candidates, committees, political action committees, or a committee to contributing to candidates for office that have made expenditures
to influence the city's election must file a report. The board workers unit has been conducting their spring training seminars with 3,20 in-person participants and 696 on online
participants. So far, both the online training and the in-person spring training seminar schedules are available on our website at vote.fill.gov. Weekly reminders will be sent out to those who have not yet attended our
training sessions. Currently, 7,326 pole workers have been confirmed to work for the at our polling locations. 450 confirmation messages have been sent to our pole workers. Also 618 applications
have been received for our involved at 17 program of which 392 have been processed and trained. Satellite elections offices are currently assisting the public. Officers are open Monday through Friday 9:00 a.m.
to 5:00 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday schedule is 10:00 a.m. to 4 pm. That's all I have. Commissioners, thank you. >> Thank you, Joe. Vice Dilly, did you have any questions? >> I have none. Thank you, >> Secretary Bluestein, did you have any questions? >> Uh, I do have one question for Joe,
Chairman. Um, Joe, do we have an update on the couple dropboxes that have been offline because of the camera? >> Yes, I'm glad I'm glad you asked me about that. There's still two uh two camera issues out at Pleasant Wreck and the Jimmy O'Connor recreation center. IT
department's working on currently. They're working with the camera guys to try and get them up and working. And obviously Vogue playground was taken out of uh that's taken offline because of construction. So yeah, but thanks for the heads up. Sorry about that. I should
have put that in my report. >> Okay. So thank you, Joe. Do >> I'll tell you what, I will send an I'll follow up with it uh this morning and see what's going on with that and I'll get back to you. >> Thank you. >> All right. And real quick, so is all of that pretty much updated on the website?
>> Yes, it is. It is wept updated on the website. Yes. Thank you. >> Good morning, Mark. >> Uh, good morning, Commissioner. >> All right. Um, from election administration side, um, as we get closer towards the primary election, all
units have been focused on move from just planning and act to actual execution. Um, human resources continues to maintain a strong focus on workforce readiness and compliance. Um this week the primary focus is on ensuring all staff are up to date on required annual and mandatory city trainings. HR is
continuing continuing to streamline onboarding materials to improve efficiencies as we scale operations and workforce planning and budget alignment for staffing remains ongoing. Um as a whole our total employee employees
are 195 30 exempt 165 civil servant employees. Um temporary staffing has increased to 21 in support of the primary election. Overall, HR remains in a strong position as you move into peak operational periods and we were able to onboard almost all the staffing
individuals into the right location to make sure they have access to the things they need to get their jobs done. Um communications this week, communications focused heavily on the roll out of key election milestones, including mail, ballot availability, and upcoming voter registration deadlines. A successful
press conference was held on April 27th at SEO3, supported by strong content development, partner coordination, and followup. Communication supported SEO openings and mail ballots sent out messaging across both web and social platforms. Updates and talking points
for the 2026 primary were developed and compiled, including coordination with the law department and mayor's office to ensure alignment. continual expansion of advertising, social media content, and toolkits to support voter education and amplify messaging across city partners. Um, I believe I've gone to most of the
the SEOs to make sure that at least from a security standpoint, they were open and um, people have what they needed and for the most part um, they were functioning well. Um, additional efforts include vendor coordination for ballot mail ballot
tracking, ongoing language, access reporting, and planning for upcoming voter registration initiative. Overall communication continues to play a critical role ensuring the public is informed, engaged, and prepared for the upcoming election. Um, from an IT standpoint, it continues to operate at a high level and remains fully aligned
with election execution. All Bachar laptops have been delivered ensuring full operation readiness across SEOs. Um time clock installation I believe was completed um yesterday across all our offices um are in progress. Well, they
were in prog, but I believe they were completed last night. Um um all full constituent data pool is scheduled for today in support of system accuracy and readiness. The RF you can see working in the warehouse is the RFID
strut system has been installed and is pending network activation by OIT which will enhance asset tracking and chain of custody visibility which will be very important during this upcoming election. Um it continues to maintain the commission's infrastructure and support staff across all operational areas.
Field operations and system deployment remains aligned with election timeline with no disruptions to service. There are currently no reported challenges or critical issues from an IT standpoint and operations are running as expected with both election tasks and daily
functions proceeding smoothly. Um um as a side note, we did bring some of our IT staff and met with the city police for the bag and stick operation and um I believe we're currently um better aligned as we move forward to the changes that we're going to make for um
delivery for for that bag and stick operation on the night of election. Um um voter engagement continues to be strong and consistent across the city. Outreach events across libraries, senior centers, and community organizations continue to deliver voter awareness and education. Strong engagement with
multilingual communities with continued emphasis on accessibility and resource distribution. Teams are actively addressing voter questions related to mail and ballots, registration, primary participation, and upcoming events this week. next continues to expand our reach across key communities and demographics.
Um despite some weather related cancellation, the team remains adaptable and continue to build strong community partnerships. From a budget and finance standpoint, we continue to monitor election related expenditures as we move forward into the primary cycle. Coordination remains ongoing to ensure
all operation needs um staff and equipment outreach and communications are properly supported and budget alignments continues across departments to ensure resources are positioned effectively during this peak period. Um um as a side note um we've done really
well with making sure our vendors have uh either given us a quote of what they're expected to spend during this um election period. And so hopefully we won't be able to carry a lot of we'll be able to pay most of our vendors for the services they participated during
election prior to the next budget cycle. Um I can't say it's going to be 100% because we can't control sometimes the vendors don't put in their vendors that their vouchers quick enough but we have our vendors are good um and they're cooperating fully with us to make sure that they get we get what we need and
they get compensated accordingly. And from a security standpoint, we have our second to last bi-weekly security partners meeting scheduled for this Thursday where we continue coordination with law enforcement public safety partners. Um, we recently met with Philadelphia Police Department as I met
at police headquarters. They're ready. We should have uh our training for the police for as far as the back stick operation has been scheduled. I believe it's going to be um May 13th. Um there'll be two sessions as always. um
contract security coverage um went well uh for Monday. That's when we had security at all the SEOs and city hall and DSG that believe that went well. Um we only had one hiccup at one SEO with a guard came in super late but that has
that was addressed. Um we al and we also met with uh our security contractor yesterday as far as to make sure that we are handling how we exchange information. um at their location. All right. An electronic access system are currently being installed on the sixth
floor DSG um further strengthening our facility uh security. So yesterday they were completing the task but they haven't it's not 100% so it's not activated yet but it should be activated um by sometime next week. So now we'll
have uh um our offices at least um DSG and all the satellite offices be on the same system. they'll be able to badge in. We'll be able to control our our our facilities a lot better from a security standpoint, ensure our employees are protected properly. And that's all I
have. >> Thank you, Mark. Vice Chair Dylan, do you have any questions? >> Thank you. I have none. >> Secretary Bluestein, >> thank you. I don't have any questions. >> Thank you, Mark. Again, I'd like to say thank you again to you, Joe, everybody
else in the department. Professionalism has been excellent. That is our last item on the agenda before we adjourn. Vice Chair Jill, do you have any other business to be raised at this meeting? >> Thank you. I have none. >> Secretary Bluestein, do you have any business to be this meeting? >> I don't have anything to add. Thank you.
>> Hear no other business. A motion to adjourn today's meeting. Is there a second? >> Secretary Bluestein, please call a rule. >> Vice Chair Dey I. >> I vote I. Chairman Seabir I. >> This meeting is ajourned. My name is
>> [laughter]