Good morning. I call to order the meeting of the Philadelphia city commissioners sitting as the board of elections for Wednesday, April 22nd, 2026. This meeting is in compliance with the Pennsylvania Sunshine Act. I would like to recognize that chairman Sabir is attending this meeting telephonically
while we are while he is visiting our mail ballot print vendor and vice chair de is not in attendance. Um we will start off with public comments before beginning their comments. Commenters shall state where they live or if they are not a resident of Philadelphia 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 that time at my discretion. Public comment must concern matters on today's meeting agenda. Finally, 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 step forward. If you are here to comment on a proposed poll in place change, I will recognize you when that specific polling place change is up later in the meeting. Hearing no public comment, we will now proceed with emailed public comments. As
of 9:45 a.m., there were none. All right, we will now move to old business. First, we will have a report from our director of election operations, Joseph Lynch, followed by a report from our director of election administration, Mark Johnson. Joe, you may proceed. >> Yes. Thank you. Good morning,
commissioners. >> Good morning. >> This is our public meeting update for April 22nd, 2026. At the election warehouse, all units have been busy preparing for the upcoming election. The voting machine service unit successfully completed
logic and accuracy testing on Tuesday, April 21st. The team is getting ready to do the final test on the remaining fleet of the XL's. The e- polebook 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 our pole workers are ordered, organized, and ready for packing. We currently have 15 machine demos scheduled. One is for our last our last involved at 17
training. To date, our voter registration report, Delaware and Spring Garden has processed 113,580 voter registration applications. 17,600 were paper and 95,980
were electronic. All applications are up to date and are being reviewed. The unit is also assisting with mail and ballot applications and helping with the machine demonstrations. As of yesterday, the County Board of Elections approved 73,351
vote by mail applications, which is 1,310 added from last week's total. Of those, 42,460 are paper applications and 30,891 are electronic applications. This includes civilian overseas,
military, and federal voters. We currently have a total of 955 electronic applications waiting to be processed. Voters will need to complete the to complete and return their applications to the county board of elections office
by 5:00 pm on May 12th to vote by mail for the primary elections. We are currently printing and preparing our first initial mailing of ballots. We will send out just under 73,000 ballots late afternoon on Thursday, April 23rd.
ID verification letters have gone out to voters who either did not include the required proof of identification on their absentee/mailin ballot application or whose 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 phillyelectionfill.gov, fax, US mail, telephone, or in person. Voters have until midnight Tuesday, AP May 26 to return their proof of
identification for the general primary and special election. The board worker unit has the war workers unit has been conducting our spring training seminars with 2,79 participants so far. online training
went live on Monday, April 20th, 20 thou 2026 and both the online courses and the spring training seminar schedule are available on our website at vote.fill.gov. Weekly reminders will be sent to those who have not yet attended a training
session. Currently, 6,943 poll workers have been confirmed to work at our polling locations. 723 confirmation messages have been sent to the pole workers. Also, 586 applications have been received for our
involved AT7 program. Satellite election officers are currently assisting the public offices. The public offices are open Monday through through Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 pm. We are hoping that all SEOs satellite election offices including
city hall for mail-in ballot requests with the earliest opening on Thursday or Friday of this week. An announcement will be posted on our website soon. Thank you. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Joe. Uh Chairman Sabir, do
you have any questions for Joe? >> No. So, I just want to say again, thank you for the operations side. you guys and gals I mean done such a great job and you know it's definitely reflected in the work you know so I definitely say thank you
>> thank you chairman vice chair dealer do you have any questions for Joe >> I have none >> right thank you uh Mark you may proceed >> good morning commissioners um HR um HR continues to make strong progress on workforce readiness the primary focus this week is onboarding
and orientation of our final group of temporary staff to support the primary election HR also also refining and streamlining orientation materials to improve efficiencies and consistencies across the onboarding process. Workforce planning and budget alignment for new hires remains ongoing. From a staffing
from a staffing standpoint, as of April 17th, we have a total employees of 190, 30 exempts and 160 civil service employees. We currently have 15 temporary staff supporting the primary elections. Overall, HR is in a solid position heading into the final ramp up
phase. From a communication standpoint, communications has been heavily focused on ballot accuracy, public meetings, and election visibility. Key updates: ballot question number three has been removed across all materials, mail ballots, website content, and translate resources
to ensure consistency heading in heading ahead of distribution. Updates and republished ballot content across multiple language to support accessibility and compliance. and social media outreach continues to perform strongly, reaching over 384,000
people last week with increasing engagement, especially on Instagram. The team is also finalizing E30 timeline material and talking points for commissioners, deputies, and elected officials. Coordination continues with the Department of State and
communication partners to maintain aligned messaging. Um, additionally, preparation for mail ballot distributions are underway, including coordination with vendors and continued development of public facing material. IT operations remains focused
on election readiness and infrastructure support. Um, the election night reporting system is currently in testing. Sample ballots and ballot access files are now live and available to the public. The election board virtual training platform has officially launched. Satellite election officers
hours are being extended with IT staff scheduled to support those operations. Equipment deployment is underway including Balotar laptops being delivered to the SEOs this week. Um on the infrastructure side, key projects such as Bravo in VRO installation for
access control generator procurement and facility upgrades are progressing. Um the main challenges continue to be workflow adjustments related to the shore system, but the team is actively working with state partners to stabilize and improve processes. From a security standpoint, um
we've had our last week we had our security partnership uh meeting or every all of our partners have are u have been informed what we're requiring from them and have agreed to provide those services. um contract security personnel will begin coverage at satellite
offices, city hall and the um not the warehouse but satellite office, city hall and DSG starting on April 27th. City Hall won't begin until I believe that's the 16th to Friday before um the election itself. Um the next security
meeting is scheduled for April 30th. Um yesterday we hosted the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office here at the warehouse to discuss election support. Um we have one change that we wanted to do with uh them signing and assisting with the dropboxes. They have agreed to provide that assistance. Um and overall
coordination with our law enforcement and security partners remain strong as we move into our education phase. Um voter engagement efforts continue to expand across the city with strong community presence. Multiple outreach events will were conducted across libraries, community centers, and
culture organizations with direct voter education, hands-on voting machine demonstrations. Um, we continued engagement with community partners is helping to expand reach particularly among first-time voters and un underrepresented groups. Several upcoming events are scheduled throughout
this week and into next, including senior centers, libraries, and large community festivals. language access support remains ongoing, including translation efforts and coordination with community organization. Um the team is maintaining a consistent presence in the community and reinforcing awareness
of key election dates and voting options. And from a budget and finance standpoint, we continue to monitor election related spending and preparing for upcoming financial needs tied to the primary election. I believe we for most units have already turned in um quotes
from their vendors and from their consultants. associated with um um anticipated spending so that we can make sure that we can pay people um as soon as the primary election is over. Therefore, we won't be able to bring a lot of that
debt into the next fiscal year. Um and um that's it. Thank you, Mark. Uh Chairman Sabir, do you have any questions for Mark? Again, I just like to echo uh you know, thanks
from the administrative side. Uh see all lot of the hard work you know that uh with the guys and girls at Dawn. So we definitely appreciate you and all your work and thank you. I really appreciate you. >> Thank you chairman. Vice Chair Dey, do you have any questions for Mark? >> I have none.
>> Thank you. We will now move to new business. We will begin to consider our first agenda item which is polling place changes. We will hear from our polling place investigation supervisor Charlie Strowman. >> Morning commissioners. >> I have 10 items on the agenda. The first
two are in the 18th ward 14th division and the 15th division moving out of Tajid residence to the Cruz Rec Center and that is due to a refusal. Having heard the recommendation of the professional staff, I move that we accept the polling place change for W 18
divisions 14 and 15. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I will now will now call the role. Vice Chair Dey. >> I vote I. Chairman Seabir. >> I. >> Charlie, you may proceed. >> Next five are in a 55th W. 25th
division, 26th division, 27th division, 28th division, and the 29th division. moving out of the distant rec center to the arts and music INC and that is due to a refusal. Having heard the recommendation of the professional staff, I move that we
accept the polling place change for W 55, divisions 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I will now call the role. Vice Chair Dey. >> I vote I. Chairman Seabir >> I.
>> Charlie, you may proceed. Next three are in the 57th ward, the second division, the 24th division, and the 25th division, moving out of the aviation institute to the Thomas Home Elementary School, and that's moving it into the ward. >> Uh it is my understanding that my
colleagues would like to table this recommendation to the following week. Is that correct? >> Yes, that's correct. That's 74, right? >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. So, we will table that one to the future meeting.
All right. Anything else, Charlie? >> That's all I have. >> Okay. Thank you. Uh before we adjourn, uh Vice Chair Dey, do you have any other business to be raised at this meeting? >> I have none. Thank you. >> Thank you. Chairman Seabir, do you have any other business to be raised at this meeting? >> Uh well,
I just uh was very excited, you know, that we are going to be able to uh cast our ballot before the May 19th election. So, I definitely would like, you know, all of my colleagues to definitely get the word out there to let the Philadelphiaians know that they can uh
cast their ballot before May 19th. >> Thank you, chairman. Uh, with that being all on the agenda, I move that we adjourn today's meeting. Is there a second? >> Second. >> I will now call the role. Vice Chair De. >> I vote I. Chairman Seabir, I
>> thank you. This meeting is adjourned. Thank you.