October 24, 2008

 

 

At its October 7 meeting, the Board approved asking the Board of Education to join the County in writing our Congressional delegation members about the difficulty in obtaining a legal opinion on conducting an audit of the CMS free and reduced lunch program. I want to report back to you on this item.
 
County staff has communicated with CMS staff on this matter. The Board of Education and superintendent expressed appreciation for the supportive action but declined to participate in a joint letter. It is the position of CMS that it has already received guidance from both the USDA and DPI concerning its current and future course of action. As a result, the Board of Education took action last week directing the superintendent not to conduct an audit larger than the minimum of 3% or 3,000 error-prone applications, until the USDA, DPI or federal statutory law changes.

 

Given that the action was to write a joint letter, I will bring this item back to you at your next regular meeting to seek your direction.

 

 

 

Early Voting kicked off last Thursday, October 16, with all 20 sites opened and operating. The Board of Elections staff reports these sites, collectively are averaging 12,000 voters per day. As of Wednesday, October 22, 61,780 voters took advantage of this voting option.

 

The host sites for early voting consist of public libraries, the Hayes Building in Ballantyne, Central Piedmont Community College Central and North Campuses, the Marion Diehl Recreation Center, and UNC Charlotte. The CPCC-Central Campus is operating on weekdays from 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. and the weekend hours listed below, as a substitute for the Board of Elections office (BOE). For additional information about the Early Voting locations, please visit interactive map at www.meckboe.org. The BOE office is not serving as a voting site due to limited parking.

 

All other early voting sites are operating under the following hours:

 

Some locations are experiencing waiting lines of 1 to 2 hours due to the number of voters.

 

The final date for early voting is Sunday, November 1.