New Danielsville mayor Philip Croya wants to provide no fodder for conspiracy theorists out there.
Croya suggested changes in election protocol at Monday night’s council meeting, which included employing a person outside the city government to oversee elections and replacing the ballot box with a safe to protect votes from any potential tampering.
“I would like to see a more secure election around here,” he said.
Croya said several cities use an election superintendent that’s independent from the municipal government. Otherwise, there might be the assumption of preferential treatment if city officials are the ones handling voting.
“You work with these people on a day-to-day basis, you may be a little more biased from the outside world,” Croya said.
The mayor would rather an “outsider” run the election to dispel any notion of that.
“No one from the outside world can come in and say, ‘well, y’all cheated, y’all fixed the election,’” Croya said.
Danielsville clerk Connie Riley, the current election superintendent, agreed with Croya and suggested the city contact Tracy Dean with the county registrar’s office for an election superintendent recommendation.
“I think it’s a great idea,” Riley said. “And it does give the office, the administration a separation from the election.”
The new mayor also has major issues with the way votes are concealed during elections.
Croya said the current ballot box “scares me,” describing a scenario where one could potentially highjack all the ballots.
“That’s not a very secure deal,” he said. “Anybody could break in that door right there, steal that box and run off with it. Then we would have to start over.”
Croya suggested buying a safe — with a top-drop, combination and a key – to store the votes. The key would be then stored in a safety deposit box at the bank. The city would sign the key out on election day.
“That way those votes are secured,” Croya said, adding that citizens have expressed concerns to him over the security of the box.
Croya, who is a certified locksmith, said he can gather information regarding the price of a safe.
He noted that the safe could even be bolted to the floor.
“It would be harder to take it and tote it out of here and no one can say, ‘y’all fixed the election.’”
New councilman Ron Faust agreed that the current ballot box isn’t ideal but isn’t sure that the city has to take its precautions this far.
As long as there’s at least one person not affiliated with the city around the ballot box, “I would probably feel safe enough with that,” Faust said.
“That would really, really make it hard for any kind of conspiracy to go on … I don’t know that we would have to go that far with the safe,” he said.
But that wouldn’t protect against those who have keys to the office and can enter after hours, councilwoman Janice Merk said.
Croya agreed.
“That’s what I’m saying,” Croya said. “Who knows who’s got keys to this place?”
Croya said the council could discuss the matter further at its next work session.
“It’s just a concern, and I wanted to bring it up,” Croya said.
