[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Rome as
Sec. 2.02 of the prior Code. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The polling place serving all wards shall be at the Municipal
Building located at 1156 Alpine Drive.
Pursuant to § 7.30(1)(a), Wis. Stats., the Town Board
hereby provides for the selection of two or more sets of officials
to work at different times on election day and permits the Clerk/Treasurer
or designee to establish different working hours for different officials
assigned at the same polling place.
A.
Worldwide terrorism event.
(1)
In the event of a terrorist activity, the federal government may
have a preliminary plan in place for moving activities of election
days. However, if no plan exists, it shall be the policy of the Town
of Rome to act accordingly. All elections shall continue unless federal
or state officials have ordered otherwise.
(2)
A worldwide terrorist event, although dramatically affecting each
voter on a personal level, may not affect the daily operations of
each polling location. If there is no police order to take cover or
remain indoors, all operations of the polling locations shall remain
in effect.
C.
Electrical outage. Ballot boxes contain power supply backups that
shall continue to operate in the event of a power outage. Should the
Town Hall lose power, Town officials shall be available to assist
in providing flashlights and immediate assistance. In the event of
a long-term power outage, a change of venue shall be required.
D.
Natural disaster/inclement weather.
(1)
During inclement weather, the Fire Department and Police Department
shall stay apprised of the severity and shall alert the Town Clerk/Treasurer
of possible emergencies.
(2)
Should an evacuation occur, the evacuation procedures listed above
should be followed. If a natural disaster such as a tornado occurs
and requires inspectors and voters to seek cover, all unvoted ballots
and poll lists shall be secured with the Chief Inspector. The ballot
box shall remain unplugged and locked. No ballots shall be allowed
into the ballot box, and no unvoted ballots shall be released. After
passage of the emergency, regular business shall resume and the Chief
Inspector shall note on his/her inspector report the period of nonvoting
from beginning to end.
E.
Evacuation.
(1)
In the event an evacuation is ordered by the Police or Fire Chief,
all unvoted ballots shall be taken into custody by the election inspectors
and the ballot box that has been storing and counting voted ballots
shall remain sealed, and unplugged. The box has a battery backup.
The purpose for removing all unvoted ballots is to prevent anyone
from entering and voting on unauthorized ballots while inspectors
are out of the building. Elections may continue as soon as fire officials
have cleared the building for reentry.
(2)
Should an actual fire be detected, the locked ballot box has wheels
and may be moved to the parking lot. If practical, the election inspectors
may allow voting to continue in the parking lot of the building. There
shall be established a designated corner of the parking lot where
voting can take place and where the ballot box is still able to count
and record ballots while on battery backup. However, a power supply
may be needed if this process should continue longer than one hour.
At no time shall the ballot box or ballots be out of sight of the
election inspectors.
(3)
If this process is not able to be completed in the parking lot, then a change of venue shall be required. Changing the voting location shall require a police escort. The Town Clerk/Treasurer, or if the Town Clerk/Treasurer is not available, the Chief Inspector, shall determine if the event requires a change of venue. See Subsection F below to for the procedure for moving the entire polling location.
F.
Change of venue.
(1)
When it is has been determined by the Town Clerk/Treasurer or Chief
Inspector that a polling location needs to be moved to effectively
respond to a disaster of any kind, the following process shall be
executed.
(2)
The Town Clerk/Treasurer, with police escort, shall report to the
polling location requiring the move. All inspectors shall assist the
Clerk/Treasurer in packaging up all voting equipment, unvoted ballots,
challenged ballots, recreated ballots, absentee envelopes, poll lists,
new registration forms, and any other miscellaneous material.
(3)
The ballot box shall remain locked at all times.
(4)
The ballot box shall be escorted to a Town-owned vehicle for moving.
A police officer shall remain in control of the ballot box at all
times. A police escort shall take the ballot box (which holds all
voted ballots) to Fire Station #2. At this location, all inspectors
and the Town Clerk/Treasurer shall set up and operate the polling
location. The ballot box has a battery backup and no information should
be lost.
(5)
All unvoted ballots shall remain in the possession of the Chief Inspector
and at least one other inspector during this change of venue.
(6)
Inspectors shall note this change of location on their Inspector
Statement.
(7)
A sign shall be posted at the original polling location designating
the new polling place for voters to see. Likewise, if possible, a
notice shall be placed on the public access channel for voters to
report to the correct location.
G.
Effect on poll watchers. Poll watchers shall be required to exit
any building that is evacuated. They may continue to watch the election
processes without interruption. They shall be prohibited from interfering
with the election process. If they are asked to leave and refuse to
do so, they can be removed by the police.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms, phrases,
words, and their derivations shall have the meaning given herein.
If not defined herein, the word, term or phrase shall have the definition
commonly accepted including a relevant definition contained in the
Wisconsin Statutes. When not inconsistent with the context, the words
used in the present tense include the future, words in the plural
number include the singular number and words in the singular number
include the plural number. The word "shall" is always mandatory and
not merely directory:
Any medium, including its structure, words, letters, figures,
numerals, phrases, sentences, emblems, devices, designs, trade names
or trademarks by which anything is made known and which are used to
advertise or promote an individual, firm, association, corporation,
profession, business, commodity or product and which is visible from
any public street or highway.
The Town of Rome, Adams County, Wisconsin, or any duly appointed
designate thereof, including, but not limited to, the Town Board and
Town committees.
The present governing body of the Town or any successors
to the legislative power of said body, or any duly appointed designate
thereof.
