We welcomed guests Wendy Anderson, Jared Anderson, exchange sister Coty, fellow Rotarian Brent Rice from the Wooster Club, and Ann Obrecht. Welcome to Orrville Rotary! :)
Jared will be our outbound student and will leave to Italy in four weeks to start his exchange student adventure. Coty is visiting the Anderson family this summer and was Olivia Anderson's exchange sister while Olivia stayed in Chile. Brent was able to update the club with news from the district. The district will have 9 outbound students and 14 inbound students for the 2019 - 2020 school year. He encouraged the Orrville club to promote the exchange program as much as we can. He also explained the short term exchange opportunities the district hosts. The short term program will pair families with similar backgrounds, interests, etc. The student will spend four weeks with the family, come home, and then the student from the other family will visit the other family for four weeks. The exchange typically occurs in the summer months to allow for travel and ease of school requirements.
Rich Corfman presented the program for the meeting held on July 16, 2019. Julie Leathers-Stahl, Director at the Wayne County Board of Elections, spoke to the club about what happens at the Board of Elections when an election is not happening. She explained that both the Republican and Democratic parties are represented evenly so decisions can be made fairly. The office maintains dual control when testing equipment by ensuring that both parties are represented and there isn't any collusion.
There are up to four scheduled elections annually. When the elections are not happening, the office is busy interviewing and hiring many temporary or seasonal employees that assist with the election process, mapping, updating websites, and recruiting poll workers. Julie explained that the state of Ohio will soon spend $145 million on new polling machines and Wayne county will receive a grant for $1.1 million to replace their machines. This will ensure that the elections continue to have accurate voting measures. Stay tuned as the Board of Elections plan to demonstrate these new machines at the fair this year.
