accessIndiana

Make Up of Subgroups

Each member was assigned to two subgroups. Everyone received his or her first committee selection, provided a choice was indicated. For the second subgroup, Secretary of State Rokita asked members to serve on the committee where their experience and/or political affiliation would be needed to produce a balanced discussion and quality results.

Time Table

Each subgroup meeting will last one hour and thirty minutes. The frequency of meetings is detailed on the schedule included in your packets. Different subgroups will meet every Friday (sometimes two at a time) at 1:00 p.m. for the next 11 weeks. Extra meeting hours were built into the schedule for the groups that had more tasks to accomplish, such that:
(total meeting hours)

Subgroup Task List

The Indiana Election Division compiled a list of the tasks each subgroup should accomplish in order to meet the requirements in the Help America Vote Act. Groups are to use that list as a roadmap for their discussions, focusing on those issues that have a legislative impact first. One hour and twenty minutes of each meeting should be spent in this manner.

Setting Meeting Agendas

The last ten minutes of every subgroup meeting will be spent deciding on the agenda for the next meeting. This will allow any subgroup members who were not present to know what the next week's topics will be and any assignments associated with those topics via the meeting notes. It will also allow committee members who will be absent at the next meeting to submit their thoughts on the subject matter, in writing, prior to the meeting.

Meeting Notes

Each Subgroup will report back to the full committee with meeting notes. Less formal than official minutes, meeting notes will include summaries of discussions and intended topics. Meeting notes will be distributed to all Team members, as well as to other interested parties and posted on the web site. Each subgroup will have a staff person to take meeting notes.

Handling Deadlock

When a group cannot reach a consensus on a particular issue in a timely fashion, they are to table that issue and move on to the next topic. If, upon revisiting the issue, the group still cannot decide, the group is to report back to the full team that no agreement was made, detailing both sides of the issue.

Plenary Sessions

From time to time, the full Team will meet to check progress. Such meetings will be announced ahead of time.