Memphis, Tenn. – The chairman of the two major political parties in Shelby County met with Election Commission Chairman Brent Taylor on Friday to receive an update on the Shelby County Election Commission. Shelby County Democratic Party Chairwoman Gabby Salinas and Republican Party Chairman Cary Vaughn met with Taylor at the commission offices on Nixon.
“I think this meeting is unprecedented,” said Taylor. “I’m not sure when the chairs of the local parties have met to discuss the election process before this meeting. My leadership style is to always be inclusive and thought it was important for me to update them directly on changes with the Shelby County Election Commission.”
Taylor discussed the composition of the election commission and how in a majority democratic county the election commission is majority republican. He shared how it is important to have input from all the election commissioners and how he assigned seating to promote collaborative discussion.
Salinas and Vaughn received an update on the purchase of new voting machines and Taylor shared his support for the machines that the Shelby County Commission are interested in purchasing that is electronic touch-screen with a paper ballot component. This purchase of the type of new voting machines is still before the Appellate Court.
Taylor also shared that due to the redistricting process there will be fewer precincts on election day on May 3, 2022. “In the upcoming election we will have 134 precincts down from 255 in the last election,” said Taylor. “The Election Commission will assign workers with IPADs to each old precinct to help them find their new voting location.”
The meeting ended with a tour of the operations center and a demonstration of the proposed new voting machines.