The Monroe County Board of Elections approved three new rules of conduct for Monroe County commissioners and Election Office staff last week.

The rules came about from five guidelines Commissioner David Parker wrote. He announced at the commissioners’ meeting his intention to propose them at the election board meeting.

Parker said, “I’ll be proposing some guidelines at the election board meeting just to remind us of our roles and make sure that we don’t blur the lines and make employees uncomfortable or put them in awkward situations.”

In an interview, Parker said he drafted the guidelines because it was discovered after the election in November 2023 that Commissioner Sharon Laverdure had turned in her husband’s mail-in ballot for him. The law requires that a mail-in ballot be submitted by the person whose name is on the ballot.

No one is allowed to submit a ballot for another person, unless the person has a disability and has submitted in writing to have a named person submit the ballot for them.

Laverdure said in an interview, “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I was just taking care of my husband.”

She said he had been sick and wasn’t feeling up to going out that day.

In a provided statement, Parker said, “I am proposing these guidelines for current and future commissioners to help prevent situations where boundaries become blurred and complacency can lead to wrongdoing.”

He went on to say that he thinks it is important to review the guidelines every year to remind the commissioners and staff “of our respective roles and responsibilities.”

“This is especially important during an election year, when actions that may be permissible while serving on the election board are not appropriate for a commissioner, who is actively campaigning for election or reelection,” Parker said in the statement. “We work for the voters and taxpayers of Monroe County, and most county employees are part of that same group.”

Parker said if he overstepped his boundaries, he would welcome a reminder from staff that he cannot be in a specific location or privy to that information.

“In a time when the public is demanding greater accountability and decorum from elected officials, these guidelines can help us be better public servants — acting appropriately within out roles while avoiding unnecessary pressure or discomfort for county employees,” Parker said.

The guidelines that the board approved include:

• Information Sharing Restrictions — No election information will be shared by the staff in the Election Office or any other county staff with a commissioner who is a candidate running for reelection, unless the information is given to all candidates running for the same position.

• Reporting of Election Irregularities — Any election irregularities will be reported to all members of the Election Board as soon as it is practical upon discovery.

• Irregularities Involving Commissioner-Candidates — If an election irregularity involves a commissioner who is a candidate for an elected office, an alternate solicitor will be appointed to investigate the irregularity and report the findings to the full Election Board.

The guidelines that were not adopted include:

• Staff Authority and Reporting Structure — At the start of each election year, it will be clearly communicated to all Election Staff that all election-related matters are to be reported to the Election Board, not to the Board of Commissioners.

• Restricted Access for Commissioner-Candidates — Commissioners, who are candidates for elected office, will not enter staff-only areas of the Election Office or Voter Registration Office — including behind the counter — at any time during the election year. An exception to this rule is if the commissioner is invited by election staff under the same conditions as any other candidate.

Parker said the solicitor thought that these two guidelines were already implied in the rules that they decided to adopt.

“I would have preferred all five be included, but three is better than nothing,” Parker said in the interview.