Elections 2024: First filing day—both Monroe County commissioner races could be contested for Dems
Official filings on Wednesday mean that Monroe County voters in the 2024 Democratic Party primary might have choices in both of the county commissioner races that are up for election this year.
Previously announced was District 2 county commissioner Julie Thomas’s intent to seek re-election and Peter Iversen’s intent to challenge for the seat. Iversen’s District 1 county council seat is not up for election this year.
Incumbent for the District 3 county commissioner seat is Penny Githens, who has been considered likely to seek re-election. Filing paperwork on Wednesday for the District 3 county commissioner seat was Democrat Steve Volan, a former Bloomington city councilmember.
Volan’s 20 years of service on the city council concluded at the end of 2023. After representing District 6 on the city council for two decades, he sought the party’s nomination to one of the three at-large council seats, but was not among the top three vote getters in the 2023 primary.
Reached on Wednesday, Githens indicated to the B Square that she has not yet decided whether to run again for the District 3 county commissioner seat.
The districts for county commissioners define the limited geographic areas where candidates have to live—but the voting for county commissioners is countywide.
Wednesday was the first day it was possible for this year’s candidates for local office to file their official paperwork.
It was also the first day that candidates for U.S. president and U.S. senate could submit signatures to qualify for the primary ballot. Incumbent Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and Valerie McCray’s senatorial campaign submitted signatures from Monroe County voters on Wednesday.
Up for local election this year in Monroe County are the positions of auditor, coroner, surveyor, treasurer, circuit court judge (Division 3, Division 4, and Division 9), county commissioner (District 2 and District 3) and county councilor (three at-large seats).
Also filing official paperwork on Wednesday were two candidates for at-large county council seats—incumbent Democrat Trent Deckard and David Henry, who is the Monroe County Democratic Party chair.
Henry has said he is running as a replacement for incumbent Geoff McKim, who cannot seek re-election due to the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from running for partisan office.
The other at-large county council incumbent, Democrat Cheryl Munson, is expected to seek re-election but did not file paperwork on Wednesday.
Also filing a declaration for candidacy on Wednesday was incumbent surveyor, Democrat Trohn Enright-Randolph.
Filing a candidate declaration on Wednesday as expected was Democrat Catherine Smith for the treasurer’s position, which would have been open anyway this year, because incumbent Jessica McClellan was term-limited.
But the treasurer’s position is already vacant, because McClellan resigned in order to accept the appointment as city controller from new Bloomington mayor Kerry Thomson. So Smith will first compete to be the selection of the Democratic Party’s caucus to fill the treasurer’s vacancy, which is set for Jan. 20.
If Smith is selected in the caucus as the treasurer, she would then compete in the primary as the incumbent treasurer, which would leave vacant her current position as elected county auditor. The auditor’s position would be up for grabs anyway this year because Smith is term-limited. But if Smith is selected by the caucus as the treasurer, the auditor’s role would need to be filled earlier—also through a caucus. The date of that caucus likley won’t be set until it’s certain it will be needed.
Filing her paperwork as a candidate for county auditor on Wednesday was Brianne Gregory, who works in the auditor’s office as the county’s financial director.
In addition to his own paperwork as a county council candidate, David Henry submitted petitions for Joe Biden as U.S. president, which Henry estimated to include easily over 700 signatures. Henry told The B Square he thinks it’s the most signatures for Biden per capita of any county in the state of Indiana.
Candidates for president need 500 signatures from each of Indiana’s nine congressional districts. The total from Monroe County alone was enough to meet the standard for the 9th District that would qualify Biden for the ballot.
Also submitting signatures for a federal candidate was Sierra Roussos—on behalf of Valerie McCray’s campaign for U.S. senate. Roussos estimated the number of signatures she submitted at around 400.
The whiteboard at Monroe County’s Election Central at Madison and 7th streets notes the primary election day, May 7 and the start of in-person early voting, which is April 9, just 90 days away.
Included on the whiteboard is the day’s date. So on Wednesday, the white board read: “Today is Jan. 10, 2024.”
On this year’s election calendar, Jan. 10 is also the first day when local office hopefuls could file their official paperwork declaring their candidacy.
For readers who want to stay up to date on who has said they are running and who has actually filed the paperwork, here’s a link: B Square page of candidate docs.
Readers who who want to track the filings themselves and monitor when the documents are scanned and posted to the county website, here’s a useful link: Monroe County website candidate doc search pre-set for “2024“
