Democratic Party chair pauses before making long-term appointment to Monroe County election board, puts himself in seat for one month

On May 22, Monroe County Democratic Party chair Samuel Ujdak included in the party's newsletter an announcement of his intention to appoint former county commissioner Penny Githens to the party's seat on the three-member election board.

But on Thursday (June 5), at the board's first meeting since the announcement, it was Ujdak himself who was sworn into office—which is a move he says will be temporary.

It was Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne who administered the oath of office to Ujdak, shortly before the meeting started. As the elected county clerk, Browne serves on the board along with appointees from each of the major parties. The Republican Party appointee is Danny Shields. Thursday's meeting was chaired by Shields, with the idea that the longer-term chairship would be determined by mutual agreement between Shields and the longer-term appointee.

The Democratic Party's seat became vacant when John Fernandez resigned effective May 30. Fernandez had been appointed in late 2023 by the previous county chair, David Henry. Henry preceded Fernandez as the party's appointee, when he appointed himself at the start of 2023 to succeed Shruti Rana, after she resigned in order to run for Bloomington city council.

Ujdak's intent is to remain self-appointed for a shorter time than Henry did. At Thursday's meeting, Ujdak read aloud his letter appointing himself to the seat just through June 30:

To whom it may concern. This letter serves as notice that on June 5, 2025 I'm appointing myself to the Democratic Party seat on the Monroe County election board, effective through June 30, 2025. A formal notice of a permanent appointee will be made to county staff no later than that date. As of the writing of this letter, the chair has made no other formal appointment to the position. Thank you, Samuel Ujdak, Chairman, Monroe County Democratic Party

When Ujdak announced his intent to appoint Githens, there was enough pushback from inside the party that Ujdak took the step on Thursday of installing himself until a longer-term appointment can be made. Ujdak told The B Square after the board meeting that Githens is still in the mix as a possibility for the longer-term appointment. He declined to name any additional candidates he is considering.

Ujdak characterized to The B Square the May 22 announcement of his intent to appoint Githens as a way to ask party members for their reaction to the idea. Ujdak put it like this: "The point of releasing it that way and doing it earlier is to pretty explicitly invite feedback from folks." The feedback was not universally in support of appointing Githens.

Ujdak said there there's a lot of "intercaucus critiques" and "grievances." It's the kind of thing that could wind up "eating us alive," which is what he is now trying to be patient and hear from everyone who wants to be heard from to get "something resembling a consensus."

Former Monroe County resident and Democratic Party activist Natalia Galvan indicated on her Facebook page that the appointment of Githens would be made (allcaps emphasis in original) "...despite years of antagonism and struggle with the ELECTED TALENTED Monroe County Clerk [Browne] and divisiveness with that team…"

In 2021 and 2022, when Githens was serving on the board of commissioners, she and her colleagues, Lee Jones and Julie Thomas, were in a protracted conflict with the county clerk over space allocations for the election division.

Putting Githens on the election board with county clerk Nicole Browne, who under state law serves as a member of the board, would put two people on a three-person board who carry a lot of historical baggage with each other, even if they are both Democrats.

A measure of the acrimony between the commissioners and the clerk is reflected in remarks delivered by the clerk at a late 2021 election board meeting: "You may read it differently than I but, as I read through the thread, I find the Commissioners to have responded with revisionist history and outright lies." Also a part of the clerk's remarks was the statement: "My takeaway was that there was nothing but obfuscation on the part of the Board [of county commissioners.]"

At the immediately following board of commissioners meeting, Githens led off some remarks by saying, "To hear ourselves and to hear people in our office called liars and obfuscators is very disrespectful."