Githens joins Monroe County election board; outside counsel hired in student ID lawsuit

Even in a year without any elections, Thursday’s regular monthly meeting of Monroe County’s election board offered plenty of newsy bits.

Former county commissioner Penny Githens introduced herself as the Democratic Party’s new appointee to the board.

County attorney David Schilling asked for and received approval to retain representation for the board by a private law firm in the lawsuit over the new state law that bans student IDs as voter identification.

County election supervisor Kylie Farris got the board’s approval to send letters to a list of local officials who have not complied with a new state law that requires all electeds to file a campaign finance form, even if they do not intend to run for reelection.

Farris also gave the board an update on voter list maintenance.

Farris announced that anyone who is interested in running for election in 2026 can pick up a candidate’s packet from her office at Election Central at the corner of 7th and Madison streets in downtown Bloomington.

Farris also announced that next Tuesday (Aug. 12) at 11 a.m. there will be a poll worker appreciation event hosted at Election Central. It’s National Pollworker Recruitment Day.

Githens introduced as new board member

The appointment of former commissioner Penny Githens to the election board was made by new Monroe County Democratic Party chair Chrissie Geels.

Githens said by way of introduction, “I’m a former Monroe County commissioner, and have been involved with county government now for over six years, and so I look forward to serving on this board.” She added that she thinks she has “a different kind of background and experience” that she can bring to the seat.

The appointment of Githens comes after the previous county chair of the party, Samuel Ujdak, indicated he would be appointing Githens to fill the vacancy left by the resignation of John Fernandez, but then paused before actually making the appointment. He installed himself on the board for one month. The reason for Ujdak’s delay was some internal pushback from some corners of the party.

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.

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

At Thursday’s meeting, county councilor Jennifer Crossley gave remarks from the public mic through the Microsoft Teams connection that alluded to the history that Githens and Browne have. Crossley said about the two that they had had “some run-ins and some things that have been unpleasant.”

Crossley continued, saying: “But I would just hope with respect to everything that’s happening, where we see vitriol and nastiness throughout every piece of government—from federal all the way down to even sometimes our local level—that I would just hope that, moving forward, that the three of you all can work together and that respect can be given to clerk Nicole Brown in regards to what it is that she’s trying to do with elections and protecting them and all of those things.”

Student ID lawsuit

The Monroe County election board is named as a defendant in a federal lawsuit, which contends that a new state law banning student IDs for election purposes is unconstitutional. The law was enacted during this year’s legislative session.

The board is named as a defendant because one of the plaintiffs, Josh Montagne, is a Bloomington resident and also an Indiana University sophomore. According to the complaint, Montagne has used his student ID to vote in the 2023 city election, in the 2024 primary election, and in the 2024 general election. A county election board has to enforce the provisions of the new state law on voter IDs.

At Thursday’s election board meeting, county attorney David Schilling reported that the legal department had requested that the state attorney general’s office represent Monroe County, given that the other defendants named in the lawsuit are subject to the same new state law as the county election board is.

But the attorney general’s office had refused, according to Schilling. That’s why he wanted the board to approve a retainer agreement with Barnes & Thornburg. Schilling said that Monroe County would not be taking a position on the validity of the state law. The private firm’s representation would be limited to assisting the county in court, conferences, and hearings and complying with discovery requests, among other things, Schilling said.

The legal complaint claims that SB 10, which is set to take effect on July 1 this year, violates the First, Fourteenth, and Twenty-Sixth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, by imposing unjustified burdens on young voters and intentionally discriminating based on age.

The new law says that the term “proof of identification” for voting purposes “does not include a document issued by an educational institution.” That has the effect of banning the use of student IDs for voting in the state of Indiana.

The plaintiffs are asking for an order from the court blocking the enforcement of the law—that is, an injunction.

The current case management plan for the case requires parties to file their witness lists in September this year.

Local list of missing CFA-1 forms, other maintenance issues

A new state law on campaign finance applies to any elected official who is paid more than $5,000 a year. Such officials now must have an active candidate’s committee for the whole time they are serving, which means having an active CFA-1 (Statement of Organization) on file with the election board. Even elected officials who have closed their committees are affected by the law.

Monroe County election supervisor Kyle Farris reported to the election board that eight elected officials had not filed the form. The board gave Farris a green light to send letters to the eight elected officials, notifying them about their missing forms.

Farris also updated the board on the work her office has been doing to comply with a new state law on verifying citizenship.

The new law uses the BMV’s record of who holds temporary credentials to prompt counties to send a proof-of-citizenship notice to those people if they are on the voter rolls. If they don’t respond within 30 days with documentation like a passport, birth certificate or naturalization certificate, within 30 days, their registration gets canceled.

Farris told the board that her office had sent 31 letters requesting proof of citizenship. She said that three of the voters have come in to provide their proof of citizenship.

Farris also gave the board an update on routine voter list maintenance, which includes a postcard mailing to all registered voters. She told the board she would have an additional update on the maintenance activity at the next election board meeting.