Tag: election

Recount confirms Hall as winner over Githens in state house District 62

Room 404 at the Indiana state house, where the recount commission met on Dec. 20, 2022.
From left: Left to right: Bradley King, co-counsel for the recount commission; Republican Party appointee Mark Wynn; secretary of state Holli Sullivan; Democratic Party appointee Michael Claytor; and Mathew Kochevar, co-counsel for the recount commission.
Recount commission co-counsel Matthew Kochevar.
Democratic Party appointee to the recount commission Michael Claytor holds aloft a ballot for review.
Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry.
Samantha Dewester, legal counsel for Dave Hall
Secretary of state Holli Sullivan.
Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry (standing) with Penny Githens.
Indiana state police first sergeant Brad Stille shows there’s nothing left in the ballot envelope that he just sliced open.
Indiana state police first sergeant Brad Stille hands over the ballot envelopes to general counsel for the state board of accounts, Kendra Leatherman.

Around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, Indiana’s recount commission confirmed Republican Dave Hall as the winner of the election for District 62 state house over Democrat Penny Githens.

The final recounted tally was:

Penny Githens (D): 12,963
Dave Hall (R): 13,037

That’s a plurality of 74 for Hall.

The original tally was:

Penny Githens (D): 12,950
Dave Hall (R): 12,990

That was a plurality of 40 for Hall.

This brief has been updated with more detail below. Continue reading “Recount confirms Hall as winner over Githens in state house District 62” →

Manual recounting of ballots completed for District 62 state house, final results next week

Recount director Philip Sicuso (Dec. 14, 2022)
From left: Dee Owens, watcher for Penny Githens, and SBOA chief of staff Jennifer Gauger. (Dec. 14, 2022)
From left: Monroe County election board member Donovan Garletts, Monroe County election supervisor Karen Wheeler, and Jackson County clerk-elect Amanda Lowery. (Dec. 14, 2022)
(Dec. 14, 2022)
From left: Penny Githens, Dee Owens, and Susan Luther. (Dec. 14, 2022)
Election Central in Monroe County at 7th and Madison streets in Bloomington. (Dec. 14, 2022)
Recount activity in Monroe County at Election Central. (Dec. 14, 2022)

By around 5:15 p.m. on Wednesday, the recounting activity in Monroe County for the District 62 state house race between Republican Dave Hall and Democrat Penny Githens was completed.

That wrapped up the recounting for all of District 62, which also includes precincts in Brown and Jackson counties.

Recounting in Monroe County took place at Election Central in the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets.

The results of the recount won’t be finalized until the state recount commission meets next week.

The final certified tally of votes, before the recount, gave Hall 12,990 votes, which was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received.

Recount director Philip Sicuso told The B Square that the meeting has not yet been noticed to the public, but the recount commission plans to convene at 9 a.m. next Tuesday (Dec. 20) at the statehouse in Indianapolis. That’s the deadline for completion of the recount. Continue reading “Manual recounting of ballots completed for District 62 state house, final results next week” →

District 62 state house election update: Manual recounting of ballots now underway

(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry points to candidate Penny Githens’s computer screen as they review challenged ballots from Jackson and Brown counties.
Deputy recount director Andrew Norris. (Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
(Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)
The slogan on the mug reads: “I am an auditor. To save time let’s just assume I’m always right.” (Election Central Monroe County Dec. 13, 2022)

Arriving around 3 p.m. on Tuesday at Monroe County’s Election Central, was the team from Indiana’s state board of accounts (SBOA) that is conducting the manual recounting of ballots in Indiana’s District 62 state house race.

The race was won by Republican Dave Hall, who had a certified tally of 12,990 votes. That was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received. The request for the recount was filed by Monroe County Party chair David Henry.

The recounting of Monroe County’s ballots got a good start on Tuesday, but will last at least another day.

Recounting activity on Tuesday lasted until around 6 p.m. The work of reviewing each paper ballot with human hands and eyeballs will continue on Wednesday morning in Monroe County starting around 8 a.m.

In Monroe County, the recount work is not expected to be completed until Thursday morning. But there’s an outside chance the work could wrap up by late Wednesday, according to deputy recount director Andrew Norris. Continue reading “District 62 state house election update: Manual recounting of ballots now underway” →

Ballots in Monroe County get sorted to prep for District 62 state house recount next Wednesday

Monroe County Election Central (Dec. 9, 2022)
Monroe County Election Central (Dec. 9, 2022)
Monroe County Election Central (Dec. 9, 2022)
Seated is Monroe County deputy clerk Tressia Martin. Others shown in this photgraph are state board of accounts (SBOA) staff. Monroe County Election Central (Dec. 9, 2022)

At 8 a.m. on Friday, a dozen staff from Indiana’s state board of accounts (SBOA) and some state police officers arrived at Monroe County’s Election Central at 7th and Madison streets in downtown Bloomington.

The SBOA staff’s job for the day was to sort the ballots from the Nov. 8 election into piles—one pile for each of the 29 Monroe County precincts that is a part of state house District 62.

The sorting comes in preparation for the recounting of ballots in the race, which was won by Republican Dave Hall, who had a certified tally of 12,990 votes. That was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received. The request for the recount was filed by Monroe County Party chair David Henry.

In Monroe County, the recounting itself is now expected to start around noon on Wednesday (Dec. 14) next week. That will come whenever the recounting is complete in Jackson and Brown counties—which are the other two counties with some precincts included in District 62.

In Monroe County, the piles of ballots for District 62 should total 18,737—that’s 18,517 cast ballots for the race, plus 220 undervoted ballots.

Sorting the ballots into piles by precinct is not a quick task. Continue reading “Ballots in Monroe County get sorted to prep for District 62 state house recount next Wednesday” →

District 62 election update: Pre-recount visit done, sorting this week, followed by recounting next week

From left: Matthew Kochevar, David Henry, Bradley King, Phil Sicuso. (Dec. 7, 2023)
Monroe County election supervisor Karen Wheeler. (Dec. 7, 2023)
Monroe County Election Central meeting for pre-recount review. (Dec. 7, 2023)
From left: Karen Wheeler, David Henry, Matthew Kochevar, Cory Ray, Phil Sicuso. (Dec. 7, 2023)
From left: Cory Ray and Phil Sicuso. (Dec. 7, 2023)

On Wednesday, a group of state officials and interested parties to Indiana’s state house District 62 recount process made the rounds to the three affected counties, to complete the pre-recount procedures.

The race in District 62, which includes areas in Monroe, Brown and Jackson counties, was won by Republican Dave Hall, who had a certified tally of 12,990 votes. That was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens received.

Election Day was Nov. 8.

On Wednesday, recount director Philip Sicuso indicated that some additional sorting and preparation would take place through the rest of this week. The recounting activity itself is to start next week (Dec. 12).

The recounting in Monroe County is not expected to start until 8 a.m. Wednesday morning (Dec. 14), Sicuso said. Continue reading “District 62 election update: Pre-recount visit done, sorting this week, followed by recounting next week” →

Standard procedure: Ballots impounded by Indiana State Police for House District 62 recount

By around 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, two state police sergeants had appeared at Monroe County’s Election Central at Madison and 7th streets—to secure the ballots and voting equipment that were used for the Nov. 8 general election.

Indiana state police first sergeant Brad Stille. (Nov. 29, 2022)

It’s the standard process that is used under state election law, when a recount of ballots is requested.

The recount in question is for the District 62 state house race, which was requested the day before, on Monday, by the Monroe County Democratic Party (MCDP).

The race was won by Republican Dave Hall, who had a certified tally of 12,990 votes, which was 40 more than Democrat Penny Githens.

The impoundment order, from recount director Philip Sicuso acting on behalf of the state’s recount commission, was served by first sergeants Dana Miller and Brad Stille with the Indiana State Police. Continue reading “Standard procedure: Ballots impounded by Indiana State Police for House District 62 recount” →

Early voting wraps up in Monroe County, polls open on Election Day at 6 a.m.

Monroe County election supervisor Karen Wheeler (red jacket) Karen Wheeler minds the end of the line at the noon cutoff time.
View of voting operations at 3rd and Walnut from the top of the 4th Street parking garage, looking south.
Voting operations looking northwest.

Early voting in Monroe County for the Nov. 8 election is now over.

Closing at noon on Monday were the polls at the election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets in downtown Bloomington.

Voting hours for Election Day, at assigned polling locations throughout the county, extend from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The pace of early in-person voting in Monroe County has increased by a lot in the final week before the Tuesday Nov. 8 election.

The increased early-voting numbers were evident on Monday. For much of the morning, a line of voters wrapped around the north end of the election operations building.

At around 11:45, which was 15 minutes before the polls closed, The B Square counted around 40 people standing in line outside. Sunny skies and a temperature in the low 60s meant the wait was not as unpleasant as it might have been.

The line moved pretty fast. In the four hours of early voting on Tuesday, from 8 a.m. to noon, 977 people were able to cast a ballot. That works out to 244 voters an hour, the highest voter throughput for any day during this year’s early voting period, or for the presidential election in 2020. Continue reading “Early voting wraps up in Monroe County, polls open on Election Day at 6 a.m.” →

Early voting in Monroe County continues to trail 2018 turnout, election day workers still needed

B Square file photo of 2022 early voting at 3rd and Walnut streets (Oct. 29, 2022)

At Thursday afternoon’s meeting of the Monroe County election board, county clerk Nicole Browne reported to her colleagues that she was “a little disheartened” about the early voting turnout so far for the Nov. 8 election.

Election supervisor Karen Wheeler confirmed that the early voting numbers this year are still lagging well behind the numbers for the last midterm year in 2018.

In 2018, about 24,500 people voted early—the combined total for absentee mailed-in ballots and in-person votes. That’s based on the early vote totals in the race for US Senate.

Wheeler also said at Thursday’s election board meeting that she still needs election day poll workers from both parties. Continue reading “Early voting in Monroe County continues to trail 2018 turnout, election day workers still needed” →

Election 2022 notebook: Early voting pace in Monroe County looks slower than for 2018

B Square file photo of 2022 early voting at 3rd and Walnut streets (Oct. 29, 2022)

Turnout for this year’s midterm elections would be expected to be lower than in 2020, a presidential election year.

But this year’s early voting numbers for Monroe County look like they could be also lagging behind the midterm numbers from last time around in 2018.

In 2018, about 24,500 people voted early—the combined total for absentee mailed-in ballots and in-person votes. That was nearly half of the 52,000 people who participated in the 2018 elections.

A back-of-the napkin estimate for this year’s early voting numbers—based on in-person totals so far, and the absentee mail-in ballots returned so far—would be around 16,000. Continue reading “Election 2022 notebook: Early voting pace in Monroe County looks slower than for 2018” →

Possible mayoral run for Sandberg: Bloomington city council president forms exploratory committee

On Wednesday (June 1) a little before noon, Democrat Susan Sandberg filed paperwork with Monroe County to form an exploratory committee to run for mayor of the city of Bloomington in 2023.

Bloomington city council president Susan Sandberg at a mid-April 2022 meeting.

That means her campaign can accept financial contributions, but does not require that she eventually declare her candidacy for mayor. Candidates for city council, mayor, and clerk can’t file a formal declaration until early January 2023.

Sandberg currently serves as president of the city council, a post to which she was elected at the start of the year. The vote for council president was split 5–4 in favor of Sandberg over Matt Flaherty.

Sandberg also served as council president in 2008, 2011 and 2017. She has also served a couple years as council vice president and one year as parliamentarian.

Like the mayor and the city clerk, the nine city councilmembers serve four-year terms. All nine members of the council, the mayor, and the clerk, are elected every four years. That means if Sandberg declares her candidacy for mayor in 2023, there will be at least one open seat on the city council with no incumbent running.

Sandberg was a campaign co-chair for mayor John Hamilton’s 2019 re-election bid. Hamilton has not made a formal announcement of his intention to run for reelection in 2023, but is expected to. Continue reading “Possible mayoral run for Sandberg: Bloomington city council president forms exploratory committee” →