Tag: Nicole Browne

5 tapped for Monroe County vote center committee, six more needed

Vote center committee appointee Danielle Wheelock (Sept. 7, 2023)
David Henry, election board member (Sept. 7, 2023)
Judith Benckart, election board member (Sept. 7, 2023)
Ryan Herndon, election supervisor (Sept. 7, 2023)

At its Thursday meeting, Monroe County’s three-member election board accepted five appointments that have been made to an 11-member vote center committee.

Vote centers are different from the kind of precinct-based polling locations currently used by Monroe County. At a precinct-based polling site, only voters from specified precincts can cast a ballot there.

Vote centers are polling places where a voter who is registered in any precinct can cast a ballot. For election administrators, it means some additional planning—to make sure that all the different ballots, which are tied to different precincts, are available for voters across the county.

The usual precinct-based polling locations will be used for the upcoming Nov. 7 municipal elections.

The vote center committee is supposed to produce a plan, as part of the requirements for eventually establishing vote centers.

Named to the vote center committee on Thursday were: Ilana Stonebraker; Hal Turner; Debora (Ralf) Shaw; Daniella Wheelock; and Stacy Kowalczyk. Continue reading “5 tapped for Monroe County vote center committee, six more needed” →

Filling Monroe County election supervisor position called “good first step” by League of Women Voters

The upcoming Nov. 7 local elections include just one contested municipal race—for Bloomington city council District 3—plus a referendum question for Monroe County Community School Corporation (MCCSC).

Monroe County election supervisor Ryan Herndon (Aug. 23, 2023)

So they’re not expected to present a big logistical challenge for the county’s election division.

Still, this year’s municipal elections will serve as a kind practice run for the 2024 presidential elections.

In a letter to area elected officials dated Tuesday, Aug. 22, the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County sounded the alarm about staffing for the presidential election cycle.

Looking ahead to 2024, the letter states: “The League of Women Voters is concerned that Monroe County will not be prepared to conduct the primary and general elections with adequate and knowledgeable staff support.”

Two key staff departures this year are the source of the league’s concern. Chief deputy clerk Tressia Martin resigned at the end of July. County election supervisor Karen Wheeler left in early February.

When the league sent the letter, it was not widely known that a new election supervisor had been hired. Ryan Herndon, who has served up to now as a deputy in county clerk Nicole Browne’s office, has been on the job as election supervisor since Aug. 1.

Responding on Wednesday to an emailed B Square question about the league’s letter, Browne relayed the news of a new hire: “I am very proud to oversee elections in Monroe County and, in fact, we do have a new election supervisor in place.” Continue reading “Filling Monroe County election supervisor position called “good first step” by League of Women Voters” →

11-member vote center committee OK’d by Monroe County election board, members not yet appointed

Monroe County election board from left: Lisa-Marie Napoli (proxy for Nicole Browne); David Henry; and Judith Benckart.
Excerpt from the document approved by Monroe County election board defining the vote center study committee

Eleven people are now being sought to fill positions on a committee that has been established to study the question of implementing vote centers in Monroe County.

Vote centers are different from the kind of precinct-based polling locations currently used by Monroe County. At a precinct-based polling site, only voters from specified precincts can cast a ballot there.

Vote centers are polling places where a voter who is registered in any precinct can cast a ballot. For election administrators, it means some additional planning—to make sure that all the different ballots, which are tied to different precincts, are available for voters across the county.

It’s conceivable, but by no means certain, that vote centers could be implemented in time for the 2024 election cycle.

But based on election board deliberations on Thursday, the prevailing sentiment appears to be against trying to implement vote centers in a way that is rushed.

The board removed a requirement in a draft document that said the study committee had to complete its work no later than 150 days after its first meeting. Continue reading “11-member vote center committee OK’d by Monroe County election board, members not yet appointed” →

Election board denies signature challenge by independent Bloomington mayoral hopeful

David Henry, Monroe County Democratic Party appointee to the election board.
Judith Benckhart, Monroe County Republican Party appointee to the county election board.
Rebecca Haviland, supporter of Joe Davis, addresses the Monroe County election board.
Joe Davis, would-be independent candidate for Bloomington mayor.
Monroe County election board meeting: July 13, 2023.

Joe Davis will not appear on the Nov. 7 Bloomington mayoral ballot, unless he prevails in a lawsuit—which he told Monroe County’s election board that he intends to file.

Davis’s remarks came at a Thursday meeting of the three-member election board.

At Thursday’s meeting, board members voted unanimously to deny the challenge Davis had filed, over disqualified signatures that appeared on his petition for ballot access as an independent candidate.

It means that barring a successful lawsuit by Davis, Democrat Kerry Thomson will be the only person whose name appears on the Nov. 7 ballot for Bloomington mayor.

Davis collected over 600 signatures, but the number that were disqualified left him 14 short of the 352 he had to collect.

Davis told the board he wanted to see “a just and fair interpretation of the signatures that I have turned in through my petitions.” Continue reading “Election board denies signature challenge by independent Bloomington mayoral hopeful” →

Election board to meet on question of disqualified signatures for Bloomington mayoral hopeful

Joe Davis files signatures in support of his independent candidacy for mayor of Bloomington. (June 30, 2023)
Monroe County election board members, from left: Nicole Browne, Judith Benchart, and David Henry
Letter from Monroe County election board to Joe Davis.

Questions about disqualified petition signatures, which were submitted to county election staff by Bloomington mayoral hopeful Joe Davis, will be the topic of discussion for Monroe County’s election board next Thursday (July 13).

Davis sought to appear on the Nov. 7 city election ballot as an independent candidate. To meet the requirements under state law, he had to submit at least 352 signatures by June 30 at noon. Davis fell 14 signatures short.

He submitted more than 600 signatures.

To challenge the disqualification of some signatures, Davis has filed a CAN-1 form, which can be used by “a candidate seeking to contest the denial of certification due to insufficient signatures.”

At its meeting this past week, the board gave the challenge by Davis some initial discussion, opting to continue its meeting on July 13 at 1 p.m. The board also decided to send Davis a letter inviting him to attend and be a part of the discussion.

As it currently stands, the race for Bloomington mayor is uncontested. The only candidate who will appear on the ballot is Democratic Party nominee Kerry Thomson. No write-in candidate registered by the July 3 deadline. Continue reading “Election board to meet on question of disqualified signatures for Bloomington mayoral hopeful” →

Election board creates study committee: Monroe County could replace precinct polls with vote centers

Monroe County election board members, from left: Nicole Browne, Judith Benchart, and David Henry
Monroe County election board member Judith Benckart
Monroe County election board member David Henry

At its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, Monroe County’s election board took a small but important step towards the adoption of so-called vote centers as the locations where people cast their ballots.

The board voted to establish a study committee for vote centers, but left the details to be sorted out at its next monthly meeting. Those details include membership, the assigned task, and the timeframe for the group’s work.

In the secretary of state’s seven-step process, forming a study committee is just the second step.

Vote centers are different from the kind of precinct-based polling locations currently used by Monroe County. At a precinct-based polling site, only voters from specified precincts can cast a ballot there.

Vote centers are polling places where a voter who is registered in any precinct can cast a ballot. For election administrators, it means some additional planning—to make sure that all the different ballots, which are tied to different precincts, are available for voters across the county.

Based on remarks at Thursday’s meeting from county attorney Molly Turner-King, other Indiana counties that have adopted vote centers have taken anywhere from 12 to 18 months to complete the process.

Of Indiana’s 92 counties, 60 have adopted vote centers.

Deputy clerk Tressia Martin said her preference would be to wait until after the 2024 presidential election before implementing vote centers. Martin is performing the functions of the election supervisor while that position is vacant. Continue reading “Election board creates study committee: Monroe County could replace precinct polls with vote centers” →

Local Democratic Party won’t contest District 6 Bloomington council election outcome now, leaves door open to future action

B Square file photo of Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry (Jan. 6, 2023).
Monroe County election board member Donovan Garletts (May 18, 2023)
David Wolfe Bender (May 18, 2023)
John Fernandez, who served as a David Henry’s proxy for the May 18, 2023 election board hearing. (May 18, 2023)
Monroe County election board from left: County clerk Nicole Browne, Donovan Garletts, and John Fernandez (May 18, 2023).
The six precincts of District 6 are outlined in brown. Surrounding districts (clowise 2, 3, and 4) are shown in green red and yellow.

Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry has confirmed to The B Square that he has not filed a petition under Indiana election code objecting to the outcome of the May 2 primary.

The primary made David Wolfe Bender the party’s nominee for the Bloomington District 6 city council seat in the Nov. 7 municipal election.

The deadline for a party chair to file a petition objecting to the result was noon on Friday (May 19).

The deadline came 23 hours after the election board convened a hearing on the question of Bender’s residency in the district.

The election board voted unanimously to refer to the county prosecutor potential felony charges involving a potential misrepresentation of Bender’s residency on his candidate filing forms. [.pdf of document forwarded to prosecutor and AG]

But in a separate action, the three-member board voted 2-1 to refer to the state attorney general the matter of possible action involving Bender’s eligibility as a candidate.

Thursday’s election board action factored into Henry’s decision, as party chair, not to file a petition. By making its referral to the attorney general, Henry said that the election board had asked the AG to do the same thing that he, as party chair, would have asked a court to do. Continue reading “Local Democratic Party won’t contest District 6 Bloomington council election outcome now, leaves door open to future action” →

Referred by election board to county prosecutor, state attorney general: Residency questions about District 6 Bloomington city council candidate

Map showing the address where David Wolfe Bender registered to vote.
Sworn in at the start of the May 18, 2023 hearing are Justin Fox (left), landlord of the property where David Wolfe Bender (right) the landlord of the property (Justin Fox) where Bender says he signed a sublease .
From left: Monroe County election board members Donovan Garletts and John Fernandez. (May 18, 2023)
From left: Monroe County attorney Jeff Cockerill, election supervisor Jessica Brown, and deputy clerk Tressia Martin (May 18, 2023).
David Wolfe Bender addresses the Monroe County election board (May 18, 2023).
Monroe County election board from left: County clerk Nicole Browne, Donovan Garletts, and John Fernandez (May 18, 2023).

David Wolfe Bender’s name was the only one that appeared on the May 2 Democratic Party’s primary for the Bloomington city council’s District 6 seat.

So Bender is currently the party’s nominee for that council position. All other things being equal, he will appear on the Nov. 7 ballot as the party’s nominee.

But on Thursday, Monroe County’s three-member election board voted unanimously to refer two potential felony election law violations by Bender to county prosecutor Erika Oliphant. The vote came after a hearing that lasted around an hour and 20 minutes.

It was election board member John Fernandez who made the motion to refer the matter to the prosecutor, saying, “I just think we ought to, frankly, just move this process along—without any kind of prejudice one way or another.”

Fernandez added that he wanted to “go ahead and recommend this over to the prosecutor’s office so that they can make that judgment and let this young man get on with his life, if that’s the determination.”

The hearing had been scheduled  after an Indiana Daily Student (IDS) article was published on Feb. 17, 2023, which questioned whether Bender actually lived in District 6: “City Council candidate David Wolfe Bender is running in District 6, residents say he doesn’t live there”

It was based on that article, that GOP county vice chair William Ellis filed a complaint with the election board. Continue reading “Referred by election board to county prosecutor, state attorney general: Residency questions about District 6 Bloomington city council candidate” →

Provisional ballots decided, no change in outcomes, Bloomington primary elections finally over

Monroe County election board members David Henry (Democratic Party appointee) and Nicole Browne (Monroe County clerk) review provisional ballots. Seated at right is the new county election supervisor, Jessica Brown. (May 12, 2023)

The tallies for the May 2 primary elections are now final, after Monroe County’s election board voted on Friday to accept the votes from three additional, provisional ballots.

No outcomes were even close to being changed from the initial results—because there were a total of just 13 provisional ballots.

Provisional ballots are set aside, for various reasons—like a failure to show adequate ID, lack of voter registration, or trying to vote in the wrong polling location. Setting ballots aside means they’re not a part of the initial election vote totals, but could be added after their eventual adjudication by the election board.

Provisional ballots are adjudicated 10 days after the election. On Friday, 10 provisional ballots were rejected by the Monroe County election board.

Continue reading “Provisional ballots decided, no change in outcomes, Bloomington primary elections finally over” →

Focus on felonies: Election board revises list of laws for hearing on Bloomington Dem’s residency

Election board meeting on March 31, 2023 in the Nat U. Hill Room of Monroe County courthouse where the proceedings are displayed on screen with closed captions.
Monroe County election board members Donovan Garletts and Guy Loftman (serving as proxy for David Henry)

At its meeting last week, Monroe County’s election board voted to set a hearing for May 18 on the matter of Democrat David Wolfe Bender’s residency, as a Bloomington city council candidate for District 6.

This week on Friday, the board revised the list of specific Indiana state election laws that it wants to cite for its determination “that there is substantial reason to believe an election law violation has occurred.”

A list of four statutes that the board had previously cited was revised to two different laws that are the basis of the board’s determination:

IC 3-14-1-13 Filing fraudulent reports

IC 3-14-3-1.1  Procuring or submission of false, fictitious, or fraudulent registration application; procuring, casting, or tabulating false, fictitious, or fraudulent ballot

Both are Level 6 felonies.

The board’s investigation into Bender’s residency, is based on a complaint that was made by William Ellis, who is vice chair of the Monroe County Republican Party.

Ellis’s complaint was based on an Indiana Daily Student (IDS) article published on Feb. 17, 2023. The headline to the IDS piece describes the basic idea of the complaint: City Council candidate David Wolfe Bender is running in District 6, residents say he doesn’t live there.

Bender has indicated to the board through his legal counsel that he intends to withdraw as the Democratic Party’s nominee after the primary election. He’s the only candidate on the ballot, so there’s no question he will be the nominee. Continue reading “Focus on felonies: Election board revises list of laws for hearing on Bloomington Dem’s residency” →