Starke, Pulaski Election Boards Finalize Plans for Next Week’s Primary

Posted on April 30, 2018 
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

Final preparations are underway for next week’s primary elections. The Starke and Pulaski county election boards both have poll worker training sessions scheduled for this week.

Starke County Election Board President Harrison Fields wants to make sure all the first-time poll workers are ready. “I’m not really scared about this election, but I just know in my own mind that when that door opens at 6:00, you’ve got to have the people there to run it,” he said during last week’s election board meeting. “It’s got to go.” This week’s training sessions have already been finalized, but board members said it might be helpful to offer extra training for inspectors in the future.

The Indiana Election Division offers online training as a backup, but Pulaski County Election Board Member Laura Bailey says the system has some major flaws. “There are three sections that have no video that you’re supposed to be seeing and many of the others date back to 2005,” she said during last week’s election board meeting. “And so I sat there while somebody was going through the online training and made corrections and said, ‘Well, really it’s this,’ because laws have changed since then. And I think we need to communicate that with the IED and urge them to update it.”

Pulaski County Clerk Christi Hoffa says the electronic poll books’ operating systems have been updated, but the voter file will be downloaded closer to Election Day. Starke County Clerk Vicki Cooley was still waiting for some election materials to arrive, as of last Wednesday. “I called again on our books because I was getting very nervous about it,” she told election board members last week. “I even offered to saddle up my pickup truck and come down to Indy and get them. They said they would overnight them, and we should be receiving them no later than Monday [today].”

On Election Day, a representative from MicroVote will be in Starke County to handle any issues with voting machines. Pulaski County will save money by having local officials get some extra training from MicroVote ahead of time, according to Election Board Chair Jon Frain. “The purpose of the training is that MicroVote has a person that we can pay a large some of money to sit here all day with us on Election Day, and this is the same training they go through,” he explained. “And the last election we had, both in the primary and in the general election that year, whenever there was an issue, he called down to Indianapolis to MicroVote and asked the questions. So we’re going to get the same training and have the same access, but we’re saving the county money.”

Frain says the three election board members, a mechanic, two canvass board members, and IT Consultant Willie DeGroot will all attend the training. County IT Director Matt Voltz was apparently invited to attend, but Hoffa hadn’t heard back from him, as of last Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Starke County Election Board continues making sure the new Oregon Township Precinct 2 polling place is brought up to ADA standards. Board members noted that a ramp may have to be placed at one of the doors at the Koontz Lake Association Clubhouse, due to a gap between the concrete and the door threshold. Board members planned to take final measurements at the site last Wednesday.

Starke, Pulaski Election Boards Plan Hearings, Fines for Late Campaign Finance Reports

Posted on April 27, 2018 
Author Michael Gallenberger, WKVI

Candidates in next month’s primary who were late in turning in their financial reports can expect hearings before the election board and possible fines.

During Tuesday’s Pulaski County Election Board meeting, Clerk Christi Hoffa said that nine candidates turned in their pre-primary campaign finance reports after last Friday’s noon deadline. “We have to have a hearing,” she explained. “They are all given an opportunity to come to the hearing, state their case, why they were late, whatever it may be. We then have to assess the fine, which is state-set at $50 per calendar day, which includes the weekends, or we can vote to reduce or waive the fee only by unanimous decision.”

The Pulaski County Election Board plans to hold hearings later in May, after Election Day.

In Starke County, six late finance reports had been received by the clerk’s office, as of Wednesday’s election board meeting. But Clerk Vicki Cooley wasn’t sure if there were others that still hadn’t been turned in. Before the Starke County Election Board can start assessing fines, though, it has to come up with a place to put that money. “If you did decide on a fine for a person, if has to, more or less, have it approved through the commissioners,” Cooley said, “and be a line item because we can’t accept money that there’s no place for it to go to, basically.”

The Starke County Election Board voted to prepare a resolution calling for the account to be created. It will be up for approval at the election board’s next meeting.

Going forward, Pulaski County Election Board Chair Jon Frain urges candidates to obey the deadlines in the future. “If I was to be quoted on the radio at this point, I would say for all candidates to please turn in their campaign finance reports in a timely manner for the General Election, please, the pre-election campaign, all reports in a timely fashion, please,” Frain said.

Candidates in this year’s General Election will have until Friday, October 19 at noon to file their pre-election campaign finance reports.