Dubois County Election Board rescinds previous decision; election to proceed as normal
After a brief discussion Friday morning, the Dubois County Election Board decided to rescind the previous decision to limit the number of polling areas in this November’s election.
At the meeting held on August 21, the board passed a resolution to only put the contested races on the ballot and limit polling areas to those contested districts. The board considered this option due to the cost of the holding an election for the six contested seats in Ferdinand, Jasper, and Huntingburg.
Here is a story on that decision.
County clerk/treasurer Amy Kippenbrock told the election board that after the decision was published, she had been contacted by the Democrat and Republican Party Chairs requesting that the county consider rescinding that decision.
An error — the Huntingburg at-large race was not included — in the resolution forced the board to reconvene to consider the changes to it but with the recent story concerning the plan to limit polling areas and ballots, the Democrat party chair attended the meeting to voice concerns.
After the board approved the decision to rescind the previous resolution handling the cities, Kendall asked them to consider holding the election in all the districts including the towns of Holland and Ferdinand whether there was a contested race or not.
To note: the board passed two resolutions regarding the election at the previous meeting; one for the cities of Jasper, Ferdinand and Huntingburg and one for the towns of Ferdinand and Holland. In rescinding the resolution covering the cities, elections would occur as normal in those areas however the board was not going to rescind the resolution covering Holland and Ferdinand.
Election Board President Roger Messmer explained to Kendall that costs were a concern in areas like the Town of Holland where there were no contested seats. If an election is held, the town will incur about $750 in costs, or 75 percent of the total cost of holding the election.
“I understand the financial reasons and I appreciate what you are doing here,” Kendall said. “I feel that by having elections even when they are uncontested, people get in the habit of voting. I think voting for candidates, even if they are uncontested, is a fundamental, small ‘d’ democratic right that we should encourage.”
He added that allowing everyone to consider the ballot regardless of the opposition gives the candidate some legitimacy in the eye of the public.
He also added that the two parties could split the cost of the vote and subsidize the town’s costs.
Messmer pointed out that if someone comes in that has historically only voted Democrat in elections, they would be signed into a machine and have to consider a ballot that only has Republican candidates. He indicated this could cause some confusion or issues as they would be required to cast a vote once they are logged onto the machine and be forced to vote for a Republican.
“Once they start up, that machine cannot be closed until they cast a vote,” he explained. “There will be some people that walk away saying they won’t ever vote Republican and when that happens, one of the judges will be forced to pick one of the candidates, push the button and then that person just voted Republican.”
Newly appointed board member John Birk said he was okay with that because then through the process, they’d have another educated voter.
“The bottom line for me is that it’s a $1,000 well spent,” Birk said. “I will take the heat from the [Town of Holland] for forcing them to spend $750.”
Messmer acknowledged Birk’s suggestion and the board rescinded both previous resolutions limiting the election only to contested seats and polling places to those precincts.
