Porter County to certify vote totals Friday
Chicago Tribune
November 15, 2018
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/news/ct-ptb-porter-elect-advance-st-1116-story.html
Porter County Clerk Karen Martin, under siege by county officials and the public for her handling of the county’s Nov. 6 midterm election, is expected to attend an election board meeting Friday to go through provisional ballots and certify the results of the election.
Martin, one of two Republican members of the election board, told the Post-Tribune via text message that she plans on attending the meeting in the county’s voter registration office.
Also in attendance will be board president David Bengs, the second Republican on the board. J.J. Stankiewicz, the board’s lone Democrat, said he cannot be at the meeting because of a personal matter but has designated attorney Monica Conrad as his proxy.
Conrad was one of the attorneys who successfully argued in court on Election Day to extend the hours for late-opening polling places so voters who were turned away earlier in the day would have the opportunity to vote. The decision impacted 12 precincts.
County commissioners and members of the county council demanded Martin resign shortly after the release of preliminary election results Friday, three days late. Martin refused.
She is completing her second and final term as clerk, per state statute; she made an unsuccessful run for county auditor and lost to incumbent Vicki Urbanik, a Democrat.
Election Day in Porter County was rife with problems, including delayed election results and absentee ballots not being distributed to precincts to be counted by the time the polls closed. The day also included two court hearings in a battle to keep open the polling places that did not open on time.
The fate of an assortment of investigations into what went wrong on Election Day remains unclear.
Commissioners this week passed a motion asking the county attorney to request the Indiana Secretary of State’s Office investigate problems with the election, and for the state agency to ask for an inquiry by the Indiana State Police as well.
The move follows a request by commissioners on Nov. 7 for the FBI to investigate “scores of alleged violations of Indiana election law made by poll workers voters and the public” received by the commissioners. Commissioner Jim Biggs, R-North, and county attorney Scott McClure met with the FBI the following day for two hours. There has been no word yet on whether the FBI will initiate an investigation.
Secretary of State Connie Lawson does not have investigatory authority or jurisdiction over Porter County, Valerie Warycha, deputy chief of staff and communications director in that office, said via email.
State Rep. Ed Soliday, R-Valparaiso, has requested the office review the process in Porter County, she added.
“Secretary Lawson has agreed to the request. The office is currently determining how the review will work,” Warycha said.
State police also are not yet handling the matter, said Sgt. Ann Wojas, public information officer for the Lowell post.
“We are not involved in any investigation at this time. If we did, it would come from the Secretary of State,” she said via email, adding that would include what type of investigation to conduct, and would center on the type of allegation being made.
Numerous poll workers also have contacted the Indiana chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union with complaints, too. That agency demurred in discussing its investigation as well.
“As a matter of policy, we do not comment on incoming intake,” Ariella Sult, the agency’s communications director, said in an email. “However, our legal team is continuing to investigate the situation and is obviously concerned about the irregularities that took place.
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