'Concerned' League of Women Voters urges Monroe officials to fill election staff vacancy
The “deeply concerned” local League of Women Voters is urging Monroe County officials to take “immediate action” to fill the vacant election supervisor position during a critical election with a "potentially fraught atmosphere."
Candidate filing for the primary election is underway. Early voting begins April 9.
According to the job listing on the county's website, the election supervisor is "responsible for supervising and overseeing the operations of elections and registration for the county while ensuring registration activities, recordkeeping, and services comply with state and local policies and regulations."
Nancy Boerner, who handles publicity for the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County, said Thursday afternoon that the league is "deeply concerned that Monroe County will not be prepared to conduct the primary and general elections with adequate and knowledgeable staff support."
Boerner was quoting Thursday afternoon from a letter the league planned to send to county commissioners, council members and Monroe County Clerk Nicole Browne.
The letter, which was distributed late Thursday, reads, in part, "In the strongest possible terms, the League urges county officials to take immediate action to fill the position of Election Supervisor and to ensure that Monroe County's election staff are in place to deliver a safe election process with impartiality, consistency, and accuracy."
Boerner said the league believes the local staff may deal with a large number of candidates and voters because of the presidential election in a “potentially fraught atmosphere.”
According to its website, the league is a nonpartisan political organization which "encourages informed and active participation in government, works to increase understanding of major public policy issues, and influences public policy through advocacy and education."
Long-time election supervisor leaves after 2022 error
The election supervisor position is vacant for at least the third time in 12 months.
Long-time election supervisor Karen Wheeler left the position shortly after election staff made what local Republicans called a "major error" in late 2022 by failing to count 6,642 votes on Election Day. Wheeler, who left in February, told the BSquareBulletin last year that Browne, the county clerk, told Wheeler that she could resign or be "let go."
'Major error:' Monroe County officials fail to count 6,642 votes on Election Day
Browne did not reply to phone messages this week, though according to staffers at the county's election office, she was out for at least part of the week.
Since Wheeler's departure, at least two people have held the election supervisor position, including one for only about a month.
That’s although the county council late last year increased minimum pay for the position by more than $14,000 — or about 34% — to $55,674, according to Elizabeth Sensenstein, the county's HR director.
Sensenstein said she could not provide information about why the previous election supervisors left or whether they sent letters of resignation. She referred those questions to Browne.
David Henry, chair of the Monroe County Democrats said Wednesday that he believed Browne has someone in mind to hire for the supervisor position, though he referred questions on that point to the clerk.
The job listing on the county's website lists an application deadline of Jan. 24.
Henry said regardless of any additional hiring — he said the chief deputy clerk position also is vacant — he believed Browne will be able to run a smooth election because of her experience running elections and as deputy clerk under the prior clerk.
“We’re in a good circumstance,” Henry said.
Julie Thomas, president of the Monroe County commissioners, did not immediately reply to an email sent Thursday evening.
Boris Ladwig can be reached at bladwig@heraldt.com.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 'Concerned' League of Women Voters urges action on election supervisor
