Latest news with #ElectionsandApportionment
Yahoo
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Oath of ballot counter bill dies after House committee hearing
A bill requiring the oath of ballot counter for provisional ballots to be sent to the state election division died after a hearing in the House Elections and Apportionment committee. Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, authored Senate Bill 186, which would require the circuit court clerk to give a copy of each oath counter on provisional ballots to the election division no later than 30 days after the election. Chairman of the House Elections and Apportionment committee Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, offered an amendment to the bill to remove the requirement for the circuit court clerk to transmit a copy of each oath taken by a ballot counter for the 2024 election. The amendment was adopted unanimously during a March House Elections and Apportionment committee meeting. The bill was held during the March 26 committee meeting and was not heard in committee after that. Dernulc said the bill died after officials determined it created 'duplicative work.' 'I was disappointed it didn't get a vote,' Dernulc said. 'All I wanted to do was to make it transparent. I wasn't able to convince (Wesco), so I'll do more work next year.' In drafting the bill, Dernulc previously said he worked with Secretary of State Diego Morales and Brad King, co-director of the Indiana Election Division. Dernulc previously testified that he authored the bill after residents came to him to talk about more transparency in the election process. 'They would like to see a little more transparency, that's all,' Dernulc previously said. 'There's nothing that anybody's doing that's adversarial or bad, just a little more transparency into it.' Indiana Election Division Democratic co-general counsel Matthew Kochevar testified in committee that he opposed the bill because people can file a FOIA request to see provisional ballot signatures at their local election office, which is easier than traveling to Indianapolis to see the signatures. When the bill was heard in the House committee, Brad King, Republican co-director of the Indiana Election Division, said the bill was drafted because of a records request filed in the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration office. The Lake County election office 'experienced, from the perspective of the Republican assistant director at that time, difficulty in responding to public records requests for oaths of the provisional ballot counters,' King said. 'The bill before you comes from the actual experience that the individual had in providing those records upon request,' King said. 'It's not unprecedented. It mirrors a provision in current law.' Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Director Michelle Fajman sent a letter April 1 to legislators to inform them that she opposed the bill and that Lake County never received the FOIA in question. Fajman wrote that she spoke with LeAnn Angerman, the former assistant director, who told her that she did not recall receiving a FOIA request for provisional ballots. Further, Fajman said in the letter that her office staff checked FOIA records between November 2024 to February 2025, since the bill referenced the 2024 general election, and no provisional ballot FOIA requests were filed. 'A bill should never be introduced based on one complaint and never by one that has not been substantiated,' Fajman wrote. If the argument for the bill was that a county had difficulty responding to a FOIA request, having staff copying the ballots and filing them with the state Election Division wouldn't make the process easier, Fajman wrote. As a test run, Fajman wrote that she asked her staff to copy all the provisional ballots from the 2024 general election. It took her staff an hour and a half to do so, Fajman wrote. Fajman said her office retains all election documents for 22 months, and it wouldn't be difficult to respond to a FOIA request to see the provisional ballots. The ballots are kept under lock and key in a room with video surveillance, Fajman wrote, and all provisional ballots are signed by full-time staff. 'Lake County does an excellent job in conducting elections. I am offended that Lake County's name is being tarnished by this bill,' Fajman wrote. Fajman told the Post-Tribune Thursday she was glad the bill didn't make it out of the House committee. 'There is no broken part to this. It didn't need fixing,' Fajman said. 'It's a redundant process, and it's not needed.' akukulka@
Chicago Tribune
18-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Oath of ballot counter bill dies after House committee hearing
A bill requiring the oath of ballot counter for provisional ballots to be sent to the state election division died after a hearing in the House Elections and Apportionment committee. Sen. Dan Dernulc, R-Highland, authored Senate Bill 186, which would require the circuit court clerk to give a copy of each oath counter on provisional ballots to the election division no later than 30 days after the election. Chairman of the House Elections and Apportionment committee Rep. Timothy Wesco, R-Osceola, offered an amendment to the bill to remove the requirement for the circuit court clerk to transmit a copy of each oath taken by a ballot counter for the 2024 election. The amendment was adopted unanimously during a March House Elections and Apportionment committee meeting. The bill was held during the March 26 committee meeting and was not heard in committee after that. Dernulc said the bill died after officials determined it created 'duplicative work.' 'I was disappointed it didn't get a vote,' Dernulc said. 'All I wanted to do was to make it transparent. I wasn't able to convince (Wesco), so I'll do more work next year.' In drafting the bill, Dernulc previously said he worked with Secretary of State Diego Morales and Brad King, co-director of the Indiana Election Division. Dernulc previously testified that he authored the bill after residents came to him to talk about more transparency in the election process. 'They would like to see a little more transparency, that's all,' Dernulc previously said. 'There's nothing that anybody's doing that's adversarial or bad, just a little more transparency into it.' Indiana Election Division Democratic co-general counsel Matthew Kochevar testified in committee that he opposed the bill because people can file a FOIA request to see provisional ballot signatures at their local election office, which is easier than traveling to Indianapolis to see the signatures. When the bill was heard in the House committee, Brad King, Republican co-director of the Indiana Election Division, said the bill was drafted because of a records request filed in the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration office. The Lake County election office 'experienced, from the perspective of the Republican assistant director at that time, difficulty in responding to public records requests for oaths of the provisional ballot counters,' King said. 'The bill before you comes from the actual experience that the individual had in providing those records upon request,' King said. 'It's not unprecedented. It mirrors a provision in current law.' Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Director Michelle Fajman sent a letter April 1 to legislators to inform them that she opposed the bill and that Lake County never received the FOIA in question. Fajman wrote that she spoke with LeAnn Angerman, the former assistant director, who told her that she did not recall receiving a FOIA request for provisional ballots. Further, Fajman said in the letter that her office staff checked FOIA records between November 2024 to February 2025, since the bill referenced the 2024 general election, and no provisional ballot FOIA requests were filed. 'A bill should never be introduced based on one complaint and never by one that has not been substantiated,' Fajman wrote. If the argument for the bill was that a county had difficulty responding to a FOIA request, having staff copying the ballots and filing them with the state Election Division wouldn't make the process easier, Fajman wrote. As a test run, Fajman wrote that she asked her staff to copy all the provisional ballots from the 2024 general election. It took her staff an hour and a half to do so, Fajman wrote. Fajman said her office retains all election documents for 22 months, and it wouldn't be difficult to respond to a FOIA request to see the provisional ballots. The ballots are kept under lock and key in a room with video surveillance, Fajman wrote, and all provisional ballots are signed by full-time staff. 'Lake County does an excellent job in conducting elections. I am offended that Lake County's name is being tarnished by this bill,' Fajman wrote. Fajman told the Post-Tribune Thursday she was glad the bill didn't make it out of the House committee. 'There is no broken part to this. It didn't need fixing,' Fajman said. 'It's a redundant process, and it's not needed.'
Chicago Tribune
01-04-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Indiana partisan school board bill passes House
The Indiana House passed a bill Monday that would make school board races partisan, but it will be sent back to the Senate for consideration because it was amended in the House. Senate Bill 287, authored by Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election. The school board candidates would have to declare a party. In the House Elections and Apportionment committee last week, the bill was amended to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott's amendment removed the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. Prescott, who serves on the House Elections and Apportionment committee, said the amended bill outlines the process for addressing a school board vacancy. If the board member who leaves the board was a Republican or Democrat, then a caucus should be held to replace that member, but Independent or nonpartisan candidates can be replaced by the sitting school board members, he said. Prescott's amendment maintained the original bill's requirement that school board members be paid up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed in the district, which would shift the current $2,000 payment. When the House initially heard the bill, Prescott amended the bill further to state that if a school board candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, there will be a blank space next to their name where party affiliation would be listed. School board members oversee the district's budget, hire personnel, and approve curriculum, Prescott said. 'By disclosing to the voters the party affiliation of school board candidates, this information will help voters decide which candidate best aligns with their values,' Prescott said. 'This change would also help drive up voter turnout on school board elections.' State Rep. Chuck Moseley, D-Portage, said he previously served 9 years on a school board, and during that time he and the other members kept politics out of governing the district. 'We had a responsibility to the parents of those kids that we wouldn't interject our political thoughts and ideology into school board decision(s) because, quite frankly, it didn't matter whether mom and dad was a Republican or whether mom and dad was a Democrat, we were supposed to be there to make the best decisions for the tax dollars that they invested in their kids' education,' Moseley said. Moseley said infusing politics into schools 'is simply foolish.' 'This bill directly inserts politics into our education system. In no way, shape or form should it matter if someone's a Democrat or Republican, or anything in between, when it comes to the integrity of educating our students of our state. School board members should be elected on merit, expertise and their commitment to our students — not their allegiance to a political party,' Moseley said. State Rep. Vernon Smith, D-Gary, said research on partisan school boards has found that school districts see an increase in teacher turnover, less experienced teachers, and a negative impact on non-white school board candidates. 'Partisan school boards insert more division into our community. Voters will be encouraged to choose a candidate based on a letter next to their name instead of their platform. I want my local school board to be focused on our children, not on a party agenda,' Smith said. State Rep. Tonya Pfaff, D-Terre Haute, said the bill would go against the federal Hatch Act, which prohibits federal government, as well as some state and local government employees from running in a partisan election. 'Our school boards should be focused on student success, not party politics,' Pfaff said. State Rep. Kyle Miller, D-Fort Wayne, said the bill will create 'lazy voters' and 'lazy candidates.' Prescott said the school board candidate's political affiliation should be 'the starting point not the ending point' and voters should continue to do their research on candidates. State Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, said she was a teacher for nearly 35 years, and she never knew the political leanings of the school board members in her district. Since the bill was proposed, Klinker said she's heard from her constituents and determined that it 'is not popular.' 'I think we are making a big mistake. It may be discouraging people who do not want their politics to be known. We are discouraging some of our folks from running for office on a school board,' Klinker said. State Rep. Kyle Pierce, R-Anderson, said Prescott 'has done a great job to find a middle ground' because the bill allows a candidate to declare with a major party or as an Independent or nonpartisan. The bill would align school board elections closer to elections for coroner or surveyor, who have to declare a party, Pierce said. 'Politics shouldn't be this dirty word,' Pierce said. 'The reality is it is just moving the school boards into position with everything else. State Rep. Hunter Smith, R-Zionsville, said he supports the bill and 'Indiana's parents.' Smith said he's heard from school officials that they 'can find no curricula void of slanted cultural endorsements and ideologies.' 'Over the past decade, Hoosiers have stepped out of the reductive illusion that our political viewpoints are adjacent to but not reflective of our values. If we are honest, we must recognize that our political convictions are reflective of our values,' Smith said. Rep. Jim Lucas, R-Seymour, said K-12 education receives about 50% of the state's budget and addresses 'serious issues.' Lucas then began listing inaccurate characterizations of the Democratic party but was stopped for speaking out of order. 'This should be probably the easiest vote we take this year, by far,' Lucas said. 'I think it's important that we know who is running for our school boards, making decisions for our children that have been extremely controversial and brought to the forefront.' The House voted 54-40, with 14 Republicans joining all present 26 Democrats to vote against the bill. State Representatives Julie Olthoff, R-Crown Point and Hal Slager, R-Schererville, voted against the bill. House Speaker Todd Huston, R-Fishers, who rarely casts a vote on legislation, voted in favor of the bill. After the vote, Indiana School Boards Association Executive Director Terry Spradlin said in a statement that the organization has fought against the state moving forward with partisan school board elections. With the legislature's approval, Spradlin said the organization 'will encourage school board members to leave politics at the board room door by working collaboratively' to address the needs of students. 'School board members should also conduct themselves in a manner that models effective board governance practices regardless of party affiliation,' Spradlin said. Indiana Democratic Party Chairwoman Karen Tallian, a former State Senator from Ogden Dunes, said in a statement that legislators received many calls and heard hours of testimony against the bill, but the Republican supermajority 'pushed through this bad bill anyway.' 'Hoosier school board members include community servants and local leaders. They do not wish to be involved in the same partisan politics that consume Washington and Indianapolis,' Tallian said. 'There were no Democratic votes for this dangerous proposal. Even many Republicans voted against this bill in both the House and Senate. Hoosier Democrats understand that our school boards should be focused on improving education and opportunity for our Hoosier kids — not national politics,' Tallian said.
Yahoo
23-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Indiana's partisan school board bill amended to have ‘blank space' next to nonpartisan candidates
A Senate bill that would make school board races partisan was amended further on second reading by the House chamber Thursday, but two amendments proposed by Democratic members were defeated. Senate Bill 287, authored by Sen. Gary Byrne, R-Byrneville, Sen. Chris Garten, R-Charlestown, and Sen. Blake Doriot, R-Goshen, would change the school board election process to that of other elections, which would include a primary and general election. The school board candidates would have to declare a party. In the House Elections and Apportionment committee last week, the bill was amended to reflect House Bill 1230, authored by Rep. J.D. Prescott, R-Union City. Prescott, who serves on the House Elections and Apportionment committee, offered the amendment to remove the primary process from the bill and stated that in the general election, a school board candidate can choose to be listed as a Republican, Democrat, independent or nonpartisan. Prescott's amendment would maintain the original bill's requirement that school board members be paid up to 10% of the lowest starting salary of a teacher employed in the district, which would shift the current $2,000 payment. Prescott brought forth another amendment Thursday that states if a school board candidate chooses to be nonpartisan, there will be a blank space next to their name where party affiliation would be listed. 'This option was in collaboration with the school board association and others. They felt more comfortable with an option for no identifying marker next to the name,' Prescott said. Rep. Blake Johnson, D-Indianapolis, said the bill 'is a mess' that has been to be rewritten multiple times 'just to make it halfway functional.' 'This bill started as a solution in search of a problem. With this amendment, it becomes a fix for a complication layered on to a solution in search of a problem that didn't exist, and somehow it still doesn't work,' Johnson said. 'We're legislating blank spaces on ballots, because nothing says transparency like a big empty void next to a candidate's name.' Rep. Tim Wesco, R-Osceola, said Johnon's argument seemed to support making school board races partisan because right now school board candidates have blank spaces next to their names. The amendment passed 63-27. Rep. Pat Boy, D-Michigan City, offered an amendment to the bill that would allow a school board candidate to submit a profile about their qualifications and experience, but couldn't include references to a political party, to be posted on a school district's website. Boy's amendment would require school board candidates to be listed as nonpartisan on the ballot. Rep. Cherish Pryor, D-Indianapolis, said Boy's amendment would allow candidates to communicate their policy ideas and positions with voters without politicizing the race. Prescott said Boy's amendment would remove 'the primary function of the bill.' Boy's amendment failed 29-62. Rep. Sue Errington, D-Muncie, offered an amendment that would maintain the school board member's pay increase but remove all other portions of the bill. Errington, who is a member of the House Elections and Apportionment committee, said she received 191 emails and calls from school board members and residents who opposed making school board races partisan. Meanwhile, she only heard from three people in support of the bill. School districts have a hard time finding candidates to run for school board, so adding politics into the race will narrow the candidate field, she said. 'Making school board elections partisan would not serve the best interest of students or our communities,' Errington said. 'In fact, it would weaken the governance of our schools by diverting voter attention away from the credentials and educational vision of the candidates and turn it to party politics.' Rep. Carolyn Jackson, D-Hammond, said she also serves on the House Elections and Apportionment committee, and what concerned her was testimony from people who wanted to know the ideology of school board candidates. Jackson said people run for school board to improve education for students not to become politicians. 'We would be doing a serious injustice to our communities if we vote to enforce the candidates for school board having to declare their party,' Jackson said. Errington's bill failed 27-63. Senate Bill 287 moves forward for third and final consideration by the House. akukulka@
