BLOOMINGTON, Ind.– An Indiana county has lost its top elections official nearly every month for the past year after a longtime supervisor resigned following a counting error in the November 2022 count.
Voting rights advocates hope fears of a difficult election year will diminish now that Monroe County has appointed a supervisor who promises to stay. The county clerk promoted a 24-year-old elections office assistant to the top job on Feb. 12, just 12 weeks before Indiana’s May 7 primary to elect candidates for U.S. Senate, governor and president.
“Given the national mood, public confidence in this election will likely be tested,” the League of Women Voters of Bloomington-Monroe County said in a January letter urging county officials to quickly fill the docket to fulfill.
Voters and local party leaders say enormous responsibilities and relatively low salaries have made it difficult to retain recent hires in Monroe. Home to Indiana University and the college town of Bloomington, the county is a Democratic island in predominantly Republican Indiana.
Increased scrutiny of elections and threats against election workers have led to waves of retirements and resignations at local election offices across the country since former President Donald Trump led efforts to challenge the 2020 vote count. The resulting loss of institutional knowledge amid the many changes in voting laws makes 2024 a challenging election year.
“Not having someone who has experience in this and is familiar with our county and how things have been done in the past makes the job harder for the people who need to do the work,” said Debora Shaw, spokesperson for the Bloomington Monroe League. of female voters.
The turnover in Monroe began in early 2023 when Karen Wheeler, the supervisor since 2017, resigned after pressure mainly from her fellow Republicans over an error during vote counting in November 2022. About 6,600 ballots were not added until the next morning , after the unofficial results had already been sent to the Secretary of State.
Wheeler, 67, told The Associated Press that early voting results were kept on a digital storage device and added to the unofficial count at 9 a.m. Wednesday. She said she took the blame and resigned to avoid being fired by the Democratic county clerk, but continues to stand by her staff’s performance.
“Some people are always suspicious of elections, but people who know who we are had a lot of confidence,” Wheeler said.
The county clerk, Nicole Browne, did not return AP phone and email messages seeking comment.
Wheeler said an election training specialist hired before her resignation was groomed by the county to succeed her, but she quit just weeks after Wheeler left. Three others subsequently held the job briefly; one stayed only a month.
Wheeler said she both loved and hated the job. She organized eight elections and oversaw more than 80 employees during early voting and 300 on each Election Day. Wheeler described the role as a liaison between candidates, the media, vendors, the state and the public. The elections supervisor also writes ballots specific to each precinct.
“It’s an extremely difficult job,” Wheeler said. “And at Monroe County, the pay was pretty low” — about $37,000 for full-time, year-round work.
The starting salary was increased to $55,674 for the latest hire, according to a county job posting.
Elections are becoming increasingly complex, the laws governing them change frequently, and high turnover means that officials in these roles are less likely to know about the resources that can help them, said Liz Howard, an elections expert at the Brennan Center for Justice.
In Indiana, for example, a bill proposed this year would add proof of residency to first-time voters who register in person.
“A lot of people aren’t aware of the complexity and all the work that goes into making that process so easy for voters,” Howard said.
None of the Monroe officials reported being threatened, but such incidents have increased sharply across the country. Indiana lawmakers may join other states in increasing criminal penalties for threatening election workers, and the Justice Department has formed a task force to address the threats.
Monroe’s party chairs, Democrat David Henry and Republican Taylor Bryant, praised Wheeler and lamented the office turnover following her departure.
“That institutional memory is very difficult to replace and replicate in a short period of time,” Henry said.
While Shaw, who has previously worked with the newly promoted regulator, says he is pleased that Kylie Moreland is trustworthy and has some experience, there is always a chance that a presidential election will not go smoothly.
“It would be a terrible job if you were just thrown in,” Wheeler said.
Moreland developed a passion for voting law and the process last fall, and wants to build a lifelong career at election central. Despite not having years of experience, she feels well prepared after the November election and has support from the Indiana Department of Elections, she said.
Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales announced this year that more than 60 counties will distribute $2 million in federal funding for election security and other projects. Monroe County is not one of them. His office said additional financing options are being discussed.
As for Wheeler, she now works for the county parks and recreation department and volunteers to conduct voter registration training.
“I have a much easier job and I get paid exactly the same,” she said.