Democrats planning event featuring state candidates

The Adams County Democrats met for their monthly meeting Thursday evening at the Decatur Public Library with a discussion among those present about what type of special event the party would host later this summer to introduce state Democratic Gubernatorial candidate Jennifer McCormick and perhaps other state candidates such as former state legislator Marc Carmichael who is running for Senator to Adams County voters.

At a previous meeting, a steering committee consisting of Larry Macklin, J. Swygart, Claudia Gimbel, and Judy Affolder was formed to plan the event but as Macklin explained it would probably be better to wait until after the state Democratic convention in Indianapolis in mid-July before having such an occasion to make sure all state candidates were in place.

Gimbel said she would reach out to the McCormick campaign and ask them for potential dates that would work for them to have the former Superintendent of Public Instruction be available to come to Adams County.

Adams Central High School teacher Kyle Murdock appeared at the meeting to learn more about what the Democrats were doing locally as he teaches a government

class at AC and said he was getting to a point in the class where it talks about state, county and city government.

He was asked if he could gauge high school student interests in elections and he noted “it’s not more that what they currently know.” Those in attendance agreed it was important that Democrats as a group reach out to younger voters to get them involved in the political process.

County chairwoman Barb Engle noted one of the ways that students could become

involved is through a relatively new law that allows high school sophomores and juniors to be poll workers on election days. She said only a few students in Adams County have been poll workers but the perks would be that they are paid $191 for one day’s work and are provided with food and beverages at the polling site.

Engle said each of the six polling sites in Adams County will need five poll workers including one inspector, two judges and two clerks. High school students are eligible for the judge and clerks positions. One person asked if someone could work a half-day at the poll and then have another person fill the other hours. Swygart, who is the Democratic member of the Adams County Election Board, said that is a possibility but a full-day person would be best.

Engle brought up the issue of candidate recruitment since the county party did not have any individuals file for office at the county level or city level (Geneva) for the May 7 primary.

“I haven’t had anyone knocking on my door that wants to run,” she said. Democrats have until noon, July 3 to fill ballot vacancies and Engle said “we need to be thinking about contacting people who might be interested.”

Offices up for election this year at the county and city level include:

Adams Circuit Court Judge, Auditor, Coroner, Recorder, Treasurer, County Commissioner Districts 1 and 3, Adams County Council At-Large (three positions), Geneva Clerk-Treasurer, Geneva Town Council (two at-large, one for District One), Delegate to State Convention, and Precinct Committeemen.

At the national and state level, offices up for election include: President, U.S. Senator, U.S. 3rd District Congressman, and State Representative.

A discussion was held concerning the location of the April meeting for county Democrats. In an attempt to broaden their base and get more involved with the party party, it was decided to alternate north and south locations so the April 11 meeting at 6:30 p.m. will be held at the Geneva branch of the Adams Public Library System. Then on May 9 at 6:30 p.m., the meeting will revert back to Decatur at the library meeting room.

A committee of Janet Macklin, Judy Affolder, and Claudia Gimbel volunteered to start work on a process that will identify Democratic voters in Adams County. Engle said having such a list will help Democrats in a voting turnout program.

Jenny Bowers-Shultz, who was elected last November as the First District representative on the Decatur City Council, spoke about this need of getting more Democrats involved to make Adams County on a level playing field with Republicans. She tossed an idea out of having monthly meetings live streamed on video so even if someone could not make a meeting, they could follow what’s going on that month.

As a final note, Engle said she was approached by an individual wanting to know why McCormick has not had any television advertisement on the air yet this year.

“She doesn’t need to since she doesn’t have opposition in the primary. She’s saving her money for the general election where I guarantee you there will be TV ads for her. The Republicans are doing a lot of in-fighting spending money like mad on television in the primary but they’ve got the money to do it, Jennifer will spend her campaign money in the fall when it’s needed,” she said.

Affolder, who doubles as the treasurer for the county Democrats organization, gave a brief financial report that noted the county party has $4,050.08 on hand in the bank.