2022 primary results finalized

Decatur Daily Democrat

The Adams County Election Board conducted a brief post-election meeting Friday afternoon with the focus being on the results of the 2022 primary vote along with enforcing state law about having candidates report their finances and donations on time.

County clerk Jim Voglewede informed board members Wes Kuntzman, the Republican agent, and J Swygart, the Democratic member, that results announced on Election Night were finalized with no changes in any vote totals noted.

Voglewede continued to note the big differences in provisional ballots and paper absentee ballots cast this year as opposed to the 2020 election. He said there were zero provisional ballots this spring as opposed to 50 in the last general election. A provisional ballot allows a voter who is registered but does not have the required identification needed to go ahead and vote. Once the voter provides the information, their vote will then be counted. Also this spring, only 50 paper absentee ballots were received as opposed to the 6,000 marked in 2020.

The clerk said the main difference was that the 2020 election was a presidential election with a relatively high voter turnout and that the Covid pandemic situation encouraged more persons to stay home and vote absentee so they would not be exposed to groups in large numbers.

“Overall, I thought the election went very well and was run very smoothly,” Voglewede said, a point Swygart echoed in noting “the clerk’s office ran a very efficient election. Everything that was needed was done on schedule and like it should have.”

Kuntzman talked about the only minor snafu of the day which occurred at the Geneva vote center where the WiFi connection didn’t always allow proper updating of poll books throughout the county. Vote centers are designed so every two minutes each of the centers is updated as to who has voted. Both Kuntzman and Swygart emphasized the problem did not affect any election result and said perhaps it would be worthwhile to see if money was available for an AT&T hotspot to be installed at the center (what has been used in the past).

Kuntzman also noted one machine at the Geneva center didn’t work properly but was quickly discovered and since the center had five machines overall it didn’t cause a problem with voters being delayed in casting their vote.

The issue of having student poll workers at vote centers was addressed by the Election Board.

Kuntzman said there was significantly less student involvement this spring than in the past and when he asked students he knew why that was the main response was the time of school year as students were busy preparing for and taking tests. Only three students were poll workers during the spring election with over five times that number in 2020.

A state law went into effect several years ago allowing students who are 16 or 17 and while not being eligible yet to vote are now eligible to be paid poll workers. They can hold any position at the vote center with the exception of inspector. The board discussed ways to improved the participation rate of the high school age students including having board members attend county school board meetings and talk to high school government classes.

Under new business, Voglewede stated that Swiss Village would like to again be a vote center for the election which would make six voting centers in the county. The Covid pandemic negated the Berne retirement center and nursing home from being a location in the primary ( voters have cast Election Day ballots there in the past and the Berne Missionary Church was the location for the vote center in town this year).

No decision was made by the Election Board on the request as there would have to be a formal request and motion for such action and extra money would be needed.

At the end of the meeting Swygart brought up the longtime issue of candidates who fail to file their required pre-election and final election reports for expenses and donations. This tradition has had a long history of the Election Board granting waivers to candidates that are tardy with the reports which are required by state law and carry a fine of $50/day.

It was noted by clerk’s office employee Cassie Hammond who works closely with the election process in Adams County that when a candidate files to run for office they are given sheets with dates on it as to when such reports are due “so it’s not like they can’t come back and say they didn’t know they had to do it.”

Swygart interjected that “I’m all in favor of the board following the state rule” and he was supported by Kuntzman. The Board said that going on they favor enforcing the late fee for candidates being late and that money received from the fees would likely go into the County General Fund.

It was agreed that while candidates receive the information about deadlines when they file for election, that party chairmen Steve Justus ( Republican) and Barb Engle (Democrat) be notified as well about intentions of the Election Board in regards to the fine. Swygart emphasized that in rare occasions if a special need existed, the Election Board could still waive the fine for a candidate but that unlike in the past, the candidate would have to come to the Clerk’s office to make such a petition.

Other issues brought before the board:

--it was noted that filings for school board election races will begin toward the end of July (these races are non-partisan).

-- purging of voters who haven’t voted recently (only about 20 percent voted in the Adams County primary) is done by a state program sent to the county that says once a persons misses two general elections their status is listed as inactive. Once a voter is removed from the rolls, they must go through the process of registering to vote. The county notifies any voter in danger of being purged by post card mail.

--one candidate ( not named) in the 2022 primary in Adams County approached election officials about running again in the fall as an independent. The answer was “no” as a state law makes that illegal to do so.