Two Recount Requests Filed in Starke County Clerk’s Office

Posted on Author WKVI
 
 

Request for a recount in two races in the General Election have been filed in the Starke County Clerk’s office.

Clerk Evelyn Skronski told WKVI News that a recount has been requested in the County Council District 4 race between Republican Don White and Democrat Pamela Stalbaum. Stalbaum had received 707 votes and White had 705 votes. The second request has been filed in the race for Railroad Township Trustee. Republican Mandy Thompson won the seat by three votes over Democrat Roger Chaffins, Sr.

Continue reading →

Starke County Election Board Discusses Political Signs, Travel Board Votes

Posted on Author WKVI
 
 

The Starke County Election Board discussed political sign disclaimers during their meeting Thursday afternoon.

A written complaint was filed by Tammie Taulbee, a Knox School Board candidate, that four candidates did not have disclaimers on their signs placed in public areas promoting their candidacy for the General Election.

It is law that a disclaimer be included on all political material stating who paid for the material and whether any candidate approves of the material if the material is paid for by someone other than the candidate.

Continue reading →

Starke County Saturday Voting Hours May Increase to Seven Hours

Posted on Author WKVI

 
 
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski this week spoke with the county commissioners regarding election hours, stating that they may have to increase the number of hours on Saturdays due to the population of the county. She said the county recently reduced the voting hours on Saturdays to four hours, and they may have to increase that to seven because the county population exceeds 20,000.

Continue reading →

Absentee Voting Comes to a Close; Polls Open Today for Special Election

Posted on Author WKVI
 
 

Absentee voting wrapped up yesterday in Starke County, but the totals aren’t all in yet. Clerk Evelyn Skronski told WKVI that 283 in-office ballots have been cast and 15 travel board votes have been collected. However, she said they do not yet have the total on mail-in ballots because they sent out 44 ballots and not all of them have been returned yet.

Voters in California, Center and Washington townships are eligible to vote in this special election, voicing their opinions on a public questions offered by the Knox Community School Board concerning a construction and remodeling project in the Palmer Wing at the elementary school.

The polls open today, giving the rest of the voters in the qualifying townships the opportunity to have their say in the matter. The polls will open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m., and Skronski said they’ll have the final results around 7 p.m.

Absentee Voting Continues in Special Election in Starke County

Posted on Author WKVI

 
 
As of Monday, the Starke County Clerk’s Office has had 111 people come through the office to vote absentee in this year’s special election.

Clerk Evelyn Skronski notes that Monday, April 29 is the last day to request an absentee ballot by mail and the Travel Board will be going out to collect votes beginning this Thursday, April 25. If you would like to request a visit by the travel board, call the clerk’s office at 772-9160.

Continue reading →

Starke Commissioners Deny Recommendation for Extra Clerk’s Office Employee

Posted on Author WKVI

Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski
The Starke County Commissioners earlier this week refused to support the county clerk’s request to add an additional employee to her office. Clerk Evelyn Skronski approached the commissioners asking for their recommendation to the county council for another full-time employee and one part-time employee, but the commissioners said that they don’t expect to see an increase in her staffing any time soon.

Skronski told the commissioners that the special election to be held this year is going to be stretching the employees to their limits, and with the regularly-increasing workload for the office, Skronski said extra help is practically a necessity.

Continue reading →

Starke County Commissioners Refuse to Combine Voting Precincts

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Commissioners Kathy Norem, Dan Bridegroom and Jennifer Davis

The Starke County Commissioners yesterday morning made a couple changes to the voting system, including a pay raise for poll workers. Clerk Evelyn Skronski approached the commissioners with a few requests, including a request to combine a number of precincts and raise the per-day pay rate for inspectors, judges, sheriffs, and other workers at the polls.

Skronski told the commissioners that she wanted to combine precincts Washington 1 and 2 together, and Wayne 1 and 2. Commissioner Kathy Norem said that Skronski needed the approval of the commissioners to do so, and she was “vehemently against” the idea of combining precincts. Commissioner Dan Bridegroom agreed, saying it would cause a number of problems with people trying to vote, because the increased number of voters at the same location would increase wait times, which could cause some people to turn away from the polls.

Continue reading →

Starke County Election Board Seeks To Reduce Per-Voter Cost of Elections

Posted on Author WKVI
Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski

According to Starke County Clerk Evelyn Skronski, the Election Board has been looking at a number of ways to reduce the expense of elections per voter. Skronski says that the May Primary was relatively expensive in terms of cost per voter in some precincts, such as Center 3, where the cost per voter came out to $10.79. This was the highest average cost per voter for any Starke County precinct, but Skronski says other townships with a higher voter turnout were significantly less expensive per voter, such as Oregon 1, where the average cost came out to $2.32 per voter.

Skronski says that some methods that were discussed to reduce the cost per precinct included reducing the number of poll workers in precincts with less than 700 registered voters. She says they could cut down on the cost by eliminating the presence of a sheriff at those locations, but the salaries of the poll workers would have to be increased because of their additional duties. Oregon 3, Jackson, and Center 6 precincts would be affected by the resolution.

Continue reading →

Starke County Election Board Presents Polling Place Consolidation Plan to Commissioners

Posted on Author WKVI

In a little under 18 weeks, you will be going to the polls to vote in the 2012 Primary Election. The Starke County Election Board members appeared before the county commissioners this week seeking approval of new consolidated polling locations. Election Board President Pat Mitchell said they learned a lot from last year’s Municipal Election and that helped them in the decision to consolidate throughout the county.

Continue reading →