Marion County Election Board Meeting - May 20, 2024
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Marion County Election Board Meeting - May 20, 2024
This meeting of the Marion County Election Board was called to order at 11:01 a.m. on Monday, May 20, 2024, to certify the 2024 primary election results and address outstanding campaign finance reports. The board reviewed election certification documents, discussed voter turnout, and handled penalties for late campaign finance filings.
Election Certification
- Deputy Director Brent Stenson presented the certification documents generated from the Statewide Voter Registration System (SVRS), including: CEB 23 (Democratic primary winners), CEB 24 (Republican primary winners), CEB 25 (MSD Pike Township referendum), CEB 36 (Democratic presidential votes in congressional districts 6 and 7), and CEB 37 (Republican presidential votes in districts 6 and 7).
- The board noted that the provisional meeting on Friday, May 17 did not change any race outcomes. Tied party races are handled by the parties themselves.
- Voter turnout statistics: 632,736 registered voters in Marion County, with 85,728 casting ballots in the primary.
- Certification was already performed electronically by Alex earlier that morning, making the meeting a formality; no vote was required.
Campaign Finance Hearing
- Three committees were scheduled for the 2024 pre-primary campaign finance hearing. One committee (IPS Community PAC) submitted its report after the deadline and was assessed a $50 fine.
- Two other committees have not responded to notifications (by phone, mail, and party affiliation) regarding their late reports. Under the board's policy, they have a few more weeks to pay or seek a waiver/reduction before the matter is turned over to the city's collection agency.
- The board emphasized that the new 2024 reporting rules apply strictly to this cycle, and prior 2023 issues are not part of this hearing.
Key Outcomes
- The 2024 primary election was officially certified. Voter registration and absentee ballot applications open the next day (May 21).
- The next scheduled meeting is June 12, 2024, where the board will address outstanding campaign finance cases.
- The board thanked all participants—voters, poll workers, staff—and issued a call for involvement in the upcoming November general election.
Meeting Transcript
This meeting of the Marion County Election Board is called to order. Today is Monday, May 20th. It's 1101 a.m. We are here this morning to certify the 2024 primary election. And to help give us some context and information is Deputy Director Brent Stenson. Thank you, Madam Secretary. This will be a very, I hope, brief meeting. Certification is done electronically through SVRS. But we like to do it out and open and have a meeting where we it's discussed. So that's what we're doing here today. So before you are forms uh generated out of SVRS based on the results from election day, the provisional meeting this past Friday, uh, that's all reflected here. So the CEB 23 should be the first document you see. That is all of the Democratic winners from the primary election. Um the next form is very similar. The CEB 24 has the GOP winners from uh the primary election. So every race up from U.S. Senator down the ballot. Um then there's another form where the presidential races will be reflected. So you won't see those on the 23 or the 24. Um the CEB 25 in front of you shows the public question from MSD Pike Townships uh referendum that was on the ballot this uh May 7th election. Then CEB 36 are the Democratic votes for president in congressional district six and seven, and then again uh CED 37 has the Republican votes uh in district six and district seven, those are congressional. Uh so those are all reflected there in front of you if you have questions or like to peruse them. Uh I have not I haven't studied these. The um our provisional meeting on Friday, did any did the outcome of any race change? No, they did not. I believe there were some party races that were maybe tied when we left, um, but then the party handles those. We don't handle those as an election board or the staff here. That's correct. Uh any questions? No. Okay. And then the one form I did fail to mention is the CEB 9 section one that's also in your uh packet. It's just a summary of voter turnout, absentee voting, provisional ballots, and as well as information on the uh systems we use for voting. That's all been submitted to the state this morning. The Newton deadline. We don't expect anything to change, but uh we can go ahead and change it if we need to. But Alex certified that election uh this morning in SVRS. Uh and that's what makes it official. So uh just for the public's information, uh there are 632,736 registered voters in this county. Uh and we had uh 85,728 of those registered voters casting a ballot in the primary. Uh I was one of them, so I helped make some decisions there. Same, same. Obviously, different political parties, so we pulled different ballots, but we don't know that yet. Well, I'm that's true. Although we better have we better have, or we're not in the wrong chairs, so uh there's a lot of information that will become available to the public um upon certification, and they will be able to go to our website at mceb.nd.gov. Um and if if you'll remind me, please Brent, the voter registration opens tomorrow. It does, that's right. Um so if you have submitted an application, maybe it will become available through the voter registration office. Um everyone should check and make sure their voter registration is up to date. Um for those voters wanting to um uh request an application to vote absentee, they can start that tomorrow too.
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