Lake County Board of Elections and Registration - April 21, 2026 Meeting

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration met at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in the Commissioner's Courtroom, 2293 N. Main St., Crown Point, Indiana. The board heard two election complaints, placed the primary-election legal notice on the record, acted on campaign finance fines, adopted Resolution 2026-05, corrected a group of travel-board applications, took action on a travel-board staffing shortage, approved purchase orders, and heard public comment. The meeting adjourned at 12:27 p.m. Note: the raw transcript begins mid-proceeding and does not show the separate approval of the 3/17/2026 minutes listed on the agenda.

Old Business: Jarzombek v. Kill

• Petitioner Jarzombek presented a complaint against Kyle Kill, a St. John Sanitary Board appointee. Jarzombek said Kill kept his voter registration at his former Schererville address, moved to St. John, and then voted in person in the November 2024 general election and in the 2025 Lake Central referendum using the old address.
• Jarzombek acknowledged Indiana's 'one last time' prior-precinct allowance but argued Kill should have updated his address after that first vote.
• Respondent's counsel, Michael Jessitis, argued that every applicable statute requires a knowing violation. He said Kill mistakenly believed Indiana's fail-safe procedure allowed him to vote at his former precinct because the ballots were identical, and called it an honest mistake rather than fraud.
• Kill testified that he did not update his registration, immediately updated it after hearing about the complaint, and voluntarily resigned from the sanitary board so that he would not be a distraction.
• The board sustained the respondent's objection when Jarzombek tried to question Kill about his college degree, ruling it was irrelevant.
• Mr. Reed moved to dismiss the complaint for lack of the required 'knowingly' element, joined by Mrs. Candelaria-Reardon. The motion carried and the complaint was dismissed.

Old Business: Spangenberg v. Murphy

• Dr. Spangenberg said she filed the complaint for clarification rather than to punish Ms. Murphy. The issue centered on reused yard signs displaying a committee-to-referen disclaimer that, in her view, made it appear an active committee existed when the related committee may have been closed for many years.
• Sandra Murphy testified that she formed a committee in 2004, bought signs for less than $500, bought additional signs in 2006, never spent over the reporting threshold, and believed that the signs shown in the complaint were all paid for by the committee to elect her.
• Murphy's counsel moved to dismiss, saying the complaint did not assert a real violation. Election counsel noted that the only plausible statutory issue was whether the required disclaimer was truthful, and that there is no legal duty to revalue old signs or reopen a committee based on their current value.
• The board dismissed the complaint. Mr. Reed moved and Clerk Brown seconded, and the dismissal carried.

New Business: Primary Notice, Campaign Finance Fines, and Administrative Disbandment

• The legal notice of the primary election, already published, was placed on the record. Clerk Brown explained that the notice states when and where the election and early voting will occur, and lists polling places and candidates.
• Staff presented a campaign finance fine schedule. The board first voted to impose the statutory fines on the listed committees, then made a unanimous roll call vote to reduce the fines in the interest of justice because the committees had supplied written explanations.
• The board administratively disbanded a committee identified as Mr. Fontanez's committee. Staff reported the committee filed no reports after the 2022 pre-primary, had an account balance of $375, and owed fines of $1,125. The chairman noted administrative disbanding closes the committee but does not waive the remaining fines.

Resolution 2026-05

• The board adopted Resolution 2026-05, titled a resolution to use a direct-record electronic voting system for disabled absent voters in the office or at a voter's confined location.
• Staff said the resolution updates the earlier 2015 resolution, incorporating post-COVID legal changes that allow the use of an iPad travel board, on-site grant of an afflicted, hand-delivered curing of signatures, and acceptance at the confined location. If the two-member travel board disagrees, the matter returns to the election board.
• The board adopted the resolution unanimously by roll call.

Travel-Board Applications and Staffing Shortage

• The board reviewed a stack of travel-board applications from one Gary skilled-nursing facility. Members agreed the forms appeared filled out in good faith by a facility staff member, but the bottom assistance/affidavit section had been left blank.
• After contacting the Indiana Election Division, the board voted by one motion in favor of a 'cure' approach: reject the applications, but hand-deliver new applications to the facility with the travel board in place of mailing them, pre-fill the top section, and require the voter to complete the personal section. If the voter needs assistance, the assistant must sign the affidavit.
• The board also discussed severe staffing shortages: of roughly 25 travel-board workers, only about 3 were Republican, making it difficult to send out two-person, one-Democrat-one-Republican travel teams. A letter to the Republican county chairman set a deadline of noon on March 20, 2026, and the board said enough names had not arrived.
• Ms. Candelaria-Reardon raised a motion allowing staff to use the board's statutory authority to fill travel board and counter positions if Republicans were not provided. The motion was framed as Republicans-as-available and Democrats-as-needed, and it carried 4-0, with the chair noting Mr. Reed was absent at that time.
• Board members stressed that alternative options were meant to prevent voter disenfranchisements, not to bypass the party. The next board meeting is Inspector's Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 8:30 a.m.

Correspondence, Counsel Reports, and Purchase Orders

• No correspondence was presented. Counsel reported nothing further.
• Purchase orders over $1,000, listed in the board's packet under item 8.1, were moved by Clerk Brown, seconded, and approved by the board.

Public Comment

• Curtis Pearson, a Maryville resident and Lost Township Board member, complained about a ballot directive that read 'vote for three only.' He said seven voters who intended to vote only for him ended up voting for three candidates because of the wording. The board agreed to look at the sample.
• Dr. Linda Peterson, an NAACP executive committee member and Democratic travel board worker, raised concerns that an application could get rejected because a caregiver checked 'illness' instead of 'disability,' and that requiring signed travel-board comparisons, including signed ballots against motor vehicle-vehicle signatures and an 'X' signature, could disadvantage some voters.
• Bruce Curley, a Gary NAACP member, urged all parties to work together and to improve voter participation, saying people died and were killed for the right to vote.
• Dr. Vanessa Allen-McDowell of the Urban League and Stephen Mays, past president of the Gary NAACP, praised the travel-board resident applications, calling it a strong positive answer that prevented voter suppression. Allen-McDowell announced a planned NAACP-Urban League phone bank.
• Robert L. Bucks, a United States Army sergeant, said technicalities should not be used to disenfranchise veterans or older voters.
• Benita White-Arnold, president of the newly revived East Chicago N.A.A.C.P., detailed problems at East Chicago's early vote location: the polling place name had changed from a K-12 school to the West Side Early Learning Education Center, transportation drops voters at a distant walking route, and wheelchair ramps at the entrance had no handrails, and were not stable. She asked the board to inspect future sites before selecting them.
• Darien Collins, a Maryville resident and Gary NAACP member, urged the county to use the online voter portal more for travel board applications, noting residents can apply by phone using the state portal.
• Levita Sparks Wade, a candidate for the First Congressional District, praised the board for its transparency in the travel-board matter and thanked them for a fair process.
• Will Miller, chairman of the Gary Republican Party, said the Republican Party is responsible for filling vacancies and capable to do better. He asked for grace as the party works to step up.
• Dr. Spangenberg, who made a buying earlier complaint, thanked the board and asked that they create a agreed backup list of travel-board workers, so that no election-day emergency would prevent travel boards from being sent out. She also said that if the complaint process is the only mechanism available for clarification, the process should remain available.

Key Outcomes

• Jarzombek v. Kill was dismissed for want of the 'knowingly' element required by statute.
• Spangenberg v. Murphy was dismissed because the board found no election violation and the disclaimer appeared legally adequate.
• The board adopted Resolution 2026-05 to update the direct-record electronic-absentee procedure for disabled voters. It was adopted unanimously.
• Campaign finance fines imposed and then reduced by the board were imposed, then the board unanimously reduced them.
• The Fontanez committee-related campaign committee was administratively disbanded; its fines remain unpaid.
• The travel-board applications and assistant section from the Gary facility were rejected, but the board ordered immediate hand-delivering of corrected with travel-board visits rather than mailing them.
• The board authorized filling travel-board and counter vacancies with Democrats as needed, with Republicans as available, where positions remained unfilled. The motion carried 4-0.
• Purchase orders over $1,000 were approved.
• The next board meeting will be Saturday, May 2, 2026, at 8:30 a.m. in the Commissioner's Courtroom.