The Porter County Clerk’s race features Valparaiso City Council member Barbara Domer, a Democrat, running against Republican Jackie Haney, chief finance deputy and a longtime employee in the clerk’s office.
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After two terms, incumbent Jessica Bailey, a Democrat, has termed out and is running for state comptroller.
Domer, who is three-quarters of the way through her first term on the city council, would emphasize increasing voter turnout if elected. She has served Indivisible Indiana and on the board of The League of Women Voters, though she gave up that position when she won her current city council seat by just four votes.
She said it’s a prime example of the belief that every vote counts.
“I remind people of my four-vote victory on the city council,” she said. “I beat the incumbent on four votes out of 1,800. My campaign slogan is ‘Your vote is your voice.’
“Voting is a civic duty as opposed to a political function,” she said. “I feel like I would be a voice for that throughout our county.”
But, she said, “I think there are a lot of people in our community that think their vote doesn’t count.” Domer said Porter County is about the middle of the pack statewide on voter turnout in a state that has poor voter turnout.
To increase it, she would expand vote access. “I will look into opening a few more vote centers,” she said, to make up for some that were lost, as well as offering more days and locations to the mobile voting van visits, perhaps at assisted living facilities and grocery stores.
“I would like to see it at union halls during voting membership nights,” Domer said. “The hospital parking lot; why couldn’t it go there, or just a medical complex?”
Expanding voting options only brings results if word gets out on times, locations, and what voters need to bring with them, Domer said. “If you are a non-profit and you have a meeting in October, why not get the early voting schedule out at those meetings?”
Domer feels her long career as an accountant and her experience leading financial teams and voting on the finances of the city of Valparaiso will support the clerk’s office.
“I really do want to build upon the success of the clerk’s office,” she said. “Most residents would come into contact with the clerk’s office for one reason or another” throughout their life in Porter County. “It’s maybe behind the scenes, but an integral part of residents’ day-to-day lives.”
Domer said she’s very comfortable with budgets, from preparing them to presenting them to asking for more funds. “If more funds are needed, we just have to say we can’t put a price on democracy,” she said of the possibility of having to advocate for expanding voter access.
Haney, who has 30 years of service with the clerk’s office, said she offers voters continuity and an intimate understanding of every function within the office.
“I started in traffic basically as a teenager. I’ve been a part of it all this entire time, and I’m experienced, and I can take everything that we’ve done and build off it and continue the momentum and make it better,” she said.
“So when everyone talks about taxpayer dollars, in that sense, you’re saving dollars, because it’s going to take years to learn everything. It’s a very big office,” she added, referring to the main clerk’s office at the Porter County Courthouse, plus the two courts within the North County Complex, and the Juvenile Detention Center the staff of 40-plus also serves.
“In essence, you’re dealing with all of the judges and all of the magistrates. I don’t consider it my job; it’s like, ‘These are my people.’ You would have somebody, basically, who has 30 years of that. It’s become my passion,” she added.
In her current role as chief finance deputy, Haney oversees all the money that comes through the clerk’s office, prepares for audits by the State Board of Accounts, and helps with daily operations and security, including the training of all staff for child support security.
She will graduate in May from the one-year Certificate Program in Election Administration Technology and Security (CEATS) through Ball State University.
While it’s her first time running for political office, Haney believes relationship building would be integral to serving as county clerk. She said the relationships she’s built during her involvement with Kiwanis, 500 Turkeys, HUB Coalition, Clothes & Prayers, the Porter County Parks Foundation board, the board of Family Promise, Hoosier Leadership Academy, and the Porter County Sheriff’s Citizen Police Academy have already paved the way with many established relationships.
If elected, Haney would like to focus on training. She said it’s not that the department doesn’t have training now; she would just like to create a more structured training program that would only benefit a more educated public.
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“It would be a smoother transition if I was elected as clerk. I already know the ins and outs, and I can just come in and build. That’s what I want to do,” she said. “We’re great now and I want to continue to build on that greatness.”
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.