Published: July 24, 2006 10:11 pm         

Candidate dismisses election complaint

Rockville — A candidate in the Republican Parke County sheriff’s race agreed to dismiss his complaint seeking a special election after the parties reached a settlement Monday.

Terry Conrad asked Special Judge Matthew Headley to dismiss his petition, and Michael Eslinger remains the Republican candidate for sheriff.

As part of the settlement, the Parke County Election Board has agreed to address several issues to make sure problems that occurred during the primary don’t reoccur in November. Among the issues to be addressed include thorough testing of voting machines and software before the election; an adequate number of voting machines to allow for efficient operation of the polls; and thorough training for all poll workers on the use of electronic voting machines. Also, the parties acknowledged that several votes on one of the machines had not been counted election night because of a “systemic failure,” as described by attorney Robert Hellmann, who represented the election board.

Those votes were counted and added Monday and the election board recertified the results of the Republican sheriff’s race.

Eslinger remained the victor with 1,646 votes; Conrad, 443 votes; Eddie McHargue, 699; and Randel Kneeland, 337.

The recertification of the sheriff’s race occurred during a conference involving all parties, including Conrad and his attorney, John D. Pierce; Parke Election Board members and Hellmann; and Eslinger along with his attorney, Joe Etling.

After the parties hammered out a settlement, they contacted Special Judge Matthew Headley by cell phone, who dismissed the complaint.

Conrad said he was satisfied with the outcome. “We brought out a lot of major flaws in the system,” he said, and the settlement outlines ways to address those problems.

“The whole focus here was the voters and their rights, and we wanted to ensure that every voter has the opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” Conrad said. “I think this agreement will help ensure that; we’ll be watching the next election to make sure that things are run smoother.”

If they’re not, “We’ll be back,” Conrad said.

Eslinger said he was glad the legal challenge was over. “I’ve got to get busy for the fall [election],” he said.

Etling emphasized that it was the election process at issue and nothing that his client had done.

Parke County Clerk Sue Woody said election officials will address the items outlined as part of the settlement and efforts will be made to obtain more voting machines.

She’ll inform the Parke County Council and commissioners of the need for more voting machines. “It says they’ll have to do it — that’s all there is to it,” Woody said. “The county’s going to have to come up with the money, I guess.”

As part of the settlement, the county election board agreed to work on several other issues, including:

n Provision of chutes outside polling stations as defined by law and training for poll workers as to who may and may not vote when the polls close. A chute is a pathway extending 50 feet from the entrance to the polls.

n Assurance that no poll will close once opened on Election Day until voting is ended.

n Measures to ensure that the number of votes accurately reflects the number of voters casting votes.

n Securing voting machines after the polls close, including, but not limited to, the hard drives.

n Ensuring that at least a quorum of the election board is present at any count or recount of votes.

After the May primary, Conrad filed a petition contesting the nomination of Eslinger as the Republican candidate for sheriff.

Conrad maintained that a series of actions occurred during the primary “making it impossible to determine the candidate for Parke County sheriff who received the highest number of votes.”

Conrad sought a special election for the sheriff’s race. The legal challenge was not a lawsuit and no one was being sued.

Sue Loughlin can be reached at (812) 231-4235 or sue.loughlin@tribstar.com.