- I believe the bell work there it is how's that how's that for timing I'm going to call the June 4th
- 2026 election board meeting to order. We're going to modify slightly I'm going to ask Kylie to update
- some election board minutes because we don't have them all yet.
- Yeah, so we were talking about it within the office and have decided that it would be better to hold
- off on the minutes until all of them are completed. And then we just approve them at the same time so
- that we are up to date and don't have part of them now and part of them in July. And then in addition
- to that, I do have a couple of
- upcoming important dates that are coming up on us, one of which being June 18th, 2026 at noon. That
- is the deadline for school board filing. Then June 30th, 2026 at noon is the independent and minor party
- candidate petition filings. That is your deadline to get your first set of petitions within our office.
- And then July 3rd, 2026 at noon is the last day to fill any ballot vacancies.
- July 6th at noon is writing candidate filing. July 15th at noon is independent minor party candidate
- filing. And then July 15th at noon is candidate withdrawal for the general election. That was a lot.
- It's all in an email going to you guys. So I don't write that fast anymore. Thank you. You're welcome.
- All right. And then we will adopt our agenda.
- unless there are questions. We'll adopt the agenda starting with what we have as number four, establish
- the hearing procedures. We'll go from there and Molly is going to take the lead on this for us. So for
- the election board's review I drafted a resolution establishing hearing procedures and
- The resolution currently states that it's specific to the hearings held on today's date, but if the
- board so wished to amend it, they could amend it to make the procedures for any future candidate complaint
- hearings. I drafted this because it was advised by Indiana Election Division that it is recommended
- to have some procedures in writing prior to the hearing.
- plan on reading the resolution unless you would like me to, but I was going to summarize it.
- Is that okay? We've read it, so a summary I think would work. So the procedures are that the election
- chair would call the hearing to order, then any individual wishing to offer testimony would have to
- be administered an oath.
- The election board would then recognize the complainant. The complainant may present evidence and argument
- to the election board for no more than 10 minutes unless the election board votes to allow additional
- time to the presenter. If the complainant is not present, they could submit any written correspondence
- that would be read at that time. And then it acknowledges that the burden of proving the complaint falls
- on the complainant.
- Thereafter, the board will recognize the candidate who's in question. The candidate may present evidence
- to the board for no more than 10 minutes. However, if any extension of time afforded to the complainant,
- if the complaint was given more time, it is recommended that the candidate in question also be given
- the same amount of time. Evidence or argument presented by the party should be directed at the election
- board and not other parties.
- This in essence wouldn't allow the candidate or the petitioner to cross examine each other. The election
- board may ask individuals who offer testimony questions. However, if any questions is posed
- to the complainant or the candidate, it would not count against their time frame. If the complainant
- or the candidate offers documents or evidence, a copy must be provided to the election board for the
- record for the hearing.
- And then upon conclusion of the evidence, the board will close the hearing and therefore thereafter
- discuss how to resolve the complaint. That is the procedures as written. Here, do we need a motion to
- accept this? Do we need. Please. I move that we pass the resolution adopting procedures for a hearing
- to be held on June 4th, 2026.
- Any discussion? You need to call a roll or can we do voice vote? This might be one where a roll is not
- required, but I might recommend it. Ashley, please. Nicole Brown. Danny Shields. Yes. Penny Givens. Yes.
- So now that we've adopted procedures I think what's next on the agenda is moving forward with the complaint
- filed by Ms. Wheeler against Mr. Davis. So I can give a brief summary of that complaint. The election board was
- We could either do it either way. We could officially call the hearing to order and then I could administer
- the oath and then give a summary. That the way that flows is kind of up to you. OK, then I will officially
- call the hearing to order. Do you want me to go ahead and proceed with a summary? OK, yes, yes, please.
- The email was received from Ms. Karen Wheeler on April 28, 2026 that outlines one, two, three, four,
- five. It looks like four potential election violations, and in summary that includes violations pertaining
- to campaign signs without the required disclosure, electioneering inside the shoot, following a voter
- after voting, and potentially misleading representation of legal credentials.
- of the complaint was provided to the board as well as Mr Davis, who received certified notice of today's
- hearing, along with a copy of that formal complaint. Unless there's questions on that summary, I think
- we could proceed to the complainant providing or addressing her complaint.
- I think we're ready to proceed. Is the complaintant here would like to address the board? Good afternoon.
- I am Ms. Wheeler. Before you jump into it, I'm going to administer notes. So can you please state your
- name? Karen Wheeler.
- And Ms. Wheeler, do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're about to provide to the board
- is the truth? I do. And then for the record, Ms. Wheeler has affirmatively taken an oath. And now I
- proceed. OK, so I had the opportunity to see Joe Davis pretty much every day during the election, early
- voting, because I work in that building and I would come outside and I would see him.
- And pretty much every day, I really can't think of a day that it didn't happen, but I did not have the
- disclaimer on his signs in the beginning in that he would very often go into the chute. He would follow
- people to the door. He would also follow people afterwards and having walking them to the car or toward
- their car.
- He would, I saw him different times blocking people so they could not even get out of their car easily.
- And for me, as a woman, that would be intimidating. No matter where you're at, you just don't want anybody,
- but especially a man standing there that I can't even open my door without him moving. And I think the
- voting can be intimidating enough. You don't need to have somebody that's
- stopping the person to even get out of their car. I don't think this is illegal, but it was an irritant
- that he would sweep the sidewalk and the parking lot pretty much every day, that there would be a dust
- bowl. It would be an irritant if I was a voter coming through there. I mean, when I walked through,
- it would make me cough. I mean, you don't want to walk into all this dust.
- He claimed that he was a practicing jurist at law, and I'm not really for sure what that is, but it
- didn't seem like it was accurate or it seemed confusing at best. He would also just do things that were
- kind of bizarre from brushing his teeth on the sidewalk, and so I thought it was a
- I think Monroe County is a great county and we really want to have the most accurate voting day that
- we have from our early voting to election day itself and this just did not reflect I think what Monroe
- County stands for. I think that would be probably all, probably one thing too that was just a little
- bit different than this that
- I mean, even in all of that, I was probably surprised that there wasn't any action toward him, and maybe
- the procedure is that somebody has to come in and complain. But I was kind of surprised that Election
- Central didn't do this, because if I saw it, they saw it. It took a long time. It was weeks into it,
- and I thought it should have been handled much sooner. And that's probably it.
- Just to answer that, respond to the last comment, short of calling the authority, the sheriff's department
- I guess would be, is there anything that anyone in your office or election central could have done about
- this? We did. Okay. I'm sorry, the lights on here keep going off.
- So there were multiple in-person conversations before a formal written notice was given to him. It was,
- I believe, the first Saturday of early voting was when the written formal statement saying that he was
- not doing things that he was allowed to be doing. And that was after the first two conversations that
- we had had with him.
- Is it fair to say you had also called Indiana Election Division for guidance? Yes, and that's when they
- said to just go ahead and do a written statement and then after that to then move forward with
- law enforcement and you had also notified the party chair, correct? So there was nothing that you could
- have done differently. Yes, ma'am. And if I may, since Miss Ferris has now provided
- testimony to the board. I'm going to administer an oath. Can you please state your name? And Miss Ferris,
- is the statements you just made to the board truthful? Yes. Miss Ferris has affirmatively taken an oath.
- Thank you. I didn't mean to lead to that, ma'am. I was just asking. And I remember the form that we
- got where he was. You probably shouldn't be doing this. And
- there was one occasion where I left Election Central headed back to the Justice Building that I county
- attorneys who was on his way to deliver the paperwork to Davis regarding this what you could be charged
- with this is penalty that it carries and we stopped and spoke on on that date
- I'd like to point out to the public, too, that we received copies of short videos of Mr. Davis, and
- at one point he was in the ... Am I allowed to describe the video that was sent to us? Okay. And he
- kept saying, I'm not electioneering. Well, I would point out that there were pictures of Mr. Davis on
- his yard sign, and so it was very clear who he was to anybody who was coming to vote, that he was in
- fact the candidate.
- whether he wore a t-shirt or a sign that his picture was up there for everyone to see. My question was
- that he was given notice that he wasn't supposed to be doing. And then the complaint is that it continued
- after those
- Yeah, so he had came into our office almost daily, stopping and talking to us. There were times that
- he would go in through the entrance of early voting across upstairs to then go to one of the restrooms.
- And we had spoke to him about him not being able to do that and to come around to the main entrance.
- And after I would say probably three conversations was when I reached out to IED. And then that was
- that Saturday, the first Saturday of early voting that we did the formal written statement.
- So it seems like it took about two weeks before there was anything that was obviously done from election
- to central when it was daily that it was happening. Where the signs changed, the thing about not having
- a disclaimer on the sign, the first one I saw had the disclaimer on, and very big, it may not admit,
- But are you saying that they were changed during early voting from originally? Did I misunderstand you
- saying that? Personally, I don't know if I ever saw a disclaimer on there. I don't know if all of them
- were changed. There was some that I was told were changed, but we're talking at least two weeks, probably
- longer. And I also know that he had been told by multiple people, probably
- Every candidate that was out there would say, don't go in the chute. Please don't sweep. Don't do this.
- Don't follow the people. Please don't whatever it was. And he continued to do them. It's my understanding
- also that the disclaimer has to actually use the word eight or by or paid by. And that was not on and
- has to be in a certain size font, which I don't remember right now what that is. Twelve. I don't know.
- I was I was reading the law this morning.
- things like that, but it has to use those words. And from what I observed, his, later at least in the
- campaign, did not use those words on them. I have a picture of one that has his name and his picture
- without the disclaimer on there if you want to see it, if you haven't. All right, can we do that? Can
- we look at it? If Ms. Willard is presenting it, yes, we'll just need a copy of it. Is it the picture
- that you've already provided a copy of?
- I'm pretty sure it is. Okay. I did not get up close to look at them. You know, I kind of stayed away
- from what was going on out front as much as I could. Just I didn't want to get in the middle of it.
- I would like to see a copy if that's I can just hand this to you.
- make it bigger. This is not the way, but it'll work.
- That's probably not the techiest way you've ever seen something looked at, but it got the job done,
- okay? Mr. Chair, there was one instance, and I can't tell you like in terms of the first day of early
- voting or within a week, but I was told that there was someone who had a medical emergency and that
- Mr. Davis went inside of the chute to assist
- the person who had a medical emergency. Obviously, it's clear that there was more than one incident.
- When I heard that, anybody I would think following the Good Samaritan Law would step inside to,
- you know, in terms of priority. So if we're going, if we're establishing how many times did he violate
- the shoot policy, I could see extending great
- if it was medical, everything else, obviously, that he was in deliberate. She testified that she saw
- it happen more than once. Yes, and I'm agreeing that it happened more than once. But in terms of the
- inference that there
- Unwillingness to address the issue the first issue brought to my attention was there was a medical issue
- and so I did not raise that if Someone had called him out for that. I again I was prepared to Send a
- grace because any good Samaritan not be worried about that if someone were in distress
- Procedurally, I think the question is, Ms. Wheeler, are you done with your presentation? Yes, I am.
- And so at this point, based on the procedures adopted, unless the board has further questions for Ms.
- Wheeler, we would offer Mr. Davis the opportunity to make a presentation. I would be fine with that.
- I do not see Mr. Davis present. Mr. Davis received notice of the hearing via certified letter that was
- mailed on May 15th.
- He subsequently came into our office last week to pick up copies of the video and photos that were submitted
- with the complaint. So I do believe he had knowledge of today's hearing and he's not here. I have not
- received any written correspondence from him. That's Election Central. We have not received anything
- in writing. He did stop by today. So at this point,
- doesn't appear that Mr. Davis is here to present evidence, and so procedurally you can move with closing
- the hearing and deliberate. No, no, I was going to say, I can't see everybody that is online, but I
- also do not see a hand raised. I do not see Mr. Davis online.
- that Mr. Davis is coming in the building right now. I don't see any reason to recess for two minutes.
- If he comes directly upstairs we'll just. It may be beneficial to recess. That way I can explain to
- Mr. Davis the procedures that we adopted because I don't know that he was here for that and so. Then
- I will recess the meeting until we're ready to move on.
- So can we say for five minutes? I would say sure. OK, thank you. 158. All right, I have 158. I will
- call the meeting back to order. And we're waiting. Mr. Davis is in the building, we believe. I did have
- a brief conversation with Mr. Davis and advised him of the procedures. And he advised me he was bringing
- up more stuff. Quote.
- I told Mr. Davis we were in recess and that he might have to address the board. He is not present. And
- for clarity to address the board to get more time to get the stuff. If you folks back there see him,
- we'd like to have if he wants to talk to us, he should like be here. Mr. Chair, may I? Yes, please go ahead.
- While we were in recess, I did want to clarify a couple of things with the election supervisor. And
- so what I understand, and Kylie, please correct me if I am wrong, the guidance that the election supervisor
- received from the Indiana election division was that it is the party chair's responsibility to, for
- lack of a better term, corral the candidate. The election supervisor did notify
- The party chair and no action was taken, which is then why she went and got more guidance in the written.
- So there were procedurally things, whether or not it was clear to anyone watching, the steps were taken
- as recommended by the Indiana.
- are times that an officiating career comes in. You know what I mean? No. I was called for 1.30. Everyone
- in here has
- things that in their life as well. So. Miss King, you are. We're reconvened, yes, absolutely. So now
- would be the opportunity for the board to hear Mr Davis's presentation. If Mr Davis intends to present,
- I will ask you to take your
- at the podium and I will administer you an oath. You know we've had enough time. You can either make
- your presentation or not that's your option.
- Mr. Davis. Well, at the beginning of today's meeting, we adopted procedures that afford you 10 minutes
- of presentation. All right. I'd like to read those, please. I see those. Is this
- Can we just? You can. You these were out. These were available. OK, Mr. Davis, I have a copy for you,
- but it in summary says that the complaint will be afforded 10 minutes. The candidate would be afforded
- 10 minutes that the election board could ask questions. That.
- time spent answering questions does not count to your 10 minute time frame. If you offer evidence you
- have to provide a copy to the board and at the conclusion of the evidence the board closes the hearing
- and therefore will after discuss the complaints. So at this time I think the board is indicating that
- they are moving forward to the candidate's opportunity to present and so if you would like to make a
- presentation can you please
- take the podium so I can administer an oath and then your 10 minutes will start. Here are the adopted
- procedures, sir. Can you please take the podium so I can administer an oath?
- I think the board has not in recess, so they're asking you to proceed with the hearing so that it can
- administer the oath. Mr. Davis, this is not helping your case. Okay. You had, it is time for us to continue.
- It is highly appropriate. You have the same rules. Everyone else does. Without allowing me an opportunity
- to read it. It was read into the minutes. We got it at 1.30. We didn't see you around there at 1.30.
- You don't have to print it. She has copies of it. OK, but you adopted this while I was in here.
- This was given to me. I can have an opportunity to read this. Would you administer the oath, please,
- ma'am? Mr. Davis, if you need to be at the podium to administer the oath. You need to be at the podium
- so she can administer the oath and we can continue.
- as far as I'm concerned, this is cutting it. Are you doing the timing? I will start timing. Start the
- 10 minutes. So that's going to cut in my time. Your 10 minutes has begun. I swear to tell the truth.
- No, Mr. Davis, you have to be at a microphone to the law enforcement. Would you please remove the
- that could be construed as weapons from the room. No, these are not weapons. These are my tools. Those
- can't be used as weapons. I want them moved. No, these are my tools. They're my exhibits. You're looking
- at my tools. These are my exhibits. They are not weapons. This officer has already talked to me and
- said, please turn anyone's digits off today with your printers. Did she say that? She just said,
- Do not approach anyone within. I'm not going to. They are there. They're going to stay exactly where
- they're at. OK, OK, Mr. Davis, do you do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're going to provide
- to the board today is truthful? Mr. Davis, do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're going to
- provide today to the board is truthful? Sorry, what was that?
- Do you swear or affirm that the testimony that you're going to provide to the board today is truthful?
- Yes, I do. This is for the record. Mr. Davis has now affirmatively taken an oath. It may proceed with
- his presentation. OK, hello. My name is Joseph Bradley Davis. I ran for a clerk as Joe Davis and.
- I attended, I was at every early voting session from the beginning all the way to the end. I camped
- out basically at the area where early voting takes place, and it was a shambles. There was debris everywhere.
- All over where the handicap parking was was a mess, so I took my time to clean up the property, clean
- up the hardscape around, to prune the trees,
- to make it hospitable so that voters could come and enjoy their day of voting instead of walking through
- a litter covered environment with gravel that was hard to walk and branches and debris everywhere. Okay,
- so I cleaned this up. I brought some of the rock and gravel that I cleared off of the parking lot in
- the area where the handicapped parking was.
- I took care of that place. Unlike my other candidates who were around, they just, they just candidized
- in their chair for the most time. So at any rate, it's been alleged that I have violated several, several
- items according to Karen Wheeler
- and as written up in the and could I see some sort of a timer so I know where my ten minutes are? I'm
- not going to turn and look at this. I'm sorry. I need to see something where I'm looking this way. I
- can give you an audible alarm if you'd like, Mr. Davis. At what time would you like me to like a one
- minute warning and a 30 minute second warning? At five minutes, three minutes, one minute,
- 30 seconds and zero. Okay, and can we please back up the clock a little bit for this housekeeping? No,
- we're moving on. Okay, first off, I wanna say that Penny Givens should recuse herself from sitting on
- the board and someone else should fulfill her role because she,
- is a biased individual who is not going to give me a fair hearing, especially she has had a hand in
- two of these alleged allegations coming from Karen Wheeler. One of those is the sign. She was scrutinizing
- my sign incredibly. She and the other whispering cabal, which is what I call them, Karen Wheeler, Penny
- Givens, Tree, Martin Lucas,
- There was another woman with frizzy gray hair. She was in one of those videos. Another guy, they were
- always whispering about me while I was cleaning up around the place and obviously was trying to conspire
- and come up with what they could do to bring me down because they are scared, especially after got 21%
- of the vote, which is very good for a first time primary candidate.
- You have five minutes remaining. Okay. So anyway, she scrutinized my sign, this sign right here. Okay.
- And said that it is not compliant with the disclaimer. I'm sorry, but this is compliant with the disclaimer.
- According to this
- And it is actually, this is more like. It's way bigger than, I don't know, it's like a 60. Now just
- an example. But this is the example. They have the same size one right here. By Joe.
- since they paid me. It says paid by Joe. Okay. It says paid by Joe. This is the new one. I see that.
- This is the old one. This was approved last election. I ran as a rival. Okay. And I put these stickers
- on their last election. The picture that I received
- It doesn't even say who took the picture as long as well as the videos. It didn't say anything about
- the videos. That's one thing. Okay, so back to these issues. All right. Penny should recuse herself
- or there should be an alternate. You have three minutes remaining. Okay.
- Penny should recuse herself. There needs to be a different alternate because she also too accosted me
- on the early voting day when I was telling voters that I am a practicing jurist at law, at law. I have
- filed into eight causes or filed into eight different cases
- Seven of those are my own cases, three of them gone to appellate court. I am a practicing jurist at
- law. You are looking at just a smattering of my files right here, my law books. Many more, twice this
- amount of law books are at home. Three times actually, I just brought some of them that are most relevant,
- because I'm working on filing for the appellate court right now that's due today. Okay.
- I am a practicing jurist at law. I never misrepresented myself. And Penny Givens stood there and told
- me every time I said that, she was gonna stand right next to me and she was going to tell those people
- that I was misrepresenting myself. When I told her what it said in Black's Law Dictionary, what a jurist
- is, a jurist is a person who knows where to find the law and knows
- how to find the case law that gives its finer detail, and that is what I am. I am a trained jurist at
- law, and I have been practicing. I have now over 6,000 hours as a pro se litigant, as a self counsel.
- I am here as my own counsel before you today. So it continues. Okay, so Karen Wheeler,
- wrote that you have one minute remaining. Okay, Karen Wheeler wrote that I had been that I had been
- talking with voters after leaving the voting
- That's true, I have many friends who I talked to and walked with after they left. There were also people
- who I missed who didn't go in and I wanted to make sure they knew who I was because I want them to vote
- for me in the fall and so I broke no violations. One of the video in there, another video in there according
- to shows that I am sweeping in the shoot area, yes,
- That was after a bunch of debris and grass after a rain had fallen. I also did some pruning, but that
- was before 8 a.m., before the polls opened. So there was no evidence in there of me running through
- the chute or doing anything like that. How much time? That's the expiration of your time. Okay, one
- more thing I want to say is that
- I have witnesses that I wish to bring forward and they're going to need some time here. I would like
- to confront Karen Wheeler. I would like to confront Tree Martin Lucas because she took at least one
- of the videos and Karen Wheeler wrote these statements and so I want to ask her where
- She got her information, and I want to ask who took the, and talk to whoever took this picture of my
- sign. I need to be able to be allowed to confront my accusers or speak with them so we can get more
- clear information about what is being alleged here. Mr. Davis, just a second, please. You may not completely
- understand what we're doing here today, and I don't understand that.
- What we're doing today is determining whether or not there is cause for us to push this along to a different
- level of people that work on it. We are not in a position to make a finding of guilt nor innocence of
- any of this, nor are we in a position to determine whether some fines or something would happen. We
- are not in that position. We are not in a position to have to cross-examine witnesses here. That was
- part of what we talked about earlier.
- If I may Mr. Chair. Mr. Davis in the procedures adopted it says that evidence or argument presented
- by the party should be directed at the election board and not other parties present at the hearing.
- The procedures also afford a ten minute time frame for the candidate and complainant to offer evidence
- and argument so unless the board would like to afford additional time to Mr. Davis as I think that is
- what he is requesting
- the presentation of witnesses would have been within that 10 minutes presentation. Go ahead and ask
- the question when the date and time. I'm assuming Mr. Davis signed for the paperwork that was served.
- I would have to check with the legal office if we got the green card back on the certified mailing,
- but I do believe that we did. I mailed the letter on the 15th.
- I raised that because. May the letter does specifically state that the hearings at June 4th, 2026 beginning
- at 130 that that was exactly my point. Mr Davis in terms of. No one is trying to impede your right to
- bring evidence, call witnesses or anything like that, but we all had notice that the meeting started
- at 130 today. And so.
- you took time, you were not here when the resolution was read. Had you come when the notice was given,
- you would have heard the rules, so to speak, for today's hearing. So to kind of hold that over us feels
- a little disingenuous to me.
- Yeah, I think that's fair. May I interject though? I tried this morning to get a hold of the agenda
- from County Legal. They directed me to Kylie Ferris. I went to Kylie and I asked her for the agenda
- and she directed me back to Molly and
- And so I, without having the agenda, I had no idea when my presentation would be. If this were, I assume
- this was a standard election board meeting and there would be business to take care of. I didn't understand
- that this is, it sounds like it's a special election board meeting. Then it's not a regular election
- board meeting.
- This is our regular meeting. This is our regular meeting. Okay. And we have and we voted at our meeting
- when we certified the election results was at the time to just do the hearings today at the regular
- meeting. So that was that has been May 15. Thank you that so May 15 that was made efficient. Okay, but
- that but that no agenda was produced at that time.
- I, as a presenter, had no idea about how the proceedings would be. I'm trying to understand. I wish
- this morning to understand more fully how long this hearing would be because I knew that I would need
- a substantial amount of time, not just 10 minutes, because this is very complicated. I am being accused
- of potential
- potential crimes, misdemeanors, felonies, fines, this is serious. And it seems like this is just a bunch
- of trumped up stuff to kind of stop my current campaigning, honestly.
- But I, again, I need, I ask kindly for some more time so that I can speak with Karen Wheeler and Penny
- Martin Lucas. And actually Penny Givens, I would like to speak with Penny Givens as well. You're running
- all around with, I made it very plain a moment ago.
- Our job today is to determine whether or not we believe there's a substantial reason for us to push
- this along to either the state police or the attorney excuse me the prosecutor and to some extent maybe
- the attorney the state attorney general to determine whether or not election law violation occurred.
- It's sweeping the sidewalk maybe a little
- obtuse to what normally happens, sure, but it's not illegal. However, if indeed there were signs that
- don't meet the requirement for the signs, that, sir, is illegal. And our job is to determine whether
- or not we want to send this along for an investigation by those who are professional investigators.
- I taught sixth grade. I'm well, I guess it was an investigator occasion that way, but I'm not a professional
- investigator. OK, go ahead. If I may, Mr. Chair, for clarity, today's hearings being held pursuant to
- Indiana Code 365 31, which is the investigation of election law violations. That code section says that
- if a county election board determines there's substantial reason to believe an election law violation
- has occurred, it shall make an investigation.
- That's what you voted to do at the last hearing. In the judgment of the board, after affording due notice
- and opportunity for a hearing, a person has engaged or is about to engage in an act or practice that
- constitutes or will constitute a violation of a provision of this title, that title being the election
- code, or a rule or order issued under this title, the board shall take the action it considers appropriate
- under the circumstances, including referring the matter to the attorney general or the appropriate
- prosecuting attorney. I'm reading that statute because I don't
- It allows you to refer to the prosecutor or the attorney general or to law enforcement. But it says
- whatever board action the board thinks is appropriate. Options are to say there's nothing here and it's
- dead. Or we think there might be something here and we want to run it up the flagpole, as it were, to
- people who make these decisions on a professional basis. Is that where we are? Those would be the options
- of the board. That makes sense to you.
- Mr. Chair, if I may go ahead with a couple of things, Mr. Davis, typically it is the election supervisor
- does present make up the agenda for the board. She will reach out to each board member to say this is
- what I have. And it follows a standard order calling to order old business, new business, things like
- that. Typically, that does happen that the agenda this for this meeting was not made.
- by the election supervisor. We learned two days ago, two days yesterday. We were waiting. I asked Kylie,
- I said, I don't see an agenda. I had checked my email. I didn't see an agenda. And I said, can you just
- do the standard one? But after our office closed it for we received the agenda for
- today's meeting, so you're not receiving notice has nothing to do with my office because the election
- supervisor did not. My second thing to you, the meeting started at 1.30 today. You were served notice.
- We went over the rules of the road, so to speak, at 1.30. Had you been here as we were adopting the
- resolution for that, we probably could have negotiated
- more time for you. You get 10 minutes for each complaint and there's two complaints today. We could
- have negotiated if you were like, I can't do it in 10 minutes for each case. I need 15. Do you understand
- what I'm saying? We could have negotiated. You were not here. We call the meeting to order. We had no
- idea even if you were coming because you were not in the audience or close by, we ended up being told that
- it appeared you were coming in the front door. So we wanted to work with you. You were not here at 1.30
- to work with us. Does that make sense to you? I'm very sorry. I had trouble printing over at the mill
- and I got here as soon as I could. I had no telephone contact to reach out to anyone to announce my
- late arrival. I'm very sorry. We still can negotiate this. It's not too late to negotiate for more time.
- It sounded like you said there were two counts or charges or complaints and so there's 10 minutes. I
- have 10 minutes for each complaint. That is correct. This is the first one. This is the first one. Which
- I'm sorry. That was not
- Explain to me. Earlier in the proceeding we called the hearing to order for the complaint filed by Ms.
- Wheeler and that is the hearing that we're currently in. Once this hearing closes the board will determine
- how to resolve that complaint and then open the hearing on the second complaint by Ms. McGarry. I would
- like to make a motion
- that we continue this hearing to one week from now so that these rules have some time to be applied
- and also to such that I could submit a written documentation
- to support my arguments, especially now that I know that I need to, I have to prepare two cases. One
- case against the first complaint and now another case against the second complaint. It seems like it
- would be appropriate for me to be able to have at least one week to be able to work on each individual
- complaint. There's nothing in the original
- a letter that says that I'm going to be presenting my argument against two complaints individually.
- It's looked as if everything was just going to be lobbed together. This must have happened before. Aren't
- there procedures or policies that could have been shared with me? Mr. Chair, may I?
- request that we get the proof of service. I can ask my office to bring it up. I do believe that we received
- proof of service back on May 21st. But if you give me a few seconds, I can run down and get it. That
- would be great because so we will recess until you can get back up here with it.
- I have in front of me the signed, I'm sorry, I'm gonna call us back, I'm so sorry, I should do it first.
- I have in front of me the signed receipt for the certified mail with this copy dated 5-21-26. And as
- I'm looking through it, it's the exact same, can you see it ma'am? It's the exact same thing that we
- have in front of us.
- So it would appear, sir, that you were given this and signed for it, including the code, the Indiana
- code on May 21st. So, Mr. Chair, my point in that is that if he signed for that on May 21st, do you
- remember that that you signed? Yes, I do. But I was not I did not receive any evidence at that time.
- I only received the allegations.
- The evidence that I received came from, whoops, from Molly just here. Okay, again, I think you're confusing
- this as a hearing versus a court proceeding. We're having a hearing to decide if we believe there is
- sufficient cause
- evidence, and I hate to use the term in this, but sufficient reason for us to push these along to the
- organizations that make these decisions. So that's where we are. So that's why we don't need, the people
- that make the complaint get to speak, you get to speak, we make that in a succinct 10 minutes issue,
- which I think is plenty of time,
- For this if we were in a court of law and you needed three days that's between you and the lawyers and
- the judge That's not where we are
- Mr. Chair, and if I may for clarity, the letter sent to Mr. Davis does advise that there were videos.
- It says additionally there are videos provided to the election board along with the complaint. Please
- let County Legal know how you would like to receive a copy of these videos. The videos can either be
- emailed to you and or provided on a flash drive. On May 27th I had not heard from Mr. Davis so I did
- provide an email copy of the videos and then Mr. Davis did subsequently stop into the legal department
- and I provided him a jump drive or a flash drive.
- So for me, Mr. Davis, there was more than sufficient opportunity for you to reach out to an attorney
- if you wanted representation to, it's clear in the letter to me that you, that there were two complaints
- because parties are named in the letter. And so between May 21st, when you signed for it up to one o'clock today,
- You had that opportunity if you wanted to make clear to the board. Or to the county attorney that you
- required additional time, you were expecting you anticipated. And none of that happened prior to so.
- Our time is as valuable as your time. He started this meeting on time, all the meeting to order.
- resolution was read and accepted, and you would have been here to negotiate more time. I don't think
- we're unreasonable. I think if you said 10 minutes is not enough, I need 15. I think that that was a
- discussion, but that discussion would have happened at 130. Does that make sense to you? Given the fact
- that I wasn't presented, I also just learned that
- Karen Wheeler also, she already presented her evidence alleging that I was in violation. And so I have
- not heard that. I have not been able to ask her of any questions. Obviously, it's very important that.
- We are not cross-examining, number one. Number two, since she was the one with the complaint,
- Her 10 minutes came to file at first. Had you been in here, you would have been able to listen to her
- complaint. That's my point. I'm sorry, sir, this Poor, Poor Me stuff is not wearing well with me. I
- appreciate what's happening here, but I'm like, everybody in here was here at 1.30. You chose not to
- be for whatever reason.
- I go back to some people saying, on time is 10 minutes late. And you make your own choice with that.
- But truthfully to me, you're not helping your case right now. You're just not. I mean, our decision
- is whether or not we believe there's sufficient reason to believe that a violation of state, I guess
- we wouldn't get to federal law, state election code was committed.
- I have different feelings personally on some of these will do this as a board. A required disclaimer,
- state law. I mean, it's we don't have an option with that. If it's not there, it's not there. OK,
- I mean, and the fact that some guy printed it said this is the legal thing. If it's not legal,
- it's not legal. And Mr. So ahead.
- Mr. Chair, I want to be clear that I understood at the beginning that if we have questions for him,
- that does not count against his 10 minutes. We could now ask questions and he could respond, and that
- would not be against 10 minutes. That's correct. Go ahead, if you have a question, ask that.
- I don't want to belabor some of these, but for the instance where you've clearly brought saying that
- you were doing landscaping, number one, I'm hopeful that you know that my office is not responsible
- for the groundskeeping of Election Central. But number two, I checked with my election supervisor during
- the recess to confirm. We never received a complaint that there was any kind of impediment to voters accessing
- election central in the early voting site we never received a complaint that you couldn't get into the
- door as you have alluded to in another public meeting I was there every day more than once some days
- to and I never had an impediment getting into the building I never received a complaint my office never
- received a complaint and I want to ask you directly did you make a complaint to someone about the landscaping
- prior to utilizing the evidence you've
- presented to us today. I'm sorry. Your question was, did you? I never received a complaint. I am not
- aware of anyone in my office ever receiving a complaint that there were landscaping issues because I
- could have made a call to the people that are responsible for the grounds keeping. I never received
- a complaint. I'm asking, did you make a complaint to anyone? Because as you know, I take very seriously, um,
- your inference that voters had impediment issues getting into and accessing the early voting site? Did
- you make a complaint to anyone because I did not get one? Yes, I wouldn't call it a complaint. I addressed
- the landscaping concerns with Richard Kreider, who is in charge of
- you know, fleet and the buildings for the county, and also spoke with the young gentleman who takes
- care of the landscape there. Typically, I just spoke with Richard Kreider yesterday again about this,
- and at that time, normally,
- The county Richard has nature's way to ongoing landscape maintenance at all but because of the construction
- that had taken place and there was the New hardscaping. I don't know if you've seen the parking lot.
- It looks awesome I mean I cleaned up so much gravel and debris there where it was unsafe in the for
- the handicapped parking but but
- I worked with the young gentleman who did the mowing and I helped him sweep back the grass clippings
- and after the storms brought down branches and they were hanging into the way. Then I asked the young
- gentleman again if he could prune that and then Richard came by and he snapped off a branch to get it
- out of the way.
- And but he snapped it off. He didn't cut it. So I told him that I would come back and Make a clean cut
- with my loppers so that the branch would heal You know instead of having a splintered end and so then
- that next morning I did come back at about 740 and I pruned out those
- a few dead branches and things like that, and then was sweeping up then. So I just wanted to, you know,
- like that was the, I just bring this up because I didn't feel that it was necessary to contact your
- office to maintain the area around the building.
- that's not your responsibility. I contacted Richard Kreider directly. He's the man who sends out the
- directives then. That's the reason why. And so I bring this up because in one of the videos that was
- presented,
- which alleges that I was in the shoot, you know, electioneering, I'm clearly just walking with my broom
- and sweeping, and I wanted to show why I had these tools with me all the time, trying to make it safe.
- Molly, does the Indiana code about electioneering inside the shoot say a candidate is not allowed to
- be inside the shoot
- Unless they are cleaning the side. And my point being, if it says she can't be in there, doesn't see
- it says can't be in there in the story. You can't be in there. You can't be in there. The the law. That's
- why I'm asking the law itself. I'm asking our attorney. There are three separate statutes that I think
- are applicable to the shoot.
- The first one is Indiana Code 314.316, which does involve electioneering within 50 feet of the polls.
- Electioneering, by statute, means a verbal statement displaying a written statement or indicating support
- or opposition to a candidate, political party, or public question appearing on the ballot or wearing
- or displaying an article of clothing, sign, button, or placard that states the candidate's name. And
- then it lists out what constitutes electioneering.
- and it says a person who knowingly does any electioneering on election day within the polls or the shoot
- before election day within the office of the circuit court clerk or satellite office of the court fifty
- feet of the entrance to the office uh... except for a voter who is and then it lists out exceptions
- and that would be a class eight misdemeanor so no you cannot electioneer in the shoot however there
- are two other separate statutes that pertain to
- presence in the shoot. So Indiana code 314 315 is entitled unauthorized person entering into or remaining
- near the polls. A person not authorized by this title who recklessly enters the polls enters within
- the railing leading from the challenge window or door to the entrance of the polls without having been
- passed by the challengers or having been sworn in or remains within the polls or within the shoot in
- violation of 311 815 311 816 commits a class C
- infraction and then there's language on how it gets enhanced to a misdemeanor. Indiana code 311816 is
- entitled persons allowed in and around poll shoots. A person may not remain within a distance equal
- to the length of the shoot as defined by Indiana code of the entrance of the polls except for the purpose
- of offering to vote. And so there are statutes that pertain to electioneering in the shoot but there
- are separate statutes that pertain to presence in the shoot alone.
- So Mr. Chair, my point being as the board may recall, Mr. Crider was coming to regular election board
- meetings and offering updates for what was going on with respect to getting election central ready for
- early voting. He was very thorough, very competent, and I never once recall his saying that there were
- landscaping issues and grounds keeping issues that would hinder a voter's ability to access again.
- I was there every day, sometimes more than once per day, and I did not observe anything like that. It
- also concerns me that anyone would take it upon themselves, rather than report the concern, would take
- it upon themselves, because that would bring liability. They could have gotten hurt, and then the county
- would have been liable for them getting hurt on county property.
- That's my point about that. And I know that you want to move on and I have. Well, Kylie, did you get
- our early voting workers? Let's just nicely say I've been around the sun a few times. Did they any of
- them give you any complaints about it being difficult to get into work? No, zero. No. OK. I would like
- to add that's because I took care of business.
- Point noted. Yes, ma'am. At this point, I would like just that we close the hearing on this complaint
- and hold our board deliberation so that we. I can complain. I would like to make a motion. No, sorry, sorry.
- I don't like to be in exclusive clubs very often with this is an exclusive club of three right now.
- I would, I'll second that, that we move, we discuss and then decide where to go. Ashley, would you call
- the roll since this is what we're doing, please? Thank you. Okay. Ashley, go ahead.
- Nicole Brown? Yes. Danny Shields? Yes. Penny Gibbs? Yes. So again, to clarify what we're doing, we decide
- whether or not we believe there is sufficient evidence that a law may have been violated and should
- we move it to an investigative body to make a decision as to whether or not they think charges should be filed.
- Is that a succinct enough? I think I can simplify looking at IC 365 31. The board can one take no action
- on the complaint if you believe that in this case Miss Wheeler did not prove her allegations. You could
- forward it to the prosecutor who then inevitably will forward it to the state police, I believe. So
- you could just say forward it to the prosecutor or you could.
- Admonish issue an admonishment to the candidate and do nothing further. The statute is really broad
- in the language. It says take the action to the board considers appropriate under the circumstances.
- Might I suggest we do? I was thinking so, yeah, that was my thought was one at a time. I mean, so do
- you want me to read the first one? Well, you know,
- Do you have any thoughts before we go into that, ma'am? I'll say them until we get to each other. Okay.
- Okay. But we've all got them. So in my belief, in my view, we do have enough to move on with the disclaimer
- on the signs, just because I don't think it meets the code.
- I'm sorry. The disclaimer on the signs. I don't believe I question whether it meets the code. And I
- would like someone who someone else to make that determination. Someone who makes that on their own.
- Jeremy White Rabbit said that you could you could talk to him. Jeremy White Rabbit does not make this
- decision. The prosecutor or the state police will make this decision.
- You may be a wonderful person. I have no idea. It's not your turn to talk, sir. I would especially like
- for it to be pointed out that both sides of a sign must have that disclaimer if they are presented to
- the public. And as I look at the sign at the table there right now that says write in Joe Davis, there's
- no disclaimer on the side that says write in Joe Davis.
- So I hope that they, excuse me, sir, I'm speaking. I would like to put it on record that we asked that
- whoever reviews this, review that specific sign for its. So is that, well, okay. When we've had sign
- complaints,
- previous incarnations of the election board have had signed complaints. The candidate was given
- an opportunity to put the disclaimer on there. It appears to me that that's what he is saying that he
- did. Can you turn your sign around? Her point is that it's not on both sides. I see this. Can you turn
- it around so we can see if you put it on both sides? Can we see the backside of that sign, please?
- This sign, I removed the old stickers because of the rain was on there. I just put new stickers, new
- stickers and new, see how this is updated? This is an example of what we're asking you to see is the
- backside of this. I didn't want to cover this up so that you can see what it looked like before.
- That's all. This is a new, this sign wasn't at early. This was not, okay, but. This is an example. I
- brought this in as an example.
- So your contention is that both sides of any sign that was at Election Central had this on each side?
- If it was a sign that was going to be visible from both the front and the back, yes, I did. I did do
- both sides. I only brought this today as an example of what it looked like. But all my other signs,
- after all the rain, the paper came off and I slowly replaced
- started to replace them. Now is that the one under the QR code that says paid for by Joe? Yes. Okay
- now for me and I'm a woman getting older by the day the paid for by Joe does not appear to be something
- that would stand out so that you could distinguish it you have to be able to to read that and so me
- walking by that sign to go in and vote
- I would not be clear that it was paid for by Joe. This is very visible. But do you see my point under
- your QR code? Yes, but it is much larger than 12 point. The law says that it needs to be 12 point or
- it says that it can be seven point if there's high contrast between the background caller and the new
- caller. And I'm saying I don't see the high contrast.
- That's why I say I took both. I can show you, if you put this right next to the paid for by Joe, the
- font size is exactly the same. I'm not disputing the font size. Well, what I'm trying to say is this
- is much larger font technically than what the state law requires. If you look at other candidate signs, they're
- paid for by the committee to elect whatever it's very very small very small. The thing is nobody filed
- a complaint against their side so that's that's a point that is so. But also election law says that
- the contrast has to occur. If I may
- Yes, board. The hearing was closed at this point. So this is board deliberation. So I don't know if
- you're right. Thank you. Opening the reopening the hearing minutes ago. Sorry. You said this five minutes
- ago. Throw throw something at me if you need to. Well, then my my deliberation for the board in the
- same way you could not put Navy blue black, a black background, because who would be able
- to differentiate or distinguish that, then I am concurring that there is at least some evidence that
- the required, the statute for the required disclaimer have not been met. I concur. I suggest that we
- forward that for. Okay, are we doing just number one right now? Yes. So do we have a motion that we,
- I think you can simplify it and do one motion and just identify that you would like to forward the complaint
- to the prosecutor and numbers one, three. OK, fine. That works. I think it's technically one complaint.
- She's just subcategories in a sub. OK, so numbers one, two, three. OK, so going forward and it's either
- yes or no. OK, they decide. You mean on all four of them? I'm perfectly fine doing it with just doing
- all four at once.
- And so a motion would be. If should it go to the prosecutor or does this go to the state police if we're
- going to move it forward? I think you could make a motion to for the complaint for further investigation
- to the prosecutor and then if the prosecutor's office wishes to send it to the state police, which I
- believe they will, that would be their decision. Moved.
- Any other discussion? I don't know if you caught that, Ashley, but the clerk seconded it. Her mic didn't
- light up. That's the only reason I said that. So yeah, Ashley, would you call the roll? OK, let me make
- sure what we're voting on. We are voting to send the complaint to the prosecutor's office to determine
- whether or not the prosecutor wants to send it on to the appropriate authority, most likely the state police.
- Yes, that would be. That's what a motion is. OK, now, Ashley, please. Nicole Brown. Yes. Danny Shields.
- Yes. Penny Giddens. Yes. So now we will open. Second one with. Some of Gary. Oh, yeah, so we're going to let.
- So the hearing regarding the complaint for Ms. McGarry is now open by the chair. We received an email
- to summarize this complaint an email correspondence was received I'm trying to look up the date but
- an email correspondence was provided
- a written note by Ms. McGarry and the note indicates that Ms. McGarry came to vote on April 30th about
- 1.15 p.m. and she had walked from the handicapped space in the lot and was approached as I reached the
- corner of the building. I was approached by candidate for clerk Joe Davis who talked quickly and at
- length and I tried to continue walking
- I'm sorry, Ms. McGarry, I'm having difficulty reading your handwriting and that's a total me issue.
- Would you like me to do that? I made a living reading this kind of handwriting. I mean, I don't even
- know if you want to read the complaint. In essence, we received the complaint. The board has received
- the copy of the complaint. Mr. Davis has received a copy of the complaint and the complaint details
- Ms. McGarry's interaction with Mr. Davis. Unless you have
- questions on that summary, procedurally we can move to having the complainant offer testimony. I think
- that's a great idea. Before I administer an oath, Ms. McGarry, is it easier for you to offer testimony
- from there without standing at the podium? Well, we're going to need you to pick it up on mic, but I
- can make this easier. Look, it's moving. OK, Ms. McGarry,
- Do you swear or affirm that the testimony you're about to provide to the board will be truthful? Yes,
- I do. So I'm not. I mean. Do you want me to repeat what I wrote? I don't know necessarily repeating
- it is needed. I just. Since you've told us in your own words, what happened? Would you just?
- I hate to elaborate a little bit for us. I would be glad to. He did not. He approached me after I got
- out of my car. I parked in the handicapped. This is prior to voting prior to voting. Thank you and and
- he. I felt like he'd latched himself onto me was telling me his background and
- telling me a lot of terrible things about the clerk's office and why it needed new blood and so forth.
- And I kept saying, I don't want to talk to you. But he followed me around the corner toward the entrance
- to the building. And I finally somehow got disconnected.
- And he immediately went over to a tall man standing there and started to talk to him. And that man turned
- his back to him. And he went to a shorter man in a little polo shirt and started talking to him. So
- he was talking to him when I walked into the building. As soon as I walked into the building, I made
- a complaint because I felt
- I felt it was inappropriate to be on my way. I think she called it the shoot. And being approached so
- insistently by a candidate.
- After I voted, and I was told a lot of people were complaining, they weren't sure what they could do
- about it. But I voted, and before I left, she asked if I would mind writing a statement. And the statement,
- as was read, I was voting at the end of early voting, so a lot of your conversation was
- what was going on at the beginning. But when I drove, when I left the building after writing my statement,
- got in my car and drove to the exit to the street, he was still talking to the same short man in the
- polo shirt. Clearly the man wanted him to talk to him.
- I still felt it's right outside the steps to the building. And saying the things to this man that he
- was saying to me, it was definitely electioneering. Are you asserting it was inside the shoot area?
- Do you do you remember seeing where the shoot was marked off? The shoot was not marked off as far as
- I could tell. But this was
- This was within two feet of the steps into the building. Do you feel intimidated by Mr. Davis?
- Very much. I felt trapped. I'm a regular voter. I used to be a poll worker.
- This was just something I had never seen or experienced before. May I just clarify two feet from you?
- You left your car. You walked toward the east entrance of Election Central. Yes. Two feet of the door
- or two feet from the curb.
- Do you see what I'm saying? He approached me in the park while I was still beside the parking lot and
- walked with me till the point where I turned the corner of the building to go up the steps. Turn the
- corner of the building. So like I said, the chute was not marked, but
- So I don't know where the shoot was or wasn't. Well, unless it was raining, had rained up the marks,
- then the shoot was marked. Correct. Every day. So it may have been, that would indicate to me that probably
- it was for what we would consider the shoot area. Where did the shoot start? 50 feet from the door.
- Basically, when you came out of... Oh, he was talking to me well within 50 feet of the door. So because
- the candidates...
- are outside of the 50 feet. Yes. So you're saying that when he was speaking with you, you had passed
- all of the other candidates running for office. I didn't see any other candidates running for office.
- The day that you had the day that you came, there were no other candidates. And I didn't see any other
- signs. But I came from the parking lot. Signs may have been along the street. I don't know. They both
- wait. But the
- So the signs would. So you're saying I didn't see any signs. I didn't see any people. Except him,
- except him. And so for me, I'm trying to figure out how close she was to the door at the time. And it
- sounds to me like you're saying you were closer to the door than not. If he's saying 50 feet is the
- shoot, I was well within 50 feet. The shoot started
- Kylie, correct me. Roughly. 10 or 12 feet from the actual door to the building. Because we had that
- space that that inner space OK, so it would have been 50 feet from the door. I would say it was probably
- 10 feet from the edge of the curb to where that 50 foot line would have started. But let's also be clear
- there were some signs that we were authorized to have there. The directional signs correct?
- Mm hmm. And that had been a whole thing where it was with this. There was to the to the left. I don't
- know how to describe it. It looked like a flower cart or something. OK, so were you were you closer
- to the door than the flower cart? Because I remember so closer to the door than the flower cart would
- be within the 50 feet. We all remember. Remember the flower. A blonde lady
- by the flower cart. I don't know who she was. We've got a timer. We've done our 10 minutes, correct?
- Okay, all right. No. We haven't? Okay, you started. Yeah, I started the timer. Sorry. That's timing.
- That's climbing up. I do have another question for Ms. McGarry, but also thank you for in the past working
- as a poll worker. It's appreciated by all of us, I'm sure. Did you feel like
- Mr. Davis impeded you from actually even exiting your vehicle. No, he was. He came toward me after I
- got out of my car. But that was the handicapped spaces were certainly not within what you're calling
- the correct. Yeah.
- I'm more concerned about the potential for voter intimidation than I am for whether or not it was actually
- inside the shoot. I'm in agreement with you on that. Is there anything else you want to add? No, no.
- Then start to 10 start Mr Davis is 10 minutes. Sorry, go ahead. It's not started yet. Before we do that,
- Miss Ferris did provide testimony.
- during that hearing, so I'm just going to ask her, was the oath that you were previously administered
- in the first hearing, were you adhering to that oath during this hearing? Yes. All right. Mr. Davis,
- I'm going to ask you the same question. In the previous hearing, you were administered an oath to tell
- the truth. Do you swear or affirm you're going to adhere to that oath during this hearing as well? Yes,
- I do. Continue. I'll continue to swear to tell the truth. Thank you.
- And then we start before we start the timer. Do you still want the same five three one thirty second
- warning? Well, I would like to be able to address some questions toward Ms. McGarry, if I may.
- Because well, one thing you can cross examine here, you have 10 minutes there. We start the clock to
- state your side of the issue.
- There's a, well first, I think it's important that we first recognize which handicapped parking spots
- Ms. McGarry was at because there were handicapped parking spots that were on Morton Street itself, but
- there were some handicapped parking spots that were in the parking lot. So that might help clear up.
- We're not being accused
- being in the chute, electioneering in this complaint. So which parking spaces it happened to be really
- wouldn't seem to matter. The complaint is that you were annoying, which is not illegal, but were just
- somewhat intimidating to someone in the parking lot who was attempting to vote. Is that a correct assumption?
- and we understand that. That's not. Okay, all right. Are you ready? Mr Davis, do you want the 531 minute
- 32nd warning? When your timer starts, OK, all right, and then TSD is putting the timer up now. And it
- goes you may begin. OK,
- The 30th was Thursday. This was the last, this was a Thursday before voting would take place on the
- following Tuesday, so I'm very sorry, Ms. McGarry, if you felt intimidated by my approaching the voters
- on that day, but they, voters were coming fast and furious. It was, all I could do
- to look out and see which groups of people were walking from the parking lot area. And so I would go
- and approach those people. Hello, are you here to vote? May I please introduce myself? My name is Joe
- Davis and I'm running for County Clerk for the Circuit Court. As a practicing jurist at law, I filed
- into or been a witness in half of the courtrooms in the Justice Building. I filed into Owen and Greene
- County Courts.
- as I've filed through both online and in person, I've seen where the blind spots are. I've seen where
- small mistakes compound and then are quite burdensome to remove. So therefore, as clerk, I will put
- into place measures, checks, systems to guarantee greater accuracy in the filings. And I will also institute
- an outgoing email and text message to anyone
- who comes in to make a filing or make a payment and this simple message will say, hey, please double
- check your filing for accuracy because if we get everything taken care of, the courts, the clerk's office
- and life for the Monroe County voter will be
- much more efficient. That was basically my message and I whipped through that, whipped through that,
- whipped through that so many times. I know that I wasn't saying anything negative about the clerk's
- office. I was just saying that I was going to ensure greater accuracy and I told this over and over
- and over again to voters as they came through the entire period and at that time
- I had it down to like 20 seconds, 25 seconds, boom, boom, boom. And then I moved on to the next person.
- So I'm very sorry I was speaking so quickly at that time, but I was trying to get my message out and
- it was very simple. And then I would move on to the next person. So I'm very sorry. Some of those other
- people who I talked with, as you mentioned, the man in the polo shirt, he enjoyed to talk with me so
- much that we continued to talk.
- That doesn't mean that I was annoying to other people. Some people were very engaged, I'm so sorry,
- out of maybe speaking with 1,000 people, you were the one person who complained. I would like to know
- who asked you to make this statement. That would be very informative. Who asked you to make that statement?
- Sorry, you're not allowed to talk to her. And probably. Gee, you hope somebody would send that to you.
- Probably Tree Martin Lucas was the person near my flower cart.
- because at that time she was setting up her chair right next to it. So the blonde haired person was
- probably Tree. But at any rate, I approached many voters. I did not speak negatively about the clerk's
- office. I spoke only how I had a plan to improve it and that was my message. It was simple and that's
- why I got 21% of the vote.
- Again, I am so sorry that you were intimidated. I apologize for that. I have learned, this was my first
- primary, I have learned a lot about reading people. Eyes here or there? Okay, here or there? So I am
- very sorry if I was annoying. 999 people were not annoyed. Next year,
- Next election, I'm gonna make sure 100% of the people are not annoyed. And if they are annoyed, I'm
- going to personally apologize to them and try to figure out how I can serve them better. So how are
- we doing on time? You have five minutes and 41 seconds. Okay, all right. So I think that, I think that,
- complaint sure it is valid, but this seems like it was gathered up by this, I'm gonna call them the
- whisper cabal, which again was Penny Givens, Tree Martin Lucas, Karen Wheeler. All of these whispers were
- just looking for any excuse they could to make a complaint about me because I was a successful forward
- candidate. As we moved toward the end of the early voting period, I was catching up to Tree Martin Lucas.
- I was getting those votes. If early voting went on for another month, I don't know, maybe I would have
- caught up all the way. But essentially,
- Essentially, I am about service. That's why I run as a candidate, because I'm trying to improve the
- situation wherever I go, wherever I go. I know things can be improved. And I'm very sorry if sometimes
- toes get stepped on, but change happens when people act, when they make change.
- things don't change when people sit on their hands. So sometimes change makers feel threatening to people,
- but that's okay because it takes all of us to make the world go round. It takes all of us. So the question
- that one must ask is why, why am I being
- singled out in this manner, and that is because I believe, in my opinion, that this was supposed to
- be a redemption election tour for Tree Martin Lucas and Karen Wheeler. We all know about how four years
- ago there were 6,600 votes that were not included the last week's early voting, not included in the
- vote total.
- and Karen ended up resigning and Tree Martin Lucas resigned in support or I don't know. But this happened.
- And as a candidate, if I were elected, I was going to ask Tree and Karen whatever job they wanted, they
- could have it in my administration.
- because I felt bad for them for that mishap. It was an honest mistake, I feel. Some people said maybe
- it was nefarious, but I feel it was an honest mistake. And I believe that it's because I started to
- all of a sudden seem like a true candidate that
- the whispering cabal started to grow desperate and they started to speak amongst themselves, what can
- we do to bring this guy down? Like the election signs, I mean, the paid for by Joe was fine, the previous
- election, I don't know why it's being investigated again when it was okay before, but that's okay.
- All right, I am still an independent candidate collecting signatures to get on the ballot for the fall
- as clerk. And again, I'm going to speak to the voters. I'm gonna make sure that the early voting area
- is up to snuff and safe for everyone. And Richard Kreider is going to
- make sure that whatever my volunteer add or value add is going to fit in with the plan because they
- are so understaffed over there and they need more people than the county affords them and they need
- all the volunteer help they can get. So again, you know, I think what this comes down to is that this
- was supposed to be
- a redemption election for Tree Martin Lucas and Karen Wheeler and someone told me that Penny Givens
- was gonna get a good job in the office too. So that's all fine and dandy. I want everyone to do the
- best job they can but should I become the new clerk in the fall following the election, I'm gonna again
- ask Tree whatever job you want, Karen Wheeler, whatever job you want,
- because I know you'll do good work for the people because you have before and you will continue to do
- so. All hands on deck. Thank you, sir. I feel bad not asking this question. Indiana has a sore loser
- lock, correct?
- And if that's the case, if you ran for clerk in a primary and did not win, you are not allowed to file
- as an independent for that same office in that general election. People bring up the sword winner law.
- I've heard this, yeah, the sword winner law establishes, well, tries to eliminate independents from
- getting on the ballot. Or a loser law.
- It's called the sore loser laws. The name of it. I'm just some people refer to it as the sore winner
- law. Tomato tomato. That's not doesn't matter. You make your you go ahead. But I think you're going
- to end up not being happy with the result of how that whole thing works. All right. What's that? We
- need to move to deliberations, correct? Procedurally, is the board closing the hearing at this time?
- Yes, I move that we
- I'll close the hearing at this time. Second. You can voice vote. All in favor of closing the hearing?
- Aye. Sorry, Ashley, we'll come back to you later. So if we are closed, I'm just going to quote the four
- words directly from Mr. Davis. I agree.
- As soon as we're finished with deliberation, I would be happy to make a motion. Okay. My question, and
- this is the legal thing, okay. Is there a reasonably solid line or is it wavy and curvy between being
- annoying and being intimidating and threatening?
- Follow where I'm going. I mean, I understand the question is one thing. Threatening people or intimidating
- them is something else. I'm going to try to look up the voter making sense to you guys. Whether or not
- there was interference with somebody trying to get into to get into vote. I don't. Yeah, I don't disagree with you.
- I see that. And this may be a thing that life experiences for you guys and me are different here. So
- that maybe I'm looking at it from a different point of view. I appreciate that. Yeah, I mean,
- I get that. While that's going on, may I ask Ms. Ferris one question? I think that I heard you say this,
- but I'm not 100% sure that you did have other that you had complaints from other
- voters about some of the behavior? Yeah, so there were multiple complaints that were made to our office.
- Actually, in fact, this one once we started getting more and more, I was requesting individuals to write
- them down. I do remember that Miss McGarry was brought into my office and I asked her to write this
- statement down on writing so that I could then send it onto the election board so we could continue
- making progress with this as after the first couple of conversations.
- behaviors and actions were not changing. May I address, may I address that response? I don't think that
- as much as you'd want. I don't think that's appropriate right now because we're in our deliberations.
- Again, this is that early exclusive club of three.
- It's one of those statutes that cross-references other statutes, so I promise I'm getting there, I think.
- I think it says a person who knowingly or intentionally intimidates, threatens, or coerces an individual
- for voting or attempting to vote, urging or aiding another individual to vote or attempt to vote or
- exercising any power or duty under this title commits voter intimidation. But then you have to
- Go and look what constitutes intimidates, threats, or coercion. Where I'm kind of arguing with myself
- right now is you might feel intimidating to someone while you yourself don't feel you are being that.
- But I am probably more inclined, since the prosecutor's going to look at the other ones anyway,
- She could look at this and say, hey, you guys are weird and throw it, or there's something here. I think
- she has a lot more experience with technology than I certainly do. Absolutely. I do think it's
- a fact-sensitive inquiry.
- I guess we would need a motion, yeah. I move that we forward Ms. McGarry's complaint to the prosecutor
- for further. Any other discussion? Ms. Ashley. Nicole Brown? Yes. Danny Shields? Yes. Penny Hiddens? Yes.
- I think now that we've made those motions that your office desk send this forward. I will forward the
- complaints to the prosecutor's office. However, I do have a procedural question. I will provide the
- complaints and any evidence that the board received from the complainants. Mr Davis did present evidence
- and he has had the exhibit that you presented. Are you OK if I take pictures of this and send it along?
- Or I don't know how to capture
- your exhibits here. I'm assuming you don't want to leave them here and I don't want you to either. So
- I would like to just take photos if the boards are okay with that and Mr. Davis is okay with
- that. Absolutely. Yeah, that's absolutely fine. I assume you're going to need those things. I will.
- I'll especially need the tools to continue to clean up for the early voting in the fall. All right.
- So I will I will work with Mr. Davis on getting photos to send to the prosecutor as well of the exhibits
- that he attached. And then I think that brings you back to the election board agenda. Which would be.
- Public comment. Is it appropriate for me to ask for a public comment that would be germane to what we've
- been working on in the sense? The fact is that we've
- had quite a meeting and people have to go back to work. Or do we have to take public comment at this
- time? Was it posted on the agenda? It was not posted on the agenda, and that is an error on my fault.
- On my part, we do normally have public comment at the election board meetings, but for clarity, the
- public comment would be not on. I understand. Pleasure of you board members.
- I'm fine knowing that people are limited to three minutes. Okay, three minutes. There's public comment
- for three minutes. Mr. Davis for clarity. Are you providing public comment at the current time? I'm sorry.
- Are you providing public comment? We moved on. We've closed all the hearings and we moved on to public
- comment. I'll move my stuff out of the way for public comment then. We were just trying to figure out
- if you were commenting or not, but it sounds like the floor is in what the public comment on on anything
- having to do with elections. Is that what we're? Yes. I mean, just anything in general.
- Is that what? Well, we'd like it to be election related. We have someone in line who would like to speak.
- I need to get the clock restarted. Restart the clock, please. Well, I could stop for a second. Don't
- start it yet. Am I supposed to sign something? We'll deal with that.
- Oh, I just wanted to make sure. I didn't want my time to get ticked away, because I'm still waiting
- to figure out what's happening here. I appreciate it. Cheryl Langdon, Monroe County taxpayer. This is
- all about how our elections are pretty polarized. We need to have a conversation in the US. An 18-year-old
- unarmed, alone Henry Novick,
- was attacked in England six months ago. His assailant's brother called 911 and made a baseless claim
- that Novak racially attacked him. When the police arrived, unarmed Henry was found dying of his stab
- wounds. Henry had said, I have been stabbed. The attending police officer gaslit the dying victim saying,
- I don't think so, mate.
- Henry received no medical attention until it was clear that he was dying and by that time it was too
- late. He was dying in handcuffs and was a victim of a racist attack. No one wants to admit this, but
- his attacker, a Sikh man, falsely accused Henry of a racist attack against him by Henry that night which
- misled police to treat unarmed Henry as an assailant rather than a victim.
- The left refused to acknowledge Henry's victimization that occurred twice. Why? Because the victim is
- white. The reason it's important to talk about the invasions that progressives created in European nations
- like the UK and the United States is because our nations' white citizens are being discriminated against
- for absolutely no reason.
- In August of 2022, Brittany Farr released an essay on the University of Chicago Law website, Fears of
- a Majority, Minority, Future Depreciating Value of Whiteness. Her essay failed to acknowledge the violence
- against innocent white people all over the world. And in the United States, law enforcement reports
- have also documented an increase in anti-white hate crimes during several recent reporting cycles, sometimes
- accounting
- for upwards 10 to 20 percent of reported race-based incidents. New York City's mayor, Mandani, continues
- to use racially-charged language against white citizens concerning tax increases, quote, richer and
- whiter neighborhoods, unquote. The mayor continues to use racially-charged language against white people
- in his administration. It's amazing to me how non-white and white leftists are allowed to be openly
- racist as long as it's against white people.
- This must stop. Innocent white people are being targeted, assaulted, and many times murdered for being
- white. The funding of hate groups by leftists has been exposed. It's not right-wing Republicans who
- are choosing hate. Conservatives are just responding to the radical terrorists and invaders' violence
- against white Christian people, both non-white
- and white leftist progressive politicians have been provoking race hate. We have been thrown to the
- wolves by our own countrymen. They have openly betrayed us, and I say shame on every Democrat. You have
- helped create a race religious war. You have put a target on us all. Thank you. Thank you. Any other?
- and I will make a motion to it. Oh, it's coming, okay. Go ahead, sir. Your three minutes will start.
- Whenever they put it up there. There it is. Your time is running. Three minutes. Three minutes. Okay.
- Can you please let me know one minute and 30 and then 30 seconds. Thank you.
- I would like to ask that the election board look into instituting more transparency with procedures
- like the one that we had today to make contact if there's an agenda that goes out that it's sent to
- the person who has to come before the hearing body. That these things are done days in advance so that
- one can prepare.
- had I known that there was going to be just like lickety-split limitations on time placed today, then
- I would have been preparing a presentation or argument that would be totally different from what I did
- work toward because I didn't know any of the rules.
- two complaints submitted to me at one time. It seemed like I was to address them both, but it never
- said that I was to address them individually, that each one would have 10 minutes. It was never explained
- that I couldn't speak to the other witnesses or ask any about the evidence that was being submitted,
- who took it, why, and you know,
- sure we're gonna move on to the prosecutor and I welcome this opportunity because then we'll go forward
- and we'll hammer things out which will improve the system. That's the way it's gonna work out and I'm
- gonna be vindicated. It's gonna waste a lot of time for everyone involved but I will be vindicated and
- you will learn new procedures and hopefully in the future no one will be so
- rudely dealt with like I've been dealt with today. But that's okay. We all can improve. I know that
- every one of us in here tries to improve every day. So let's make this a civil environment and let's
- make it transparent. Let's give everyone the full disclosure possible. This will be the best for everyone.
- Thank you very much.
- Thank you. Prior to adjourning, um, the clerk brought to my attention that our next meeting is July
- 2nd and that the commissioners may not meet that day. If they did. Oh, I'm sorry. I thought you heard
- it. If the commissioners choose not to meet on July 2nd, uh, what would your pleasure be on us meeting
- it in the morning instead of later in the afternoon on that day?
- since this room should already be available. I don't. I believe there will be a commissioner meeting
- on July 2nd. They've canceled the June meetings, but July is still scheduled normally. We can follow
- through as to whether we actually need a meeting on that date being that close to today. At any
- As long as we give notice, we can cancel that meeting. We'll, we'll, we'll communicate that through
- your office. Okay. All right. Then I would entertain a motion to adjourn motion to adjourn those in
- favor. Aye. Aye. Opposed. Happy June.