Two vie for open Marion County clerk seat

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The two candidates for Marion County’s top election job said the office needs to get more active in helping voters understand the process.

Republican Andrew Harrison and Democrat Kate Sweeney Bell are the only two candidates running to succeed current Marion County Clerk Myla Eldridge, who is not seeking another term. Harrison works as a security consultant for Fortune 100 companies while Bell has served as Marion County Recorder of Deeds for the past eight years.

Harrison said he wants to use his security experience to identify any vulnerabilities in the clerk’s office and shore them up. He said he has met a number of voters who don’t trust the system in part because they don’t understand it. Harrison said he doesn’t believe false claims the 2020 election was stolen but the clerk’s office needs to do a better job of explaining to voters what it is doing and why. He said he recently sat in on a seminar that sought to help voters understand the basics of voting and would like to implement something similar on a countywide basis.

Bell said her top priority as clerk would be to increase voter access. She said she would hold events with students, senior groups, community events and anyone else interested in helping people sign up. On the topic of election security, Bell said isolated incidents of voter fraud do occur but widespread, systematic fraud is a myth. She said Marion County already has strong systems in place to prevent voter fraud and to remedy it when it does happen.

Both Harrison and Bell said they would not support Marion County switching to hand-marked paper ballots. Harrison said that would introduce another vulnerability into the election system while Bell said Marion County’s current electronic voting machines already produce a paper record of each voter’s choices.

Early voting is currently underway and continues through Nov. 7. Election Day is Nov. 8.