Pending resignation of Vanderburgh elections chief leaves one big question

EVANSVILLE — Who’s going to run November’s election for Vanderburgh County? Six months before the big day, no one seems to have any idea.

Supervising elections is the charge of the county clerk — but current clerk Carla Hayden plans to resign in August, with tentative plans to walk away effective Aug. 29. Hayden, a Republican elected official, isn't allowed by law to seek a third four-year term, so she had planned all along to leave at the end of her second term in January.

But Hayden's early departure would force Vanderburgh County — the Vanderburgh County Republican Party, actually — to scramble to find a caretaker replacement with a presidential election looming weeks away. That, and open seat elections for governor of Indiana, 8th District congressman and scores of other state and local races.

More: Citing threats, Vanderburgh elections supervisor will leave

The entire election enterprise will involve hundreds of poll workers, still-relatively new state-mandated "voter-verified paper audit trail" technology and perhaps as many as 80,000 voters.

Republicans at this point are hoping Hayden will change her mind — although she said Monday that's not going to happen. Still, Hayden hasn't officially notified GOP Chairman Mike Duckworth of her pending resignation.

"We're not going to start that process (to seek out and caucus in a temporary replacement) until we get an official word — and she may end up not doing it," Duckworth said on Monday.

More: Tiny, 'relentless' group is why she's leaving, Vanderburgh elections chief says

Duckworth is in no hurry, he said, holding out hope that Hayden will reverse course.

"I would hope that she would want to finish her term here in the middle of a presidential (election) and gubernatorial and (county) commissioner race," the Republican chairman said. "She's got all the experience of doing that."

The GOP already has a candidate to succeed Hayden in the Nov. 5 general election — County Treasurer Dottie Thomas, the party's vice chair. But Thomas doesn't want to be caucused into the office before the election, saying she has too many commitments to fulfill as treasurer. Democrats don't have a candidate and likely will not seek one before the July 3 deadline to fill vacancies, so Thomas is probably the next clerk.

But that's next year. This year, for the period between Hayden's resignation and the election? Well, Duckworth has sounded out former Clerk Marsha Abell, a Republican who served in the office from 1997 until 2005.

Abell said she's willing, but not particularly eager.

"I did tell Mike Duckworth that if the need arises, I would do it," Abell said.

"I don’t really want to do it. I’m retired and playing golf and enjoying my life. But it needs somebody who has done it before, and it doesn’t become a complete zoo, and that’s the only reason I would do it."

Hayden was chief deputy clerk for almost the entirety of Abell's two terms in office. The two know each other's capabilities.

"I really hope (Hayden) has second thoughts about it and stays," Abell said. "That’s really what needs to happen. We need to keep her in there, let her finish out her term and do that election."

But Hayden said Monday she is firmly set on her course, no matter what anyone says. Hayden believes she is giving the local GOP plenty of advance warning to find a replacement and plenty of time for that replacement to learn how to preside over a presidential election even with all the challenges.

Here's why Hayden is determined to resign

Hayden told the Courier & Press last month she can't stomach the notion of running another election that will involve former President Donald Trump after months of what she calls harassment by a tiny but "relentless" band of individuals demanding confidential voting records and threatening to come to polling places.

Hayden said the individuals acknowledge they are taking cues from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a Trump supporter. Lindell has encouraged people to make public records requests for voting data known as a "cast vote record." The aim is to demonstrate voter fraud that they believe robbed Trump of victory in the 2020 presidential election.

Hayden said the persons pressing fraud concerns have talked of "coming to the polling places, causing a disturbance there."

"There’s no threats to kill me, no threats to blow up my car or anything like that — but they are relentless," she said.

"The type of things they talk about would be causing a disturbance. You can’t just stand around and observe people and harass people just because you think you’re making sure the process is secure. That’s the kind of things that they’re talking about doing, is staying at a polling place all day."

The cast vote record is not something that the clerk's version of Unisyn software can produce, Hayden told the Courier & Press. More importantly, it would disclose which specific candidates voters supported. That's confidential.

Hayden's chief deputy isn't in the mix

Hayden said she would be willing to support Marc Toone, her chief deputy, to succeed her temporarily or permanently.

"He’s got a wealth of information, a wealth of knowledge and everything, and I think that would probably be the smoother transition," Hayden said of Toone.

Toone said he had wanted to be considered as Hayden's successor, but he deferred to Thomas. Duckworth considered Thomas a better-known candidate, he said. Duckworth confirmed that assessment.

Toone wasn't interested in serving in the caretaker role for a few months. He'd like to continue working for the county, though.

On election day 2020, Toone recalled, he walked 17 miles between the Old National Events Plaza polling place and the election office, running ballots back and forth. He said he was the one who discovered that Democratic Party activist Janet Reed was sending illegally pre-marked mailings to voters ahead of the 2020 primary elections. Reed pleaded guilty in 2021 to one count of unauthorized absentee ballot.

If hard work and effectiveness count, Toone said, he should have a place in Vanderburgh County's election operation. But not as a caretaker.

"I won’t do it, because here’s the thing: If I let them caucus me in for (a few) months, it would only be to help them get through a presidential election, and then they’re going to kick me to the curb," Toone said.

What's going to happen in the end? Toone doesn't know any more than anyone else, he said.

"I would like to stay, but I can’t get an answer from anyone as to what my position would be and if there even is a position for me," he said.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Pending resignation of Vanderburgh elections chief leaves big question