Forget relationship status. Porter County Facebook users can now tout their civic engagement status by changing their profile to “I voted.”
Known in Facebook parlance as a ring, users can pick from two different options that will overlay their photos. Porter County Elections & Registration Assistant Director Tara Graf said the platform uses location tracking to make the rings available to Porter County residents.
“Because we have a professional account we submitted a ring,” she said. The rings will remain as photo overlays for FB users for two weeks after the primary on May 7. Another set will be available in the lead-up to the general election.
To add the ring go to your FB profile picture, select “add a ring,” and choose from those available. It’s just the latest effort by the Porter County Elections & Registration Office to build civic pride in the voting process.
Porter County Clerk Jessica Bailey told the Porter County Election Board Thursday afternoon that the sticker contest calling on the county’s fifth graders to design the general election “I voted” stickers is going well. “It’s pretty exciting to see all the designs the little ones are coming up with,” she said.
Bailey said early voting has been slow not only in Porter County but across the state. “For some reason, nobody’s getting into it,” she said. Graf said 140 voters at eight locations such as nursing homes are one exception to the dearth of early voters. They have participated in travel boards, where election officials bring voting to the homebound.
In other business, Valparaiso City Council President Robert Cotton, D-2nd, during a hearing for delinquent campaign finance reports, said he was at the board’s mercy regarding his $50 fine but felt the board could be more timely in contacting candidates when corrections are necessary to their reports. “I have never been this late in all my time,” he said.
Cotton said that when he received an email months after he handed in his report he assumed it wasn’t anything important.
“Did you file online?” asked Election Board Member Jeff Chidester.
“I think it’s a valid question, because had you done it online over the weekend you could have saved yourself some days,” added Bailey of the $10 per day fine that Cotton accrued for his late amendment. Cotton said he was a creature of habit who preferred to hand in his reports filled out by hand and that a call initially would have been nice to let him know his report needed correction.
“We don’t have the staff or the time to call everyone,” Bailey said. “We do enough hand-holding as it is.”
As a continuation of its crackdown on delinquent campaign finance reports and subsequent unpaid fines, the board is finalizing parameters for a collection agency to begin pursuing unpaid fees on its behalf.
Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
