To the editor:
As the Republican member of the county election board, I would like to publicly thank outgoing county clerk Brenda Woods. I have personally thanked Brenda for both her hard work and friendship during my time on this board.
Brenda is an exceptional person, not only as one of the nicest people I’ve encountered, but also as a competent, hard working, down-to-earth problem solver.
This year’s elections were both examples of Brenda’s abilities. No matter how hard you work to cover all bases and plan for what-ifs, Murphy’s Law will always come into play: “anything that can go wrong will go wrong.” With amazing calm and good humor, Brenda was always everyone’s go-to person.
I was especially proud of our county clerk during the general election in November when the ES&S electronic poll books slowed to a glacial speed throughout the state (a Microsoft software problem which is now being investigated by two state agencies).
After a couple of initial calls by her to the company failed to give us guidance, Brenda immediately went to the top and called ES&S’s corporate offices. Working with one of their top techs, they developed a “work-around” that put Brown County voters back in the voting booths. Johnson County was looking at three-hour delays, and as it turned out, Porter County was still trying to count votes the next day.
I had the opportunity to be able to hear a conversation Brenda had with Secretary of State Connie Lawson. Secretary Lawson had called to let Brenda know they had found a “fix” for the problem so that voters could get voting again. This call came in about an hour after Brenda had already found the solution to the problem.
She politely thanked Secretary Lawson, explaining Brown County was good — systems up and running.
Secretary Lawson then asked if Brown County needed additional hours added to the polls’ closing time. Brenda assured her we were fine. (Johnson and several other counties were afforded an additional three hours.)
It was obvious Secretary of State Lawson was impressed.
This is only one example of the quiet, can-do attitude I have experienced while working with Brenda. She and her chief deputy, JP Owens, will be greatly missed and I wish them all the best.
Our new, incoming county clerk will have some very big shoes to fill.
Susanne Gaudin, Brown County Election Board
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