Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Assistant Director Jessica Messler resigned from her position and Lori O’Dea has been asked to step into the role.
Before taking the assistant director position, Messler said she worked on political campaigns, helping with campaign management, digital media and social media strategies.
Messler’s husband is running for Lake County Auditor, so she said she will help with his campaign and didn’t want to make voters uncomfortable with her working in the election office and his campaign.
“Quite frankly, I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable,” Messler said. “If it doesn’t look good, you shouldn’t do it.”
In her resignation letter, Messler said her decision to step away was to ensure voter confidence in the November election.
“I am choosing to step away in the public interest so that all Lake County residents can feel confident that the election is safe, secure, and administered without my oversight of any ballot on which my spouse appears,” Messler wrote. “I believe this is the most appropriate way to protect public trust in the integrity and neutrality of the office.”
During her nearly 18 months in office, Messler brought organization, structure and media savvy to the office, said Lake County Republican Party Chairman Randy Niemeyer.
“She did a wonderful job and I’m grateful for her hard work,” Niemeyer said.
Messler said she had hoped to use more of her media skills while in the role, but that she was able to establish a social media presence for the office and begin filming videos for poll workers.
Niemeyer said he approached O’Dea to fill the role because she has experience in the office with a lot of knowledge of elections and voter registration.
“I think she’s going to be a terrific director, especially with that technical knowledge,” Niemeyer said.
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O’Dea, who has worked in the office for 6 years, said she was excited about the opportunity when Niemeyer approached her about filling the role.
“I was pleased that he found my skill set up to the task,” O’Dea said. “I was pleased that my hard work was recognized.”
O’Dea said she started working in the office June 1, 2020 – the day before the primary election delayed amid the COVID-19 pandemic – as a voter registration clerk. She was then promoted to election clerk with a specialization in campaign finance.
In January, O’Dea said she was promoted to assistant voter registration administrator. In May, O’Dea said she graduated from Ball State University’s Certificate in Election Administration, Technology, and Security program.
“I look forward to bringing my training and experience to this new role to serve the people of Lake County,” O’Dea said.
As the assistant director, O’Dea said she will focus on maintaining voter confidence and building public trust.
“I’ve learned that trust is built on relationships in a community and based on the human element. We want the public to get to know us as election officials, and be assured that the issues that concern them are heard, understood and addressed,” O’Dea said.
When it comes to voter confidence, O’Dea said that is built on data, transparency and “evidence that the processes in place produce accurate results.”
“It’s important to me to communicate that procedures employed in our office adhere to Indiana law and the election systems we use in Lake County are efficient and secure, as evidenced by our post-election audits,” O’Dea said.
Messler said O’Dea will do a great job as assistant director.
“I think Lori is going to do fantastic,” Messler said. “She’s very capable. She’s very intelligent. She knows what she’s doing.”