Lyon County clerk candidate Mike Dorcey
October 27, 2008
Democrat Mike Dorcey is running for Lyon County clerk.
Moderator: Our next guest is Mike Dorcey, Democratic candidate for Lyon County Clerk. Dorcey came to Empori as community relations director for the Emporia school district. He is now in advertising sales for an Emporia radio station. He is a graduate of Leafdership Emporia and was a driving force behind the volunteer organization that built the new playground at Peter Pan Park. This is his first run for public office. Our first question will address his qualifications for office.
moderator: Why do you feel that you are qualified to be the county clerk?
Mike Dorcey: I feel I am qualified to be the county clerk for a number of reasons. First, I have a desire to serve the residents of Lyon County and I believe my history of military service, my volunteer work with my communities and churches where I've lived indicate that I know what service means. The best example I have of service here in Lyon County is my leadership in the construction of the new playground at Peter Pan Park. I believe my leadership also qualifies me. I have been a noncommissioned officer in the National Guard, I have advised students, and I have managed businesses and staffs. I have a college degree and numerous professional training experiences that prove I can learn the skills I will need in the new postition.
moderator: What research have you done to prepare you for this job?
Mike Dorcey: I have spent many hours exploring Web sites of other county clerk offices to learn what they do. I have talked to other county clerks about their jobs. I have spent a lot of time talking to the people of Lyon County about this office and the service they expect from it.
moderator: What things do you think run well in the county clerk office right now?
Mike Dorcey: I think that Karen Hartenbower is doing a good job, especially this year in the area of voter registration, where she has been aggressive in making registration opportunities available.
domylaundry: What is your formal education and what distinguishes yourself from your opponent?
Mike Dorcey: I have a degree in History from Creighton University in Omaha. I was admitted to the School of Library Science at ESU and completed two courses with a 4.0 GPA. Beyond that, I completed the 47-week course in South Vietnamese while in the Army with a 90 percentile score. I also completed the NCO Educational System course while in the National Guard, completing the Advanced NCO course with honors.
jhawker1957: You have mentioned that you would like to improve the Clerk's website if elected, What did you have in mind?
Mike Dorcey: The current Web site leaves much to be desired. I think it could be expanded easily and almost immediately to include forms for such things as applications for voter registration, Homestead and Food Sales Tax refunds, as well as permits and licenses for such things as cereal malt beveragesm moving, hunting and fishing. The site currently has maps that show the precints in the county. There could also be maps showiing the county commissioner districts, state senate and state representative districts. The site could provide information on voting, such as when the voting dates are, where the voting places are by precinct, where and when advance voting will take place. The legal notices the clerk publishes should also be posted to the Web site. All this information would make access to the clerk's office much easier for the public and save both the public and the staff of the clerk's office a lot of time.
jhawker1957: People who work weekdays, currently have to take off work to be able to advance vote at the courthouse, as it is only open during daytime hours M-F. Do you have any ideas to make advance voting more accessible for the daytime workforce?
Mike Dorcey: I believe the expansion of advance voting is one of the best things to happen for voters in some time. The flexibility advance voting offers should be exploited to the benefit of the residents of Lyon County, especially for those who would normally find it inconvenient to pursue their constitutional right to vote. I believe that the law says that advance voting can begin 20 days prior to the general election. During those 20 days, I would make advance voting available in the outlying communities on two Saturdays prior to the general election. I would also consider making advance voting available after 5 p.m., perhaps till 7 p.m., here in Emporia the last week before the general election day so those who work till 5 could vote after work. These expanded hours and opportunities would mean some additional expense, but that could be partly offset by reducing the number of poll workers needed on Election Day. By tracking the number of voters who advance vote, it would be easy to calculate how many fewer poll workers would be needed on Election Day.
domylaundry: What changes will you bring to the Clerk's office if you are elected?
Mike Dorcey: I will make sure that the atmosphere in the clerk's office is one of customer service, that the clerk's office is there to serve the people of Lyon County. I've already talked about expanding the Web site. This would be only one example of measures I would take to make the office accessible and transparent to the public, to make information available readily and promptly. Another change I would work for is to create some form of paper trail for our voting machines. As they are now, these machines to not generate a voter-verifiable record of our votes. They produce a tabulation, but that tabulation is no guarantee that the machine recorded the vote as entered by the voter. We need to do whatever we can to guarantee voters that we are counting their vote accurately, and that we can recount it with the same accuracy. Some people are satisfied with our electronic voting machines in their current form, but recent history, even as late as September, proves that these machines will make errors. I don't want to wait until we have a problem surface and then try to fix it. I want to be proactive in preventing a voting verification problem, not reactive.
moderator: We know the county clerk is in charge of voting, but that doesn't happen often. What does the county clerk do the rest of the year?
Mike Dorcey: Well, first, I'd like to point out that the clerk's work in regard to voting is probably a year-round job. Voters register and re-register all the time. The clerk must also constantly review polling places to make sure they are accessible and as conducive to making voting as easy as possible. Also, the clerk runs not only the general elections every two years and four years, but conducts special elections and elections for city commission and the school boards. Beyond voting, though, the clerk is the official recorder for the county commission, keeping the official minutes of all commission meetings. The clerk is involved in the taxation process, taking the valuations from the appraiser's office and the budgets from the county commission and all the other taxing entities in the county to establish the mill levy. The clerk also helps some of the smaller taxing entities, such as the fire districts, put together their annual budgets. The clerk's office also sells many licenses and permits, such as moving, cereal malt beverage, hunting and fishing. The clerk also keeps track of all the claims against the county. And, the clerk writes all the checks for the county.
moderator: As you have campaigned throughout the county, what have you heard from voters about what they want to see in the county clerk's office?
Mike Dorcey: What I've heard seems to run in two directions, and they probably depend on people's individual experiences with the clerk's office. Some people have said they have been very pleased with the service they've received from the clerk's office under Karen Hartenbower and hope her successor will continue operaitons on that same level. A number of other people have complained to me about the service they've received from the office. I would sum up their characterization of the service they received as "unfriendly." I plan to continue the same level of professional competence the office has displayed under Karen Hartenbower but make the general environment more user-friendly. Another comment I've heard repeatedly while visiting doors in Emporia in all the other towns in Lyon County is that we need a change. I believe that the ideas I'm proposing will be a positive change for the clerk's office and the residents of Lyon County.
Moderator: That wraps up our chats for the evening. Thanks to Mike Dorcey and the people who sent in questions. Transcripts of tonight's chats will be published in Tuesday's Gazette.