Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson was the key speaker for the 2014 Kosciusko County Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Thursday evening in Warsaw. This was Lawson’s third visit to the county party’s Lincoln Day event and sixth time attending a county Republican function.

Lawson, who is seeking the nomination at the state Republican convention in June for the state secretary position to be placed on the November ballot, was introduced by Senator Ryan Mishler, who serves the 9th Senate District. Lawson is the 61st secretary of state for Indiana.

Kosciusko County Republican Chairman Randy Girod, right, is shown with Secretary of State Connie Lawson who was the keynote speaker for the county Republican Lincoln Day Dinner Thursday evening. (Photo by Deb Patterson)

“America will never be destroyed from the outside,” she stated from a quote by President Abraham Lincoln. “If we falter and loose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourself. I believe this is a battle we must continue to fight … we cannot loose faith.

“As President Ronald Reagan said, ‘Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction … (freedom) must be sought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and children’s children what freedom was once like in the United States when men were free’.”

She continued, “There are a lot of important races we will decide from courthouses to our statehouse and congress for leaders that we elect to uphold our constitution and strengthen our democracy.

“… every citizen that takes the responsibility to vote in one of our elections deserves to have that vote counted, counted accurately and not have that vote cancelled out or somewhat diminished by someone committing fraud, and you don’t have to look outside Indiana to find examples.”

Lawson shared three cases of fraud within the state involving petition, registration, absentee ballot and vote fraud that have occurred.

“… Protecting the rights of voters and ensuring integrity throughout the process is one of the reasons I’m passionate about my job, why I proudly supported our photo id law and why last year I championed election reform and increased transparency and accountability in the process.”

She noted her opponents and Democrats want to remove the voter ID requirement and undo nearly every election reform passed the last few years.

Lawson shared some of those reforms: prohibiting use of buildings with political pictures and displays as polling places, prohibiting public employees from using taxpayer funded resources for campaigning, requiring the date to be recorded when an absentee application is received to ensure timely and proper submission, separating the last date to register to vote and the start of absentee voting by one day, requiring a receipt for a voter registration application and requiring a chain of command on petition of nominations.

“Do these changes sound outrageous to you? There are not outrageous at all, They are common sense reforms and they are reforms that voters deserve and embrace. I would say to you they are reforms that make it easier to vote and hard to cheat,” she said.

Lawson officially filed her candidacy for secretary of state on Thursday. She closed by quoting Lincoln: “I did the very best I know how. I did the best I can and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. But I need your help.”

Brief addresses were also heard from Wayne Seybold, Don Bates Jr., and Kelly Mitchell, nominees for the state treasurer position. State delegates will be appointing one of these individuals in June to be on the November ballot.

Most of the candidates for local races were present and briefly spoke along with District 22 Rep. Rebecca Kubacki and her challenger Curt Nisly. Representatives for Jackie Walorski and Marlin Stutzman also read statements from their candidates.

County Republican Chairman Randy Girod ended the evening by encouraging all to remember, “On Wednesday, we’re all on the same team,” and to support those who win the primary. “We have inherited an amazing legacy; a heritage of Republicism in Kosciusko County. We’ve never allowed the Democrats even a toe hold in any of the elective position … we are not going to let that change. It’s going to be tough for all of us … remember, we’re all Republicans and we’re all on the same team.”