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2026 General Election · Tuesday, November 3, 2026

Howard County Circuit Court Clerk

Voted on across Howard County.

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What this office does

The clerk of the circuit court is an elected county officer created by the Indiana Constitution. The clerk keeps the records of every court in the county and collects court fees, sits on the county election board, and in most counties is also the voter registration officer [1, 2, 3, 4].

The job in full — the duties the Indiana Code puts in it, the term, what it pays and who sets that, and what to ask a candidate.

Term
4 years [1]
Term limit
No more than eight years in any twelve-year period (Indiana Constitution, Article 6, Section 2) [1]
Qualifications
Must be registered to vote in the county by the filing deadline and file a statement of economic interests [5]
Pay and staff
Set by the county council, which also fixes the number of deputies and employees; the officer files a budget estimate each summer [6, 7]
On the 2026 ballot
62 counties; 23 contested (more candidates, including write-ins, than seats) [8]
What the law puts in this job (5)
  • Serves as clerk of all the courts in the county, keeping case records and dockets [2].
  • Collects court costs and fees and forwards the county's share to the county auditor within 30 days [9].
  • Is an ex officio member of the three-member county election board, which conducts elections and administers election law in the county [3].
  • Is the county's voter registration officer, except in counties that have a separate board of registration or board of elections and registration (including Marion, Lake, Porter and Tippecanoe) [4, 5].
  • Receives local candidates' filings, including declarations of candidacy and statements of economic interests [5].

Howard County's numbers for this office

Legal Insights county office research (Oct. 13, 2026): Indiana Gateway budgets 2019-2026 and the indicator sources linked on each line.

This office's 2026 budget

$674,867

0.9% of the county's adopted 2026 budget · 24% less than 2019, before inflation

2019: $883,6472020: $972,2062021: $784,7792022: $606,1372023: $680,4932024: $721,0732025: $757,9442026: $674,867
2019 $883,6472026 $674,867
The year-by-year figures

Adopted budget, all funds, 2019-2026 (not adjusted for inflation)

  • 2019: $883,647
  • 2020: $972,206
  • 2021: $784,779
  • 2022: $606,137
  • 2023: $680,493
  • 2024: $721,073
  • 2025: $757,944
  • 2026: $674,867

Budget lines counted: 0001 CLERK OF CIRCUIT COURT (COUNTY CLERK)

Adopted 2026 county budget (Form 1 line items, Form 4B) and earlier years' budgets

Elected official's pay, 2026 budget line

$67,889

From the county budget; verify against the county's 2026 salary ordinance. A line can include longevity pay or a second role.

Budgeted separately, not included above: election board, voter registration, election expense, clerk IV-D (depts 0062, 0010, 0104, 0665), $296,500.

Also on the record for this office

  • court case management: Odyssey statewide since Dec. 13, 2021 (Indiana Office of Court Technology)

Measured, for this county

A position compares this county with counties of similar size. It is not a grade: for most measures a higher or lower number is neither good nor bad on its own.

Turnout, Nov. 2024 general election · 2024 general

64.0%

Ballots cast as a share of registered voters.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low: voters decide whether to vote; the clerk and election board run voting sites and absentee options

Position 10 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Absentee and early voting share, Nov. 2024 · 2024 general

64.7%

Absentee ballots, including early in-person votes, as a share of all ballots.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: partial: the county election board (the clerk plus two party appointees) sets early-voting sites and hours, with unanimity required for satellite sites

Position 8 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Registered voters, May 2026 primary · May 2026 primary

60,761

From the Election Division.

Context, not something the officeholder sets: the number of registered voters the office serves

source

Turnout, May 2026 primary · May 2026 primary

17.8%

Ballots cast as a share of registered voters.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low: voters decide whether to vote; the clerk and election board run voting sites and absentee options

Position 8 of 15 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Court clearance rate · 2025

93.3%

Cases closed as a share of cases filed in 2025, all trial courts (not infractions or ordinance violations).

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low for the clerk: judges decide cases; the clerk keeps records and dockets

Position 14 of 17 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

Court filings per judicial officer · 2025

1,687

2025 filings per judge or magistrate.

How much this is the officeholder's to decide: low for the clerk: judges decide cases; the clerk keeps records and dockets

Position 10 of 15 counties with 50,000 to 150,000 residents that have this figure (1 = highest value)

source

About this race

  • No candidate forum or debate for this race was found in free sources as of Oct. 13, 2026.

Candidates on the ballot

Adrienne Akers

Democratic

Adrienne Akers is the Democratic candidate on the state's general-election list [8].

What we could not find about Akers

  • No campaign website, candidate questionnaire, news interview or biography was found in free sources as of Oct. 13, 2026.
  • How the party filled its ballot spot after the primary (for example by caucus) was not confirmed.
  • Coverage in the Kokomo Tribune is paywalled and was not used.
  • No Democratic candidate was on the May 5, 2026 primary ballot for this office; listed as the Democratic candidate on the state's Sept. 22 general-election list [10, 8].

Sources for Akers

Nicole (Niki) Cothern

Republican

Nicole (Niki) Cothern is the Republican nominee [10].

How Cothern got on the ballot

  • Won the May 5, 2026 Republican primary unopposed, with 6,115 votes [10].

What we could not find about Cothern

  • No campaign website, candidate questionnaire, news interview or biography was found in free sources as of Oct. 13, 2026.
  • Coverage in the Kokomo Tribune is paywalled and was not used.

Sources for Cothern

Sources

Researched Tuesday, October 13, 2026

  1. Constitution of the State of Indiana, Article 6, Section 2 (quoted in the 2026 Candidate Guide) (Indiana Election Division)
  2. Indiana Code 33-32-2-1: Clerk of the circuit court; clerk of all courts (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  3. Indiana Code 3-6-5-2: County election board; membership (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  4. Indiana Code 3-7-12-1: Circuit court clerk as voter registration officer (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  5. 2026 Indiana Candidate Guide (County Offices) (Indiana Election Division)
  6. Indiana Code 36-2-5-3: County fiscal body; compensation and positions (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  7. Indiana Code 36-2-5-5: Officers' budget estimates (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  8. 2026 General Election Candidate List (Indiana Election Division)
  9. Indiana Code 33-37-7-12: Clerk; distribution of court fees (Indiana General Assembly (2026 Indiana Code))
  10. 2026 Primary Election results (certified), Indiana Election Night Reporting (Indiana Election Division)
What's included
the U.S. House, statewide offices, every Indiana House and Senate district on the ballot, Indiana's statewide public questions and judicial retention questions, and county, township, city, town and school board races from the Indiana Election Division's candidate list.
Everything else
Local races (county, city, school board, judges) and anything else on your ballot are on your official sample ballot: IndianaVoters.in.gov.
Candidate lists
As of Sunday, October 18, 2026.
At the polls
Indiana law lets you bring a list of candidates and public questions into the polling place, including one stored on your phone, as long as you don't electioneer. IC 3-11-8-18.5

This is not an official ballot. Confirm your registration, polling place and ballot with your election office through vote.gov.