County auditor Giddings will call 2020 her last year in position

When the general election rolls around in November, the ballot will look somewhat strange to Franklin County Auditor Michelle Giddings.

Giddings, who was first elected auditor in 2000, has announced that she will not seek reelection to the position next year when her term is up. This will mark the first time in six elections she will not see her name on the ballot or on the final tally once votes are counted.

“It’ll be different because I’ve always had my name on the ballot,” she said, with a laugh.

Giddings first came to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office 32 years ago as a real estate and drainage clerk, be-fore moving through the of-fice in accounts payable and budgeting, eventually electing to run for the auditor’s posi-tion more than 10 years after joining the office. Giddings said she first ran to fill the need of of a county auditor with experience, but duties of the job are what encouraged her to continue to run for reelection.

“I enjoy the job, I enjoy what I do,” she said. “I like numbers, you have to be a financial-type person and you’ve got to be an organized person to try to keep things together and in line. I just enjoy the work.”

Throughout her career as auditor, Giddings said the most notable changes are the various adjustments to legis-lature regarding elections. She’s seen voting booths go from the large cabinets with curtains to the booths of to-day, the advancement of ab-sentee ballots from an emer-gency option for people who couldn’t vote on that day to one that all voters can utilize and the effects of technology on voting security.

“Elections have gotten to be a lot more focused on cyber security, we have to pay attention to the computers and social media and all that, so it’s gotten to be a bigger job,” she said. “Legislature makes changes to the elections every year, we have to conform to all those changes and some-times, those changes come about two weeks before the election, so you have to be someone who can conform to changes easily.”

While elections are a con-stantly changing challenge, Giddings said she’s looking forward to 2020 because the year has not one, not two, but three elections - the last of which includes massive races for the President of the United States and various congres-sional, Senate and local races.

“We know that the next year is going to be a lot of work,” she said.

When the election ends, a new auditor will likely have been selected by the voters. Giddings encouraged an indi-vidual who is both qualified and feels a duty to serve the people of Franklin County to step forward when the filing period opens.

“I hope someone steps up and wants to run for the office and is serious about the posi-tion,” she said. “It’s a reward-ing job and it’s been good to me for the last 32 years.”

Giddings said that work-ing as the auditor in her home county has been a rewarding experience that has allowed her to not only serve her friends and family, but make connections with individuals she otherwise would not have met.

“I feel at home here,” she said. “To be able to get in the courthouse and serve the peo-ple of the community has been very rewarding.

“I couldn’t imagine being in a different county,” she added.