Vermillion County election board recommends seven vote centers, cites $14,000–$15,000 annual savings

The Vermillion County Election Board recommended consolidating the county’s 14 polling locations into seven vote centers and expanding early voting, saying the change would save the county more than $14,000 in an election year.

Chair Bill Reynolds said the board’s “main objective is to save money, by by going to vote centers instead of having all the different precinct locations,” and estimated the county would save “in excess” of $14,000 to $15,000 per election year.

Clerk Tammy Lowery read a notice the office plans to send to active voters explaining vote centers and how they work. “Vote centers give any voter in Vermillion County the opportunity to cast their ballot at any vote center location throughout the county,” Lowery said, describing the plan’s effect on Election Day and early voting.

Board members said the plan would reduce the number of staffing assignments and physical locations. Under the board’s proposal the county would cut poll-worker assignments from about 70 people to about 35 and reduce locations from 14 to seven. The board cited additional savings in food stipends for poll workers (about $1,050) and insurance costs for voting locations.

The seven sites the board listed as the recommended vote centers are Highland American Legion, Cayuga American Legion, Dana Firehouse, Clinton Firehouse, Fairview Firehouse, Newport Lions Club and Wayside Church. The board also said three sites would be open the last two Saturdays before an election: the courthouse, the Clinton Public Library and Highland American Legion; the courthouse and the library would be open during the early voting period (stated as two weeks to 28 days, depending on legislation).

Clerk Lowery and other board members emphasized the plan is a recommendation. The board said it will hold a second required public hearing and then send its recommendation to the county commissioners for final action. The board scheduled the next public hearing for May 19 at 6 p.m. at the Clinton Public Library and noted there is a requirement that the two hearings be at least 30 days apart.

Members of the public at the hearing raised operational and access questions. Ginger Corrado, who said she had worked at polling places in the past, praised the likely Internet access at the proposed venues and said that would reduce delays caused by connectivity problems. Penny Carpenter of Eugene Township asked whether combining precincts would require more voting machines; the board said each vote center will have five voting machines and two check-in “pull pads” to allow parallel check-in lines.

Board members said vote-center usage is already common in Indiana: they noted 65 of the state’s 92 counties use vote centers and that Indiana made vote centers available in 2008. The board framed the change as a step toward modernizing election administration while keeping absentee-by-mail and other voting options in place.

Next steps listed by the board include holding the second public hearing on May 19, finalizing a recommendation, and forwarding that recommendation to the Vermillion County commissioners, who must approve any change to the county’s polling-place arrangements.

Votes at the meeting were limited to routine procedure: a motion to adjourn was made and seconded and the meeting ended. No formal vote on adopting vote centers as county policy was recorded at this meeting.