Monroe County election board fails to adopt vote-center plan after amendment

The Monroe County Election Board on Oct. 11 failed to adopt a resolution to designate the county as a vote-center county after an amended plan passed the board but did not receive the unanimous approval the statute requires.

The vote followed a more than hourlong public hearing in which speakers — including county officials, members of the Vote Center Study Committee and dozens of residents — largely urged the board to adopt the proposed vote-center plan to reduce voter confusion and improve access. The board approved an amendment removing specific recommended early-voting satellite locations from the study committee’s report, but on a roll call the resolution to designate Monroe County as a vote-center county with 29 vote centers recorded two votes in favor and one opposed and failed to carry.

The amendment the board adopted deleted the committee’s specific location recommendations for additional satellite early-voting offices — named in the draft as Ellettsville Town Hall, the IU Center on Representative Government and the Monroe County Public Library Southwest branch — while keeping the committee’s broader recommendation that the clerk identify the county’s required early-voting site.

“The confusion about where to vote…