Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Elections topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Vanderburgh County officials weigh cutting vote centers, brace for higher election mail costs
Summary
County clerk and council members discussed trimming vote centers for lower turnout primaries, state rules tying primary and general locations, and new state DMV and proof-of-citizenship requirements that raised printing and postage costs.
Vanderburgh County council members and the county clerk discussed possible reductions to the number of vote centers for next year's primary and changes to election-related printing and postage costs during a budget hearing.
The discussion matters because the county pays to staff and rent each vote center, and new state rules are increasing election office printing and postage costs.
Clerk Dottie told the council the county currently operates 22 vote centers and that the election office is breaking out expenses for each site so the council can see where money is spent. She said the office plans to reduce early voting in the primary to one week next year (from two), which could lower costs but would not change the requirement that primary vote centers match general-election locations.
"There's 22," Dottie said when asked how many vote centers the county currently uses. President Schettler raised the per-site estimate during the discussion: council members used a per-center cost of roughly $2,200 for a single election, with a full-year per-center cost of about $4,500 when primary and general are both staffed.
Council members and clerk's staff flagged several constraints. Dottie said the county must use the same centers in the primary and the general election "by statute," and removing a center requires following a process that includes public notice and comment. She also noted operational trade-offs: consolidating centers into larger "supercenters" could create savings on rent but would still require moving bipartisan poll workers to the fewer remaining locations, which carries outreach and staffing costs.
President Schettler and others urged the election board to study turnout patterns and present a recommendation. Schettler noted turnout on a county-only (nonpresidential) cycle has been about 45,000 voters, and Councilman Raven and others said that data should inform whether fewer centers are appropriate.
Separately, the voter registration office asked for higher printing and postage in response to legislative and administrative changes. County staff said new state requirements related to proof of citizenship and an Indiana Election Division rule require the election office to mail notices and confirmations to certain DMV registrants. The clerk's office requested printing be increased from $2,500 to $5,000 to cover mailed notices and return envelopes; the budget for postage was moved to the commissioners' budget.
Clerk Dottie said the new mailings are a "fail safe" after DMV interactions where people decline to register. She told the council the change grows printing and postage line items because the office must send printed confirmations and return envelopes in some cases.
Council members asked the election board to review vote-center placement and the timeline for making any changes before the 2026 primary and general election calendar. The board's final decision-making deadlines and exact public-notice requirements were not specified during the hearing.
The council indicated it wants the election board to return with recommendations and data on turnout by center, cost-per-voter estimates and the statutory timeline for removing centers.
Votes or formal outcomes were not recorded during this segment of the hearing; council members asked the election board to study options and prepare a recommendation for a later meeting.
