Jay County commissioners approve resolution to pursue vote-center model

The Jay County Board of Commissioners unanimously approved Resolution 2025-04 on Feb. 24, 2025, authorizing the county to operate as a vote-center county pending the county election board nd required filings. Melissa Elliott, Jay County clerk, told commissioners that 65 of Indiana—ounty's 92 counties already use vote centers and that Jay County would likely consolidate eight polling locations down to three or four centers.

Elliott said the plan would seek centers within about 10 miles of most voters and would prioritize Americans with Disabilities Act compliance; she noted there would be a cost to notify voters about the change but that the county could save on wages and polling-site rental costs. "They would look into the locations, but would like the centers to be within around 10 miles of the voters and have ADA compliance," Elliott said.

Under the resolution, the county election board is responsible for drafting the vote-center plan; the plan takes effect only after the county election board pproves it unanimously and properly files it with the Indiana Election Division, as allowed by Indiana Code 3-11-18.1. Duane Monroe made the motion to approve Resolution 2025-04 and Doug Horn seconded; the motion passed by unanimous vote.

The action starts a multi-step process rather than an immediate change: commissioners approved the designation, but the election board must prepare and unanimously adopt a detailed plan and file it with state election officials before vote centers would be used for an election. The clerk cautioned that outreach and notification spending would be required to inform voters of any polling-location consolidation.

The commissioners did not set specific center locations at the meeting; the next procedural steps are drafting the county—oard plan and the election-board review and filing that plan with the Indiana Election Division.