County Forgoes Vote Centers Until 2021
November 19, 2019 at 3:45 a.m.
By David [email protected]
In an email Monday morning, Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy said there was a vote center committee meeting on Wednesday to start the planning process.
“At this meeting, we determined that it would be best for the county to move to vote centers after the 2020 election. We will begin the planning process in 2021,” she said.
The study committee that made this decision is made up of both party chairmen, Democratic vice chairman, a Republican precinct committeeman, county commissioner, county councilman, and county IT staff plus the three county election board members, Torpy indicated. It was not made solely by the county election board, but the election board did support the committee’s decision to wait.
At the county council meeting Thursday, Council President Sue Ann Mitchell said the county probably will not go to vote centers for the 2020 election because of the time frame.
“There’s not enough time to get it into place so it’s actually functional. The last thing we would ever want to do is to stymie people from being able to vote, so we would want to roll it out with care,” Mitchell said.
A vote center is a polling place where any eligible voter in the county may go to vote, according to the in.gov website. The vote center model gives voters more flexibility on Election Day because they are not constrained to a specific polling location. Vote centers are connected through secure internet connections, and as ballots are cast, an electronic poll book is instantaneously updated.
In 2011, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 32 and House Enrolled Act 1242. The governor signed both pieces of legislation, making vote centers an option for any Indiana county, the website states.
Surrounding counties that adopted going to voter centers included Elkhart in 2014; Huntington in 2015; Marshall in 2016; Noble in 2013; and Wabash in 2014, according to the website.
At the Oct. 10 county council meeting, the council approved a resolution for Kosciusko County to be a vote center county. County commissioners and council have to approve that the county is to go to vote centers, and submit a plan to the Secretary of State for approval before implementing the vote centers. The commissioners also approved the resolution, and on Nov. 12 approved the purchase of e-poll books and other equipment for the vote centers for $94,050.
The e-poll books replace the paper poll book, which will streamline the check in process, according to Torpy on Monday. “We can use them regardless if we are a vote center or precinct voting and plan on using them next year,” she said in an email.
The 2015 general election cost the county $28 per voter to cast a ballot, and that’s when every polling location was used for the city, Torpy said at the October meeting. For this year’s May primary, the locations were cut back to just the Center Lake Pavilion to reduce costs.
Torpy said Kosciusko County currently has 38 polling locations, and at this time it is not planning on reducing that number, unless there is a need to find a better location.
“We do have a few locations within the same town and may combine those into one location. We heard that Center Lake Pavilion may be going through a remodeling process next year, so we would have to find a new location for those precincts. We have moved one precinct in Syracuse so that all voting precincts are now voting in the Syracuse Community Center,” Torpy said Monday.
The in.gov website states two recent studies have shown vote centers can be a good way to control local government costs. The Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute released the study “Vote Centers and Election Costs: A Study of the Fiscal Impact of Vote Centers in Indiana.” While it is possible that counties will save money using vote centers, the purpose of the vote centers concept is to increase voter convenience and accessibility, according to in.gov.
The key findings of the study include:
• Vote centers can produce significant savings for counties that implemented them. Such savings are particularly noticeable in counties with a low number of registered voters per precinct. Also, counties that already locate more than one precinct in the same location could experience significant cost savings.
• Vote centers give local election officials more flexibility. With precincts, the number of locations and the level of staffing are fixed. County officials can do little to reduce cost per vote. With vote centers, election administrators can anticipate turnout and modify the number of locations and the level of staffing to suit their needs.
• Vote centers can produce immediate and long-term savings. This study finds savings could result every election day as well as when time comes to repurchase voting equipment.
• Vote centers will significantly reduce the number of voting machines needed to conduct an efficient election.
In an email Monday morning, Clerk of the Circuit and Superior Courts Ann Torpy said there was a vote center committee meeting on Wednesday to start the planning process.
“At this meeting, we determined that it would be best for the county to move to vote centers after the 2020 election. We will begin the planning process in 2021,” she said.
The study committee that made this decision is made up of both party chairmen, Democratic vice chairman, a Republican precinct committeeman, county commissioner, county councilman, and county IT staff plus the three county election board members, Torpy indicated. It was not made solely by the county election board, but the election board did support the committee’s decision to wait.
At the county council meeting Thursday, Council President Sue Ann Mitchell said the county probably will not go to vote centers for the 2020 election because of the time frame.
“There’s not enough time to get it into place so it’s actually functional. The last thing we would ever want to do is to stymie people from being able to vote, so we would want to roll it out with care,” Mitchell said.
A vote center is a polling place where any eligible voter in the county may go to vote, according to the in.gov website. The vote center model gives voters more flexibility on Election Day because they are not constrained to a specific polling location. Vote centers are connected through secure internet connections, and as ballots are cast, an electronic poll book is instantaneously updated.
In 2011, the Indiana General Assembly passed Senate Enrolled Act 32 and House Enrolled Act 1242. The governor signed both pieces of legislation, making vote centers an option for any Indiana county, the website states.
Surrounding counties that adopted going to voter centers included Elkhart in 2014; Huntington in 2015; Marshall in 2016; Noble in 2013; and Wabash in 2014, according to the website.
At the Oct. 10 county council meeting, the council approved a resolution for Kosciusko County to be a vote center county. County commissioners and council have to approve that the county is to go to vote centers, and submit a plan to the Secretary of State for approval before implementing the vote centers. The commissioners also approved the resolution, and on Nov. 12 approved the purchase of e-poll books and other equipment for the vote centers for $94,050.
The e-poll books replace the paper poll book, which will streamline the check in process, according to Torpy on Monday. “We can use them regardless if we are a vote center or precinct voting and plan on using them next year,” she said in an email.
The 2015 general election cost the county $28 per voter to cast a ballot, and that’s when every polling location was used for the city, Torpy said at the October meeting. For this year’s May primary, the locations were cut back to just the Center Lake Pavilion to reduce costs.
Torpy said Kosciusko County currently has 38 polling locations, and at this time it is not planning on reducing that number, unless there is a need to find a better location.
“We do have a few locations within the same town and may combine those into one location. We heard that Center Lake Pavilion may be going through a remodeling process next year, so we would have to find a new location for those precincts. We have moved one precinct in Syracuse so that all voting precincts are now voting in the Syracuse Community Center,” Torpy said Monday.
The in.gov website states two recent studies have shown vote centers can be a good way to control local government costs. The Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute released the study “Vote Centers and Election Costs: A Study of the Fiscal Impact of Vote Centers in Indiana.” While it is possible that counties will save money using vote centers, the purpose of the vote centers concept is to increase voter convenience and accessibility, according to in.gov.
The key findings of the study include:
• Vote centers can produce significant savings for counties that implemented them. Such savings are particularly noticeable in counties with a low number of registered voters per precinct. Also, counties that already locate more than one precinct in the same location could experience significant cost savings.
• Vote centers give local election officials more flexibility. With precincts, the number of locations and the level of staffing are fixed. County officials can do little to reduce cost per vote. With vote centers, election administrators can anticipate turnout and modify the number of locations and the level of staffing to suit their needs.
• Vote centers can produce immediate and long-term savings. This study finds savings could result every election day as well as when time comes to repurchase voting equipment.
• Vote centers will significantly reduce the number of voting machines needed to conduct an efficient election.
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