Would vote centers be a good fit for Monroe County? A committee is currently assessing that

When Monroe County residents headed to the polls on May 7 for the primary election, many had to first look up the one site where they could vote before heading there to cast their ballot.

In Owen County, residents were able to choose which of eight vote centers that was most convenient for them. Owen is one of 63 counties that currently use vote centers for elections. Franklin and Ripley counties were added to the list in 2024, according to the Indiana Secretary of State website.

The Indiana General Assembly passed legislation in 2011 that allowed Hoosier counties to make vote centers an option instead of having specific precinct-based voting locations. Soon after that, Monroe County officials did discuss transitioning to vote centers but one person on the county election board voted no, ending that possibility. Even now, a vote for the centers in an Indiana county must have unanimous approval.

"It was frustrating," said Mark Stoops, who at that time was a county commissioner. "We were definitely interested in setting up voting centers."

He explained that people could vote close to where they worked or dropped their children off at day-care or close to where they live.

"It just makes sense, especially with new voting machines we had at that time," Stoops said, saying the printers could print the different ballots needed for the various precincts and technology allowed security with voters' ballots.

He added that even if the county had approved voting centers it still could have kept some traditional voting sites, especially in rural areas.

Monroe County committee currently assessing move to vote centers

While it's been some time since vote centers were a major topic for most Monroe County residents, they may be hearing more about the concept soon, with a chance to weigh in on whether the county should transition to using them.

William Ellis, GOP vice chair in Monroe County, said a committee of a dozen people is currently studying the issue. It has members of the Democratic and Republican parties as well as the League of Women Voters and people representing disability groups.

"We have all the stakeholders, and students, and more," Ellis said Wednesday, the day after the primary election. "No decisions have been made."

Before the committee makes any proposals, several listening sessions will be conducted across the county — from Ellettsville, Indiana University and other locations. Those sessions will provide valuable input for the committee on how to move forward.

Ellis and the other committee members have been talking to other counties that have voting centers, including officials in Georgia and Texas. Several concerns have surfaced after those talks, Ellis said.

"Every candidate now is going to have to run a county-wide race on Election Day," he said. "We currently campaign on the grass-roots level from the townships on up."

Having to raise funds for signs at all the county polling locations and finding volunteers to man those sites would be costly and might lead to fewer people seeking public office, Ellis said. "If it stifled people running from office, does that help the voter?"

In addition, Ellis said with precincts in one location, the ballots for those specific sites are currently printed ahead of time and distributed. With vote centers, people from across the county can choose where to vote, demanding that the county have printers capable of printing out the specific ballots needed on the day of the election.

Another issue that needs to be addressed is ensuring the vote centers are in locations that will draw voters. Some officials in Georgia and Texas said there were some vote centers with no one and others with hours'-long lines. Another challenge is to ensure voters living in rural areas still find their way to the polls. But some officials had positive things to say about the centers while addressing the problems.

"There's major growing pains flipping over to (vote centers)," Ellis said. "It could be good in the long run.

"We have to get a feel for how to address these issues," Ellis said, explaining until the sessions are conducted the committee won't make any decisions.

While no dates have been set for the listening sessions, Ellis said the committee is looking at some dates in July for the Ellettsville session.

Anyone who wants to attend the current vote center study committee meetings is welcome. They meet the second and fourth Wednesday of every month at various locations throughout the county. The next meeting will be 5:30 p.m. May 22 at the Showers Building in Conference Room 100B. To find out more, go online to co.monroe.in.us and look at the calendar of upcoming events.

Contact Carol Kugler at ckugler@heraldt.com

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Monroe County committee is researching if vote centers are a good idea