Voting Machine Upgrades Open Door For Change To Vote Center
Voting Machine Upgrades Open Door For Change To Vote Center
Posted
Dan Spalding-dspalding@timesuniononline.com
Voting Machine Upgrades Open Door For Change To Vote Center Kosciusko County has cleared a hurdle that opens the door to someday consider the transition to vote centers for elections. This week, the county council and the commissioners signed off on plans to cover the cost to revamp existing voting machines. County Clerk Ann Torpy said the upgrades will cost about $299,000. Money for most of that had already been set aside and officials agreed to provide about $85,000 to cover the remaining cost. An increase in memory in the machines is one of the changes that will come with the improvements, and sets the stage for the machines to be used in vote centers if the county chooses to move in that direction. The topic of switching to voting centers has come up occasionally in the past and was mentioned when Torpy talked with the commissioners on Tuesday, but nobody has proposed the county begin studying it, Torpy said. Twenty-nine counties have converted to vote centers since the state allowed the option several years ago. Vote centers rely on far fewer polling places and allows voters to cast ballots at any vote center within the county where they reside. In addition to the added convenience, vote centers also are less expensive to operate because they rely on fewer polling places and less staffing. Commissioner Ron Truex said he thinks the switch to vote centers seems inevitable and makes sense. Truex points to the fact the county has been consolidating precincts into the same polling places for various reasons, including low voter participation in some precincts, struggles to fully staff the polling places and, in some cases, the need to meet handicapped accessibility requirements. In the 2016 fall election, the county had 35 polling places for the 69 precincts and used 216 voting machines, according to Torpy. “Quite frankly, you don’t need a precinct for 22 people to vote,” Truex said. “Consolidation, like other things, is going to happen.” If there is local support for making the change, the election board would lead that discussion, Torpy said. To establish a voter center policy, counties are required to form a committee, draft a plan and hold a public meeting for input. The state began investigating the use of vote centers about 10 years ago when a pilot program was launched in Wayne, Tippecanoe and Cass counties. Soon afterward, the Indiana General Assembly passed legislation making vote centers an option for all counties. Nearby counties that have made the switch include Marshall and Elkhart. A study by the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute looked at various cost factors, most of which involve staffing of poll workers. The study found that vote centers would produce significant long-term and short-term savings and gives local election officials more flexibility to anticipate voter turnout and deploy staff more effectively. The most savings are more noticeable in counties with a low number of registered voters per precinct. Long term, the report says the county will save money because fewer voting machines are needed when using vote centers, the report said. The Election Board is comprised of Torpy and local representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties. Neither Republican Randy Girod nor Democrat Tony Garza were immediately available for comment on Friday.
