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The Allen County Election Board wants to explore the idea of using vote centers to replace precinct polling locations.
The board agreed to form a committee to study the idea and whether Allen County should provide satellite early-voting locations. Any changes could take effect for the 2011 municipal elections.
Elections Director Beth Dlug hopes to have the committee’s recommendations to the board this fall. Making the switch from 146 multiprecinct polling sites to 40 countywide vote centers would take two years, she said.
Vote centers allow residents to vote anywhere in the county no matter where they live.
They could vote at a center near their work, for example, Dlug said.
Voters would sign an electronic poll book instead of signing today’s paper poll books. And voting machines would contain ballots for all 301 precincts in the county.
Today, residents vote near their homes. Polling locations typically serve just a few precincts.
The committee will study technology needs, where vote centers might be located and whether officials should lobby the General Assembly to make vote centers legal.
State law currently allows Tippecanoe, Wayne and Cass counties to run pilot vote centers. That law sunsets at the end of 2010, and Gov. Mitch Daniels vetoed recent legislation allowing all counties the option to provide vote centers.
“What we’re doing is proactive,” Republican board member Zach Klutz said.
Dlug suggested the committee include eight members. The election board would select a chair, the chairmen of the Republican and Democratic parties will each select three members, and the Libertarian Party will select one member.
She hopes the committee would represent urban and rural areas and include poll workers, previous candidates and voters.
Andy Downs, Democratic board member, said satellite voting is more convenient for voters and relieves staff needs and the lines on Election Day.
But Klutz was concerned about the costs of making the switch. He said if the board decided not to use vote centers, he didn’t want to provide satellite early-voting sites because the cost would be too much.
Vote centers and satellite sites both require similar technology needs.
Dlug estimates it could cost an extra $91,000 the first year to run vote centers.
Last year, the board spent $450,000 on the presidential election, which saw historic turnouts. After the centers are in place, they could shave $86,000 from subsequent election years, she said.
The county would pay to use fewer buildings, feed fewer poll workers and consume fewer supplies.
Last November, the county needed 1,100 poll workers. With 40 vote centers in operation, the county would need just 422 people, Dlug said.
The change would also relieve the parties’ struggle to find people to work the polls, said Clerk Therese Brown, who is also on the election board.
The board agreed to post campaign finance reports online. But it didn’t decide whether to post all reports and how soon the reports should be available.
The board asked election staff to test the process with 2008 reports and to report back.
