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BY BOB KASARDA
bkasarda@nwitimes.com
219.548.4345 | Thursday, November 20, 2008 | (3 comment(s))
VALPARAISO | Porter County has formed a committee to look into replacing its traditional polling places with voting centers that allow eligible voters to cast ballots at any available site on Election Day.
The change would not only make voting more convenient, but also would provide the county with the opportunity to save a significant amount of money by operating fewer sites and relying on less help.
The county, however, will not be able to make the switch without a change in state law to allow for voting centers, according to Leslie Barnes, the Democratic co-general counsel at the election division of the Indiana secretary of state's office.
State Sen. Sue Landske, R-Cedar Lake, reportedly had introduced the legislation necessary this year, but it was derailed by Republican opposition to a Democratic amendment that would have allowed anyone to cast a mail-in absentee ballot without an excuse.
It is not yet known whether Landske or another lawmaker will reintroduce the legislation next year. But the move likely would please election officials in Tippecanoe County, who along with their peers in Wayne and Cass counties, have been using voting centers as part of a pilot program set to expire in 2010.
"I wouldn't want to go back and mostly the voters don't want to go back," said Debbie Ingersoll, the Republican co-director of the board of elections in Tippecanoe County.
Tippecanoe County, which includes the city of Lafayette and has more than 100,000 registered voters, relied on 20 voting centers this past Election Day, Ingersoll said. It is doubtful anyone waited longer than a half-hour, she said, though half or more of the ballots were cast this year ahead of Election Day.
Having relied on voting centers for three elections now, Ingersoll said the county has increased efficiency by learning what types of demands to expect at each site. The centers also cost far less to operate overall than the larger number of polling places and eliminate the problem of voters showing up at the wrong site, she said.
The centers access the list of registered voters via computer rather than the traditional paper poll books and rely on touch screen voting machines, which do not provide a backup paper ballot, Ingersoll said.
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To Sarah wrote on Nov 20, 2008 9:58 PM:
sarah wrote on Nov 20, 2008 8:43 AM:
Billy Crowe wrote on Nov 20, 2008 1:18 AM: