Election Board moving toward 5 voting centers in county

The Dubois County Election Board decided to begin the process of creating five voting centers in Dubois County for future elections.

The voting centers are a trend occurring throughout the United States. Indiana currently has at least seven counties that have converted to the new process and at least 25 more counties exploring the option.

If the plan goes through, the five voting centers would replace the many polling locations the county typically operates during an election. Problems associated with these many locations arise when residents go to the wrong location to vote. In past elections cycles, an election worker would have to find out the individual’s address and then call the other polling location to determine if the individual was registered to vote at that location.

If the county creates the five voting centers, residents will be able to vote at any of the five locations in the county. Currently the plan includes creating voting centers at the Huntingburg Event Center, the Ferdinand Community Center, and two unnamed locations in Jasper and one more in Dubois.

The county would save about $13,000 on the amount it pays the voting inspectors, clerks, and judges that typically work at the polling locations. During the last election the county paid out $20,811 for these positions. If the county creates the five voting centers, that cost could be reduced to about $7,700. This savings is offset by the costs associated with new equipment and software required to operate the voting centers. “I think we found that it would basically break even on the cost,” board member Nathan Verkamp said during the meeting on Thursday.

According to County Clerk Bridgette Jarboe, creating the voting centers would streamline the process of voting by including electronic registrations and updates at the voting center. “After the last election, it took our office five days to update all of our voter records by hand,” she explained. “Voters could update their addresses at the voting centers while they waited to vote and this information would then be downloaded into our voting records system here.”

The voting centers also reduce the likelihood of voting fraud or other shenanigans that occur during elections. “Luckily we don’t have this problem like other areas of the country or state,” Jarboe said.

According to the board, they tested the idea out when they created the satellite voting centers during the last election cycle and early 6000 absentee ballots were cast at those locations.

Board members will appear before the county commissioners on June 17 to garner their support and then appear before the county council on June 24 for the same.

A committee that will include members from the commission and the council as well as other community members will be formed after these two meetings to explore the idea further . Two or three public meetings will be scheduled after the plan is finalized and after a period of time for public comment the election board will decide on whether or not to approve the voting centers.

“I would like to have this done by November,” Jarboe told the board.