For the first time, Marion County will use vote centers on May 7 to make voting easier through increased options and improved technology.
It will be Marion County’s first election using vote centers to make casting a ballot more convenient as the centers allow voting to take place outside of the voter’s regular polling center. These new centers will be a mainstay in local elections going forward, including the 2020 presidential race.
“It is good for voters to have options, and becoming a vote center county, being able to vote anywhere on Election Day, is another option for our voters,” Myla Eldridge, the Marion County clerk, said.
Before the vote centers Marion County residents could only vote at their assigned polling center, usually located near their home. The problem was polls are open around business hours, so the most convenient location might not be near a voter’s home but rather their place of work or child’s school. Now anyone living in Marion County can visit any of the nearly 300 vote centers to vote on May 7, regardless of district.
“If they are driving home from work, and it’s 5:30 p.m. or 5:45 p.m., and they pass a vote center, they can pull in that vote center and they can cast their ballot,” Eldridge said.
Those worried about receiving the wrong district’s ballot on Election Day need not worry because poll workers have access to a database containing every Marion County voter and where they live. PollPads, iPads used exclusively for elections, scan voters’ drivers’ licenses, access the database and print an activation slip. An election worker will then use the slip to bring up the correct ballot on a touchscreen device, which voters fill out electronically. Then the ballot is printed and inserted into a machine that counts votes.
The machines eliminate human error, such as incorrectly filling out ballots, while still preserving a physical paper trail.
“It will shorten the time a voter has to wait to cast their ballot,” Eldridge said. “The way modern technology works, it’s quicker anyways, so I feel it will allow us to get the results back quicker than we have in the past.”
Leigh Riley Evans, a Democrat City-County Council candidate for District 9, said the program increases voting options in Marion County.
“My opinion is the more accessible voting is to residents of Indianapolis the better,” Evans said. “I know it is a new process and people will have to get familiar with the change, but I like the idea of being able to vote anywhere.”
Bryce Carpenter, chairman of the Marion County Republican Party and former member of the election board, agrees. He said now is a good time to implement vote centers because current technology makes the machines reliable. Previously, there was concern that the machines would not work if the internet went down, but the new machines can still work during an internet outage.
“We’re in a landscape right now where we are way more comfortable with being able to have a secure election and an election where we will not have large delays where computer systems are down,” Carpenter said.
The clerk’s office plans to continue using vote centers for future elections, so they will be paying close attention how the centers work on Election Day.
“It’s history making for Marion County because this is the first time for Marion County to implement the vote center concept,” Eldridge said.
Contact staff writer Ben Lashar at 317-762-7848. Follow him on Twitter @BenjaminLashar.
To find the vote center most convenient for you, visit indyvotes.org.
The County Clerk’s Office is seeking volunteers to operate vote centers on May 7. To volunteer, visit Pollworker.indy.gov.
The May 7 primary elections mark Marion County’s first use of vote centers. Not only can residents vote at any Marion County vote center regardless of what district they live in, but also the centers implement technology to make voting quicker and easier. (Photo provided)
