Published: March 20, 2008 05:14 pm            

Vote centers deserve OK

We were disappointed that lawmakers failed to reach a compromise on a measure that would have allowed counties to opt for vote centers rather than neighborhood polling places.

The measure got hung up because the House and Senate passed differing versions and could not come to a meeting of the minds. The Democrat-controlled House wanted to allow voters to cast absentee ballots by mail without giving an excuse, but the Republican-controlled Senate opposed that provision.

Frankly, we would have supported the absentee voter provision. It simply makes sense to make voting as convenient as possible. Still, we would not have sacrificed the vote center concept to get it.

The secretary of state’s office had tried vote centers last year in Tippecanoe and Wayne counties, and from all indications, the experiment was a success. If the legislature had gone along, Secretary of State Todd Rokita was proposing to expand the concept to counties across the state.

At a time when local government is under pressure to trim expenses, the vote center concept seemed to us to be a no-brainer. By cutting down on the number of polling sites, the concept would have allowed counties to save money by operating their elections with fewer poll workers.

At the same time, the centers would have made it easier for everyone to vote. Instead of having to go to a specific location on a single day, the concept would allow people to choose from several locations over a period of several days.

Making it easier for Hoosiers to vote should be everyone’s goal. For years, voters across the state have been limited to casting ballots at a single polling place during one 12-hour period.

Vote centers are a concept whose time has come. Our hope is that Rokita will push ahead with his efforts to take Indiana’s elections into the 21st century. And we hope that next year the legislature will go along.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

        

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