Election Board sets satellite voting

Early voting begins today for residents unable to vote on primary Election Day, May 8. The polling site in the Curry Building at 214 W. Seventh St. will be open from 9 a.m. until 6 p.m.

The Monroe County Election Board also voted to allow satellite voting during the upcoming election, which will provide five additional voting locations throughout Monroe County during the two weeks before the primary election.

“It gives voters another opportunity to exercise their right to vote,” said Lorraine Farrell, the Election Board’s Democratic member. “My honest opinion about that is that we should do whatever we can to make voting accessible to as many people in our community as possible.”

The Indiana legislature first passed a bill allowing satellite voting across the state in 2008. Although the Monroe County Election Board arranged satellite voting sites during the 2008 elections, satellite voting sites were not offered in 2010.

The reason, Election Board Chair and Republican member Judith Smith-Ille said, was because it was a smaller election.

“In 2010, I didn’t think we would have the turnout to warrant the expense,” Smith-Ille said. “All the presidential elections are much bigger turnout from both parties.”

During each shift, 10 people will operate satellite voting operations, five from the Democratic Party and five from the Republican Party.

To allow satellite voting, the three-member board must vote unanimously on the locations.
Although the board reached consensus on the need for satellite voting, agreeing on a location was not easy.
Particularly, board members disagreed about a voting location near the IU campus. On April 23 and 24, satellite voting will take place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the South lobby of Assembly Hall.

“(Assembly Hall) will service more voters, both residents and students, in the north section of town,” Smith-Ille said. “It was literally picked for location and HAVA compliancy. If you can’t get adequate parking there, you might as well forget it.”

Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Help Americans Vote Act, all voting sites must be easily accessible to those with disabilities.

Assembly Hall, Smith-Ille said, was chosen for its easy accessibility.

Although concern exists surrounding HAVA noncompliance of several polling sites on Election Day, Farrell said each satellite site is easily accessible for those with disabilities. While the Election Board votes on sites for satellite voting, the Monroe County Commissioners select the sites on Election Day.

But Farrell said she was in favor of a location closer to the heart of the IU campus. Campus and the surrounding area, she said, have the highest population density in Monroe County.

“IU has a huge population of students and faculty and staff, and many of them want to vote,” Farrell said. “A break between classes is not going to give them time to get downtown, get to their car, drive to Assembly Hall or walk to Assembly Hall and get back to class.”

Although Farrell agreed that satellite polling sites need to be distributed geographically throughout the county — north, south, east and west— she also said it is important to look at population densities.

But satellite voting sites on campus, Smith-Ille argued, have not been successful in the past. In 2008, Smith-Ille said the Election Board ran a polling site inside the Indiana Memorial Union. But the site, she said, was unpopular because it was hard to get to.

“Every voting site should be accessible to anybody in the community, whether they’re in Salt Creek Township or whether they are on campus, or no matter where they are,” Smith-Ille said. “I don’t think the one they put in the back of the student union building was too successful.”