Should Indy have more early voting sites? Here’s who decides.
INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — Leaders of both political parties say they’ve tried to alleviate the long lines that Marion County residents are forced to endure during early voting.
But they’ve disagreed on the approaches in recent years — meaning no changes can be implemented until both Democrats and Republicans reach agreement.
That’s because amending the county’s vote center plan requires a unanimous vote by the Marion County Election Board, which consists of the clerk and two members appointed by the clerk, one from each major political party.
Historically, the Republican member of the board has been unsupportive of additional early vote sites, said Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell, a Democrat who formerly chaired the local Democratic party.
“I think it’s important that the minority party, in this instance, that they have a voice,” she said. “But that they have this much control?”
In October, the board’s Republican member, Jennifer Ping, blocked an effort by other members of the board to expand hours at early voting locations in the days leading up to Election Day.
At the Oct. 31 meeting, Ping said she thought it was important “not to change the rules for people in the middle of an election, mid-voting.” By then, early voting had been open at eight satellite locations since Oct. 26, and at the City-County Building since Oct. 8.
All told, more than 130,000 people turned out to just nine early voting locations. The surge led to long wait times, in some cases more than two hours, according to data from the crowdsourced Indy Vote Times project and Mirror Indy’s interviews with early voters.
Joe Elsener, chair of the county Republican party, said it’s the Democrats who are to blame for failing to expand early voting sites. He said Republicans supported doubling the number of satellite locations during early voting ahead of the 2022 midterm election, but said Democrats turned them down due to staffing concerns.
In addition to being concerned about changing the rules in the middle of the election, Elsener said his party opposed expanding voting hours over concerns about staffing the sites on short notice.
Bell said that concern was “disingenuous,” and that her office had already confirmed that they had the capacity to staff extra hours.
Asked if the GOP would support adding additional early vote satellite locations in the future, Elsener would not say.
“We will look at the data from this election and work with the Democrats to make a plan that makes sense for Marion County,” Elsener said.
Reach Mirror Indy reporter Emily Hopkins at 317-790-5268 or emily.hopkins@mirrorindy.org. Follow them on most social media @indyemapolis or on Bluesky at @emilyhopkins.bsky.social.