Last night's Election Board meeting
At last night's Election Board meeting, neither County Clerk Jim Fielder nor Republican Board member Judith Smith-Ille would second a motion to vote on satellite voting centers.
Before the Election Board met, Monroe County Democrats hosted a press conference at the Courthouse outlining the reasons in support of satellite voting centers for early voting. Speakers included representatives of the Help America Vote Act Advisory Council and the Voting Systems Advisory Board, along with IU College Democrats President Kelly Smith, County Commissioners President Patrick Stoffers, and State Representative Matt Pierce.
Congressman Baron Hill, who had previously announced his support for the satellite voting centers, reiterated that support yesterday. The Libertarian candidate in the 9th District, Greg Knott, agreed with Hill. Republican candidate Todd Young, after refusing to respond to Hill’s earlier prompts for his position on the issue, finally emailed a statement opposing the satellite voting centers to the Herald Times:
“But, in talking to the County Board of Elections, I have yet to be presented with any evidence of voter disenfranchisement or lack of polling capacity in Monroe County. Because of this, I do not see the creation of the satellite centers as an urgent necessity.”
Despite the support from elected officials and voters, the Election Board failed to act to provide the satellite voting centers.
At Monday night’s election board meeting, Ellis moved to allow three days of early voting each at four sites — Sherwood Oaks Christian Church, the Ellettsville fire station, the Indiana Memorial Union on the Indiana University campus and Redman Hall in Smithville. Her motion included stipulations that each site be inspected by a task force to ensure they were accessible to all.
But Monroe County Clerk Jim Fielder, an election board member, said he doesn’t believe early voting is necessary on the IU campus, citing historically low turnout at the five on-campus precincts open on Election Day and noting the site is close to the downtown Curry Building, where early voting is typically held.
He said his amendment to Ellis’ initial motion at last week’s meeting had been meant to replace the IU site with the Smithville site, which neither Ellis nor fellow election board member Judith Smith-Ille said they’d realized, instead believing he’d meant to add a fourth site.
“I’m still for satellite voting, but I don’t believe it’s necessary at IU,” he said after the meeting.
The Indiana Daily Student captured these reactions:
Bloomington resident Scott Campion addressed the need for citizens of the county to have every opportunity to vote, especially now that the potential sites had already been funded.
“You have the money. You have community support. You’ve got the time,” Campion said. “Why won’t you do it?” Smith said students have the right to easy voting access now as they did during the 2008 elections.
Justin Kingsolver, president of the IU College Republicans, felt differently.
“This is a partisan issue. I know you’re all saying that it isn’t, but it is,” Kingslover said. “We need to make it as easily possible to vote, but we must realize there are limits to that. Some sacrifices have to be made to vote.”
Jordan Emily, a political science student at IU, was disappointed by the meeting’s conclusion.
“I think it’s appalling because they’re clearly making it a partisan issue,” Emily said. “Students need to show up in numbers at the next meeting to defend the voting process.”
Note: the second paragraph was edited to correct the omission of a word. - BK