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Concerns about election integrity, constitutionality and ballot length were among those raised at a public hearing Wednesday in Indianapolis, where voters and election officials weighed in on potential changes to Indiana’s voting system.
The meeting — the second in a series hosted by Secretary of State Diego Morales — was intended to give Hoosiers a chance to comment on proposals to shift municipal elections to even-numbered years and to expand the use of vote centers statewide.
They are required under House Enrolled Act 1633, passed by state legislators earlier this year directing the secretary of state’s office to study the scheduling of local elections and whether the state should require all counties to use vote centers.
Wednesday’s Indianapolis session followed a first hearing in Muncie last month. Three more are scheduled before the end of the year. The next is scheduled on Sept. 19 in Jeffersonville.
The office will provide the General Assembly with recommendations by Nov. 1, ahead of the next legislative session.
“We’re here to listen,” Morales said in opening remarks. “I want Hoosiers to have confidence that their voices are heard.”
The Republican secretary of state declined to take a stance on the proposals, however.
“I’m going to take all this feedback, compile the information and work with lawmakers. At the end of the day, the General Assembly will make the decision,” Morales told reporters after the meeting. “Nothing is set in stone. We want to make sure Indiana elections are secure, accessible and transparent.”
Data highlights municipal election turnout
Data presented by staff from the secretary of state’s office showed lighter voter participation in municipal elections than in state and federal races.
The presentations won’t be posted online until after all public meetings have concluded, though.
In 2023, for example, turnout in Indiana’s municipal elections was about 27% statewide, according to data cited in Wednesday’s presentation. That compared with roughly 42% voter participation in the 2022 midterm elections and 61% in the 2020 presidential election.
The presentation additionally highlighted that of Indiana’s 4.7 million registered voters, fewer than 1.3 million cast ballots in the 2023 municipal elections.
In some cities, turnout dipped below 15%, while a handful of smaller towns saw participation above 50%. By contrast, presidential election years regularly draw more than 3 million voters statewide.
Officials also pointed to the spread of vote centers as a cost-saving and efficiency measure.
Roughly two-thirds of Indiana’s 92 counties have now adopted the model, which allows voters to cast a ballot at any location within their county instead of an assigned precinct. Counties that switched reported average election cost savings of 10% to 15% compared with the precinct system, and wait times for voters on Election Day fell by about one-third, according to Morales’ office.
There are fewer voting locations in a voter center county but a voter can choose where they vote depending on what is convenient to their home, work or other errands.
Mixed reactions on vote centers, shifting municipal races
Even so, the vote center model drew mixed reactions.
Several who attended Wednesday’s meeting pointed to increased convenience for voters who might not be able to get to a precinct polling place.
“Reducing the places you can go is not good for voters, because in Franklin Township … I had to wait in line for three hours,” said Cecilia Poynter, of Indianapolis. “If you work for a company like I did, where they can mandate you to work 12 hours a day, six days a week, you cannot make it to the polls. … For those of us that work long hours — whether it’s early voting or regular on voting day — poll centers are great.”
“But we need more (locations),” she added. “More for early voting, as well as on Election Day.”
Indiana Democratic Party Chair Karen Tallian, who attended the meeting and spoke during the public comment period, also emphasized that reducing the number of voting locations can also disadvantage Hoosiers in small towns if hours aren’t extended.
“Doing vote centers is sort of like closing lanes on the tollway. You’re going to use the same number of people and force them into smaller numbers of areas,” she said. “So, in order to accommodate that, you either have to do early voting for more days, or you need to increase the number of hours.”
Tallian noted, too, that Indiana communities with populations of 35,000 or less can already choose to hold municipal elections in even-numbered years. Ogden Dunes, her hometown in northwest Indiana, has already made the switch to even-numbered years “because it was cheaper for us.”
She urged the state to leave the choice about voting locations to local officials.
“We do not need a statutory change in order to do that. Small towns are already able to do that if they wish,” Tallian continued. “But we do not support in any way forcing larger towns and municipalities to do this during an even-numbered year.”
Questions were additionally raised about whether moving municipal elections into even-numbered years would boost turnout or simply bury local races beneath higher-profile contests.
Jennifer Lewis with the Vigo County Clerk’s Office pointed to possible ballot fatigue.
“One of my concerns is the size of the ballot. The ballot we had last year was already very large. If we added municipal races, it would have been at least two pages,” she said. “The confusion for voters who live outside the city would only get worse if municipal elections were added to the same ballot.”
While the ballot proofing process “is already very strict,” Lewis worried that adding more races “would make it even harder to ensure everything is perfect.”
“I feel like there’s more room for error when ballots get longer and more complicated,” she said.
Some additionally raised constitutional concerns about shifting election dates.
They noted that the Indiana Constitution repeatedly references precincts and sets requirements for how elections are to be conducted — and that local control and traditional precinct voting are constitutionally protected.
“Definitions matter,” said Ann Ihms, an elected precinct official from Howard County. “I’m an engineer, so the fact that it’s not stated constitutionally that this is appropriate, that should have been a no brainer, from the beginning, not to allow non-precinct voting.”
Morales said after the meeting, though, that the issue over constitutionality ultimately rests with lawmakers.
“I’m not an attorney,” he said. “That’s something the legislature and legal experts will have to determine. My job is to facilitate the process, gather feedback and present the information. The General Assembly will decide what is constitutional and what is not.”
The Indiana Capital Chronicle is an independent, nonprofit news organization that covers state government, policy and elections.
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