Porter County paring down vote center sites from 44 to 40

Chicago Tribune

a day ago

The Porter Board of Elections & Registration is expected to pass a resolution at its meeting later this month to close four of its 44 vote centers. State law requires a unanimous vote and a signed amendment to enact the change.
Slated for elimination are: Ogden Dunes Fire Station at 111 Hillcrest Road in Ogden Dunes; the old Best Western, 6200 Melton Road, Portage; Hampton Inn & Suites at 1451 Silhavy Road in Valparaiso; and Boone Grove Middle School at 325 W. 550 S in Boone Grove.
The former Ogden Dunes site has eight other vote center locations within five miles, and the Woodland Park vote center, which is one of the county's most popular, is within two miles. There are 12 other vote centers within five miles of the Portage hotel, as well as seven locations within three miles and 12 locations within five miles of Hampton Inn & Suites, as well as three within two miles. Boone Grove Middle School is less than five miles from the vote center at Boone Grove High School.
After studying a report put together by Porter County Clerk Jessica Bailey and Elections & Registration Office staff, the members of the four-person board, which included proxy Jennifer Klug who sat in for member Jeff Chidester, agreed during the May 29 meeting that it was a good idea but put off the formal vote until elections office staff could reach out to county party chairs as a courtesy.
Their next meeting is on June 26.
'It just makes more sense to lower down to 40 considering when we started the vote center conversation we knew we were going over and above and beyond,' said Bailey, who explained that Porter County has had more vote centers than any other county.
'I think the conversation in and around that was kind of trying to shock-proof the change,' added Board President Paul Rausch of the choice to have more vote centers than other counties when the county moved from precinct voting to vote centers in 2022.
'And we didn't know where people wanted to go,' Bailey added. 'Now we have a better understanding of where people prefer to go.'
Elections officials spoke of the change as more of a consolidation than a closure as machines and poll workers from the four vote centers being eliminated will be used at busier centers where they are more needed.
'Going to vote centers was hard, but we always knew that there were going to be adjustments that were going to be made,' said Board Vice President Ethan Lowe. 'Now that we've been through one cycle we've got the data.'
In other business, the board congratulated Elections & Registration Office staff for its receipt of the 2024 Clearing House Award from the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission. The staff was one of only 53 honored nationally.
The award was for best practices in recruiting, training, and retaining poll workers. The county has over 300 poll workers and has been implementing an app that allows them to communicate with each other, election judges, and office staff without sharing personal information.
Bailey said elections staff began introducing poll workers to the app during training sessions so they would be well-versed with it by Election Day. 'We were able to keep communicating all day long,' she said.
LeAnn Angerman, a representative from U.S. Senator Jim Banks' office, made a special trip to the meeting to praise the staff for receipt of the award. 'Their work doesn't go at all unnoticed,' she said. 'For them to get the award is a pretty big honor. We just want to acknowledge that.'
Rausch said that while a fellow board member just commented last month that it's a privilege to watch the work being done month in and month out, year in and year out, 'it's gratifying that other groups of people and the ripples in the pool are growing and it's a testament to the work they are doing,' he said.