Vermillion County to hold meeting over vote centers

The first meeting will take place tonight at 6 p.m. at the Vermillion County Courthouse in the Commissioners Courtroom. 

Could voting look different in Vermillion County in future elections?

It's a possibility as Vermillion County officials are examining vote centers and will hold two public meetings pertaining to the concept. The first meeting will take place tonight at 6 p.m. at the Vermillion County Courthouse in the Commissioners Courtroom. 

According to Tami Lowry, Vermillion County Circuit Court Clerk, vote centers have been discussed for years between the Election Board and herself. 

"There are 92 counties in Indiana and 65 are vote centers. We are just catching up. We want to go to the vote centers before the state makes everyone go to them," Lowry told The Parke County Post. 

Lowry acknowledged a change would bring a savings on locations

"The county will save on locations and the amount of people we use. Just with these two, we will save over $6,800 twice a year. We have all the equipment that we need, so there would not be any expenses for that," Lowry said. 

In addition, Lowry said with there being elections held in May and November, her office has used 70 people to work and utilized 14 voting locations. Should Vermillion County go to vote centers, the number of workers will drop to 35 and the number of locations would fall to seven. 

"We will also have a savings on food that is purchased for each Poll Worker, we give about 30 dollars for the day for food so we will also save another 1,050.00 dollars in savings there. These are just a few of the areas we will be saving on with vote centers," Lowry said. 

Lowry said the meetings are mandatory before going to vote centers and her and other local officials will be listening to what everyone says and taking information back should there be any changes. 

"A decision would be made once the Election Board signs off on the order and it gets sent to the IED (Indiana Election Division) most likely sometime after our second meeting," Lowry said.