The Starke County Election Board is expected to vote on a switch to vote centers next week. So far, residents seem to be in favor of the change, according to Clerk Bernadette Welter-Manuel.
“Lots of support,” she says. “We have gotten, I would say, roughly, over 30 comments, and only two of them have been opposed.”
The Clerk’s Office took public comments on the proposed change from mid-November up until yesterday. A switch to vote centers would mean voters could cast their ballots at any one of seven locations in the county.
Welter-Manuel says that board members are also looking to expand early voting opportunities, beyond what the draft vote center plan initially called for. “We are extending the hours of the satellite voting centers, the one that will be in Koontz Lake and the one that will be in North Judson,” she explains. “We extended for a full week on each one.”
The Election Board will vote on the plan when it meets next Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. in the second floor meeting room in the Starke County Courthouse. If approved there, it will go to the county commissioners for final approval.
