For the second time, the proposed Vote Center Plan for Starke County failed to advance.
The Vote Center Plan would eliminate the precinct polling place manner of voting on Election Day. Any voter in the county would be able to vote at any of the seven proposed Vote Center sites throughout the county to cast a vote on Election Day. It would also implement e-poll books for electronic signature which helps speed up the process when checking in to vote.
In a meeting on Wednesday morning, with much of the same information presented, Dan Bridegroom, acting as a proxy for Starke County Election Board member Harrison Fields, gave the lone opposing vote.
“I will read what Harrison gave to me yesterday before he left for the doctor,” began Bridegroom. “ ‘If there is a vote on the Vote Center Plan, I, Harrison Fields, ask Dan Bridegroom, my proxy, to vote no.’ I cannot overstep Harrison’s feelings or beliefs in what’s going on with this as I haven’t attended enough meetings to do that. So I HAVE to follow his directive.”
Election Board President Marcia Bedrock and Clerk Bernadette Welter Manuel submitted votes in favor of the plan. In order for the plan to move forward, it must pass with unanimous vote of the entire Starke County Election Board.
A third and final attempt will be made during the board’s next meeting on Monday, Feb. 3 at 9:30 a.m.
Due to extenuating circumstances, Fields couldn’t attend the Election Board meeting, but Bridegroom expressed concerns that Fields conveyed to him. He said Fields wanted to have a committee set up to gather information prior to setting up a Vote Center plan and wanted to follow a Ball State model. The other members of the board did not agree with him in that aspect. Fields thus opposed the idea of how the information was gathered for the proposed Vote Center plan.
The issues that Fields brought up in previous meetings were addressed and included in the draft plan. Bridegroom argued that those changes needed to be voted on in a public meeting, but Manuel countered that the document is a living document and all of the contents were being voted on in Wednesday’s public meeting.
A big issue Fields had was meals. It was noted during the meeting that the county council anticipated a switch to Vote Centers during the budgeting process. Funds would be available to provide meals to poll workers with the switch to Vote Centers. If the plan doesn’t pass, poll workers would need to bring in their own meals on Election Day.
Starke County Council President Dave Pearman stressed his support, the support of the entire county council and the majority of the public who are in favor of Vote Centers.
“I wanted to emphasize to the public that this has a lot to do with fiscal responsibility, but our most important issue with this is that this is a huge benefit to the public. It’s more convenient,” stated Pearman.
He added that the majority of the residents have expressed their support to the move to Vote Centers.
County Council member Brad Hazelton said this is an opportunity for the county to enact its own plan before it becomes mandatory by the State and the State puts a plan together for the county.
Other Starke County government officials spoke on the matter including Council member Howard Bailey who said he reached out to Harrison Fields to discuss the move to Vote Centers. Pulaski County Clerk JoLynn Behny and Pulaski County Election Board member Jessye Gilley talked about the success of the implementation of their county’s switch to Vote Centers and urged Starke County to move in that direction.
The Vote Center plan can be accessed by clicking here: http://www.co.starke.in.us/election/VOTE%20CENTER%20PLAN.pdf
