Indiana Secretary of State Diego Morales and his team were in Northwest Indiana Wednesday night to talk about election issues with more than 100 attendees, capping off a series of election study public meetings.
“Whether you are for or against moving when we do municipal elections, or whether you’re for or against using vote centers in Indiana and in your county, we want to know,” Morales said. “Since taking office, I have traveled to all 92 counties and (spoken) about elections. Everywhere I go, I bring up elections and the possible changes to the election process because elections impact us all.”
House Enrolled Act 1633, authored by state Rep. Ben Smaltz, R-Auburn, requires the Secretary of State to conduct the studies, host at least three public meetings on the studies and report results to the legislative council before Nov. 1, according to the Indiana General Assembly’s website.
“I am committed to increasing voter turnout and voter participation, and that’s why we’re doing a lot of outreach,” Morales said.
The majority of attendees, including various political leaders, expressed concerns about using vote centers instead of precinct-based voting, claiming that it wouldn’t work in Lake County.
Some attendees also expressed concern about moving municipal elections, claiming that voters would be less likely to vote locally if it was during a presidential year.
“We cannot afford to reduce voter access,” said state Rep. Mike Andrade, D-Munster. “Any policy that creates barriers will deepen this problem. Mandating vote centers would reduce locations, especially in underserved communities, and create more barriers.”
Andrade also added that vote centers would require people to travel further than precinct locations, which would be difficult for areas that don’t have reliable public transportation.
Former Lake County Democratic Party Chair Jim Wieser said during public comment Wednesday that vote centers are not a partisan issue, and that in Lake County, Democrats and Republicans have worked together to make voting access and run “fair, honest and secure elections.”
In the 2024 election, 42% of Lake County residents voted early, Wieser said.
“Why? Because it’s convenient, and we don’t want to lose that,” he added. “I appreciate your statistics … but we’re really talking about people’s lives and their ability to vote here. Accessibility to vote centers just won’t work in Lake County.”
During Wednesday’s public meeting, two staff members from the Secretary of State’s office — Kegan Prentice and Dustin Renner — presented findings on municipal elections and the cost. Matt Housley, election systems audit specialist in the Voting System Technical Oversight Program, presented vote center data.
In 2023, the total cost of a municipal election cycle, including primary and general elections, was about $18.2 million, Renner, election director, said Wednesday. In 2024, the total presidential election cost was about $29.6 million, Renner said.
Turnout for the 2023 municipal election was about 20.6%, Renner said, while the midterm general election in 2022 was about 40% and the 2024 presidential election saw nearly 62% turnout.
Both studies did not include 2020 data because it was during the COVID-19 pandemic and was an outlier as no-excuse mail-in voting was allowed for the primary.
During his voting center presentation, Housley explained that Lake County only uses precinct-based voting and was found to run some of the most efficient elections.
“Consistently, across the board, Hamilton, Allen and Lake counties arguably run the most efficient elections, especially for how large their counties are,” Housley said. “That’s not to say the rest of Indiana is not doing a great job, because they are as well, just not as good as you guys, I guess.”
Housley also told attendees Wednesday that vote centers consistently had higher voter turnout, but it wasn’t enough to make a “statistical difference.”
Savings from vote centers consistently came from poll worker costs, Housley said, because they require fewer locations than precinct-based centers. In 2024, vote centers spent $2.04 less per voter, Housley said, adding that even though Lake County uses precinct centers, the county still had some of the lowest costs in the state.
“In vote centers and (precinct-based locations), people are generally satisfied and happy with their elections overall,” Housley said.
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Attendee Damon Flint told the Secretary of State’s office that people enjoy precinct centers because it allows them to get more involved in the voting process. By switching to vote centers, the state would use fewer workers, and fewer people would be involved in the civic process.
“We saw a lot of high school students, a lot of youth and first-time voters coming in,” Flint said, “and we don’t want to take that away.”
Gary resident and former city and county candidate Carol Ann Seaton told presenters that she was frustrated that her vote’s worth was reduced to how much money the state would save. She also believes that a vote center system wouldn’t work in Lake County even if it might work in more rural areas.
“In (rural counties), people are accustomed to going 20 or 30 miles to the grocery store, and in Lake County, people are accustomed to going five, 10 or 15 blocks to the grocery store,” Seaton said. “Our mindsets are completely different, and how we travel, how we work and how we live is different.”