Brown County has no countywide election until 2020. Between now and then, the Brown County Election Board will be studying whether or not to change where and how elections will take place.
As the system is set up now, Brown County voters can only cast a ballot on Election Day at a polling place in their neighborhood. If they want to vote early, they can do that at a central location in Nashville, but they do not have the option to go to any polling place other than their home precinct on Election Day.
The election board will be studying whether or not it makes sense to switch to vote centers, as nearly three dozen Indiana counties have done.
Vote centers allow voters to cast a ballot anywhere in their home county. For example, if they work in Indianapolis and live in Van Buren Township, and can’t make it all the way down to the southern part of the county to cast a ballot by the time polls close, they could stop in Fruitdale and vote there.
Election Board President Susanne Gaudin is a fan of vote centers. Among the benefits is that they save counties money, because they don’t require as many poll workers to run the election, she said.
However, there are other considerations to look into and a lot of steps to be taken if Brown County is serious about going in this direction for 2020, she told the board at their Feb. 14 meeting.
In August, the election board will need to submit its budget for 2020 to the county council, and the board needs to have a good idea by then of whether or not it’s going to change things, because that will change the budget, she said.
The election board will devote a good part of its next meeting to discussing vote centers, Gaudin said.
That meeting date has not yet been set; the estimate was “late March.”
Two of the three members of the board also debated at this meeting about what time their meetings should be. Gaudin wanted them to stay at 2 p.m. “like they’ve done for decades,” while new member Amy Kelso wanted them to be in the evening so that working people like her can attend. The February meeting took place at 5:30 p.m. on Valentine’s Day.
Gaudin argued that keeping them at 2 p.m. makes it easier for county officials to attend if they need to. She also had concern about being out at night during the winter months. Kelso argued that boards should “be available to a cross-section of the community” and that having meetings at 2 prevents working people from being there.
Gaudin pointed out that, as chairman, she is able to set the meeting schedule. The board will alternate meeting times at 5:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. until the weather improves.
Gaudin appointed Robyn Bowman as her proxy in case she ever couldn’t make a meeting. Bowman would have the same duties and responsibilities as Gaudin, including voting rights. Kelso said she would appoint a proxy as well.
