People gathered at the second public hearing for a vote center plan in Monroe County.
(Donnie Burgess, WFIU/WTIU News)
The proposal to adopt vote centers in Monroe County died Monday night.
The plan created by the Vote Center Study Committee would have abandoned location-based precinct voting in Monroe County in favor of 29 vote centers open to any resident. The plan needed a unanimous 3-0 vote from the Monroe County Election Board to pass, which then would have been sent to the Monroe County Council for the final vote.
Election board member Danny Shields, a Republican, voted against the plan. Shields read from a prepared statement before voting no. He questioned the true, underlying goal in getting Monroe County to adopt vote centers.
“It is important to note that committee was never entirely unbiased,” he said. “They never considered whether vote centers were a good idea. They were always focused on getting them implemented.”
Republican election board member Danny Shields reads a prepared statement opposing the adoption of vote centers in Monroe County. (Courtesy, Microsoft Teams)
Democrat John Fernandez and county clerk Nicole Browne voted in favor of the committee’s plan, which had been in planning for the last two years.
As the public hearing ended, a handful of vote center supporters shouted “shame” at Shields, including Monroe County Councilmember David Henry.
“Alright, we are adjourned,” Fernandez said.
“Shame Danny, shame. Shameful,” Henry said.
Currently, Indiana has 65 out of 92 counties that utilize vote centers instead of traditional precinct-based voting locations.
Julie Thomas, president of the Monroe County Board of Commissioners, was also in attendance. In 2023, the commissioners adopted a resolution in support of vote centers.
Current commissioners Thomas, Lee Jones, and Jody Madeira provided brief, written responses to the vote against vote centers.
"This decision is incredibly disappointing," Thomas said. "Across Indiana, 65 other counties already use vote centers. This is not a Democratic or Republican issue: it’s a voting issue. Allowing voters to vote anywhere they choose makes the process easier, eliminates complications, and would permit greater turnout. Despite the clear benefit, a minority of the Election Board chose to maintain the status quo, which means continued obstacles for voters across Monroe County."
"At a time with incredibly low voter turnout, we should ensure voting procedures are simple and efficient," Jones said. "Vote centers represent inclusive voting processes that would have enabled all of Monroe County to have easier access to voting. A minority of the Election Board chose the opposite."
"The rejection of vote centers is unacceptable," Madeira said. "The precinct-based voting system creates significant hurdles for voters, especially students. During the 2024 election, around 280 provisional ballots cast by voters at the Indiana Memorial Union were rejected simply because the voter was at the wrong location within Monroe County. That those otherwise valid, lawful votes were rejected points to a systematic failure of precinct-based voting, one that the Election Board should have corrected."
