The Indiana Election Commission has fleshed out plans for Indiana’s expanded mail-in voting for the June 2 primary. An agreement with the state Republican and Democratic chairmen sets a May 21 deadline to request a ballot. Completed ballots must be returned by noon on primary day. Secretary of State Connie Lawson says her office’s website will soon post a link to request an absentee ballot online, instead of having to mail that request to your county clerk.
Many counties are having even more trouble than usual rounding up enough pollworkers. Lawson says the state will try to help with recruiting, including outreach to high school students and recently laid-off workers.
The state will still offer in-person early voting, but for a shortened eight-day window.
The Election Commission’s plan also loosens requirements for reducing the need for pollworkers using centralized vote centers instead of precincts. Counties which use vote centers would have to have at least one for every 25-thousand voters, instead of the usual requirement of one for every 10-thousand. In Lake County, the largest county still using precincts, that would allow as few as 13 vote centers, instead of the 32 that would normally be required, or the 356 precincts the county uses now.
It would still take a unanimous vote of the county election board to switch to vote centers, or to amend an existing plan to use fewer of them.
The commission’s two Democratic members supported the plan, but then unsuccessfully asked to add requirements to send every voter either a ballot or instructions on how to access the link on Lawson’s website. They also called for an extra four days to request a ballot, and an extra three days for it to be received. Those changes were rejected on a party-line vote. Commission chairman Paul Okeson questioned why Democrats brought those issues up again after reaching an agreement with Lawson and Republican Party leaders.
