(La Porte County, IN) - The La Porte County Council unanimously voted in favor of switching to vote centers last night.

 

La Porte County Clerk, Heather Stevens, stated switching from precinct voting would be more convenient, because residents would then be able to vote at any polling location in the county.

 

Stevens said one of the ideas behind vote centers, which most Indiana counties have gone to, is increasing voter turnout. She added, saying that people returning home from work are often pressed for time to reach the nearest polling location to where they live before it closes.

 

“This is especially important for working people. This will make it much easier for those people to stop by any vote center to vote on Election Day,” she said.

 

Stevens noted that money would also be saved from having fewer polls to staff.

 

Council President Mike Rosenbaum said that voting would also become easier for people who relocate, rather than go to their former polling place to learn that they now have to vote in the precinct where they currently live.

 

“Then they go running around all over.  Some of them have had to wait in line then find that out,” he said.

 

Approval is now required from the La Porte County Commissioners for the switch to vote centers to become official.  Stevens said she expects to go before the commissioners sometime in August.