MARION COUNTY — With five days to go until Election Day, Marion County is seeing higher early voter turnout than at this point in the 2020 election.
On Thursday, the Marion County Election Board met to consider expanding early voting hours at the eight satellite locations by opening two hours earlier at 9:00 am instead of 11:00 am.
“I don’t know that two hours does anything but make more frustrated staff workers," said Republican board member Jennifer Ping who voted against the motion to amend the 2024 General Election Vote Center Plan.
“We have had buy-in from the poll workers from the sites," added Democratic member Kate Sweeney Bell, who serves as the board's secretary and the County Clerk.
She addressed concerns about people wanting to go downtown to vote this weekend because of the traffic and crowds the Taylor Swift shows are expected to bring.
According to indywaittimes.org, wait times have exceeded an hour at many of the early voting locations throughout the county.
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Sweeney Bell also introduced a motion to expand hours to just the north side and the south side sites, but that was voted down by Ping as well.
“I’m not a fan of changing the rules, most importantly for our candidates and other workers who have set aside their work hours and taken time off," said Ping. "It's not fair."
“It is very frustrating to me because voters clearly want this and it’s not a heavy lift, it’s something we can actually do," added Sweeney Bell. "We see on social media the frustration people have.”
Sweeney Bell and stand-in Anne O'Connor both voted in favor of additional hours, but state law requires the vote to be unanimous among all three of the bipartisan board members.
All satellite locations in Marion County will remain open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and the City-County Building will be open from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Friday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
Marion County residents can early vote at the following sites:
- Decatur Township Government Center
- Franklin Township Government Center
- MSD Lawrence Education & Community Center
- Perry Township Government Center
- International Marketplace Coalition
- St. Luke’s United Methodist Church
- Thatcher Park Community Center
- Warren Township Government Center
For more information on this year’s election, click here.
