LAFAYETTE, Ind. ― Approving six hours of early voting at an on-campus site eased criticism of the Tippecanoe County Election Board, but a room full of Purdue voting site supporters didn't let them off the hook.
The board added the France Córdova Recreation Center at the northwest corner of Third Street and Martin Jischke Drive will be an on-campus early voting site from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 24, the board approved. The First United Methodist Church at 1700 Mitch Daniels Blvd. ― two blocks west of campus ― also will be an early-voting site between noon and 5 p.m. Oct. 22.
Sarah Huber, an associate professor at Purdue and former poll worker, spoke to the board during Friday's meeting.
“I’ve always bragged about what a great team we have, our equipment, how much work goes into ensuring our people are able to vote,” she said.
“Admittedly, I was very upset when I saw there wasn’t a location on campus," Huber said. “I work with these students. I talk with them every day. They don’t walk over to Lafayette. They need something right by them.
“We are modeling civic duty. We talk about civic duty,” Huber said as she challenged the board to add on-campus vote centers.
Although some people spoke to the board with unsubstantiated cries of voter disenfranchisement or voter suppression, not everyone was displeased with board members. They weren't necessarily happy with them, either.
“I know when I was here in the middle of August, we didn’t have any voting at all at Purdue," Tippecanoe County councilwoman Lisa Dullum, D-West Lafayette, said to the board. "So this is a good improvement.
"However, I’m very disappointed we don’t have Election Day voting," Dullum said. "I’m still very, very concerned about the lines on Election Day. It’s not just the students who vote at Purdue. The staff vote at Purdue. The faculty vote at Purdue. I vote at Purdue.”
The board also added an early voting site at McAllister Recreation Center in Lafayette for 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 19.
Last month, the board approved early voting sites, as well as Election Day vote centers. But they did not have any Purdue sites because they could not secure WiFi that matched the state statute.
"We had a lot of things to work out," election board staff Mike Smith said of the lack of WiFi provided by Purdue on campus. "When we first came to you in August, we weren’t able to have that resolved.
“What we do need is to be able to transmit voter registration data to the sites in real time and have it come back in real time so we don’t have people voting multiple times,” Smith said of the initial shortcomings of Purdue sites.
“Indiana law says ... (the WiFi) has to be distinct, separate, secure, private and not available to any other traffic.”
Tippecanoe County Election Board member Kent Moore said he's appointed by the county's Democratic Party to represent it. He noted that Party Chairwoman Jacqueline Chosnek asked him to propose extending the early voting on campus by two hours. She also asked Moore to propose moving the Election Day vote center from Margerum City Hall to the France Córdova Recreation Center.
Moore's motion failed for a lack of a second by the board, which is composed of two Republicans and two Democrats.
Smith explained part of the selection for early voting sites and vote center sites include where registered voters are.
In 2008,10,660 registered voters were living on or near campus. Today, 3,058 registered voters were living there.
“Vote centers, by statute, are supposed to be assigned by registration … not just population, but registration," Smith explained. "So an area may have a high population but not necessarily a high registration.”
Pressed about the distance between the campus and city hall, Smith said, “Students walk past there all the time to go to Neon Cactus or Panda Express."
There also are problems with singling out student voters.
“Federal case law prohibits you from identifying a particular demographic and prioritizing them over other demographics," Smith said. "You’ve got to be cautious about saying you’re doing this for so-and-so.”
Amy Paget also spoke her mind to the board during the meeting.
“I have no connection to Purdue at all. None," Paget said. "What I do know is there are faculty, staff and students on that campus who need to be able to vote.
“It just seems unconscionable to me that there is no vote center on Purdue on Election Day,” she said. “Please consider that.”
In other matters Friday, the election board tested a random sampling of the voting machine that will be used.
Each machine has a serial number, and 5% of the serials numbers were drawn Friday morning by Ball State voting oversight. Those machines were pulled and tested.
The machines accurately recorded the sample votes, reassuring the public that the election will be secure.
Reach Ron Wilkins at rwilkins@jconline.com. Follow on Twitter: @RonWilkins2.
