Voters report scattered problems at the polls
Rob Schneider and Robert King   Indianapolis Star   06 November 2007

A handful of problems were reported across Marion County today as voters went to the polls to cast their ballots in the municipal elections.

Marion County Clerk Beth White overall appeared to have avoided a repeat of the primary election debacle in May, when a number of precincts opened late and five didn’t open at all.

The Indianapolis Star asked voters to report polling problems to a database on IndyStar.com. By 10:30 a.m., 40 voters had reported problems in Marion County.

Nearly half the complaints involved voters having to cast paper ballots because of inoperable touch-screen voting machines. Several people who tried to vote at Trinity Episcopal Church, 3243 N. Meridian St., said their names were not on the voter rolls and were given provisional ballots instead.

Several voters on the database complained about party representatives and poll workers handing out party literature inside polling places, including at Indianapolis Fire Department Station 5 and Franklin Township Fire Station 52. Scattered throughout Marion County, people reported going to where they had voted in past elections, only to learn their polling places had been moved.

Responding to reports of voters unexpectedly finding that their precinct polling location has changed when they arrive at their traditional site, Scott Chinn, attorney for the Marion County Election board, said that less than 10 polling locations out of 484 across the county had changed.

It is typical in every election cycle in places that held poll sites before couldn’t hold it again, Chinn said.

There is no statutory regulation that requires officials to notify that their precinct’s polling places have changed. The mayor’s office s each precinct’s polling sites.

Both the Democratic and Republican parties sent out information letting voters know where their polling sites are, said GOP party chairman Tom John and Democratic party chairman Michael O’Connor.

Andy Mallon, director of elections for the Election Board, said he was unaware of any widespread problems with the M100s, the machines that count the paper ballots. Some of the touch-screen voting machines that were inoperable earlier due to problems with batteries are up and running, he said. Batteries for the remaining machines still not working were being recharged, and voters were asked to use paper ballots instead.

A mistake in the voter rolls caused a problem affecting about 483 voters in 14 precincts, said GOP chairman Tom John and Democratic Party Chairman Michael O’Connor.

Voters who live on the east side of Delaware Street between 30th and 96th streets are affected, John and O’Connor said. Residents of these areas, particularly those in the Meridan-Kessler neighborhood, have been going to their longstanding polling places only to be told they are not on the rolls and told they need to go somewhere else. When they arrive at the location they had been directed to, they found they could not vote there as well, John and O’Connor said.

Officials from both the Democrat and Republican parties say that voters should stay at the precinct at which they traditionally vote. Poll workers should call the registration office and verify the information so those voters can vote at their traditional sites. Voters who experience this problem are urged to call the Marion County Board of Voter Registration at (317) 327-5040. Voters who experienced the problem earlier and left when they could not vote can return to their traditional polling sites, O’Connor and John said. Workers have been instructed on the procedure to allow them to vote.

John said officials are trying to figure out what caused the glitch. Neither he nor O’Connor could give an estimate of how many voters had tried to vote but didn’t because of this problem.

The three Marion County precincts that opened late this morning were up and running by 7:30 a.m., if not sooner, elections officials said. The delay was attributed to poll inspectors failing to show up for their assigned duties. In one case, a poll worker got lost on the way to the voting site.

Mayor Bart Peterson and Greg Ballard, his Republican challenger, hit polling places nonstop this morning.

Peterson voted at 6:30 a.m. and has been stopping by precincts on Indianapolis’ Eastside. At the UAW hall on 30th Street east of Arlington, Peterson thanked volunteers working the phones to remind supporters to vote and see if they need a ride to their polling sites.

“All seems good,” Peterson said. “I’ve been optimistic and am optimistic. The reception has been very positive. We are going to keep going all the way until 6 o’clock tonight. It’s all about fighting for every vote. Well, not fighting, but encouraging every vote.”

Ballard started the day by voting near his home in Pike Township and has stopped by several sites on the Northside, said Debra Taylor, who has served as Ballard’s communication director.

Early this afternoon, Ballard visited Center United Methodist Church in Perry Township off of Bluff Road, where coffee, donuts and hot cider was being provided for voters and poll workers said turnout has been steady. Ballard said he is retaining his optimism throughout the day.

"I think heavy turnout is going on today," he said. "I've always believed, and voter turnout just makes me more optimistic."

Ballard said his campaign had overcome lack of funding and exposure and that he had connected with voters. He recalled a moment at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church earlier in the day when he introduced himself to a voter.

"I said, 'I'm Greg Ballard,'" he said. "She said, 'And I've had enough.'"

Voting in suburban counties appeared to be going smoothly overall. An unexpected glitch in Hamilton County occurred when a few residents of southwest Clay Township tried to vote in neighboring City of Carmel election races.

Election Administrator Kathy Richardson said the outlying township residents were rightly turned away because their communities have not been annexed as part of the city yet and they are not eligible to vote.

She blamed the confusion on a sign erected at a church where the residents vote in countywide elections.

“Because they didn’t want people coming in there they posted a sign saying something about going to the Village of West Clay. That’s the closest polling site,” explained Richardson, who added that no one who normally votes at the church was eligible to vote Tuesday.

“By putting the sign up, it just confused them even more,” she said.