The Porter County Elections Board voted Thursday afternoon to do away with four of the least attended vote centers in an effort to reallocate voting machines and workers to centers where they are most needed.

About seven residents, including Porter County Democrats Chair Don Craft and Valparaiso City Councilwoman Barbara Domer, D-3rd, asked the board to reconsider the closings, particularly those at Hampton Inn in Valparaiso and the Ogden Dunes Fire Station.

Slated for elimination are: Ogden Dunes Fire Station at 111 Hillcrest Road in Ogden Dunes; the former Best Western, 6200 Melton Road, Portage; Hampton Inn & Suites at 1451 Silhavy Road in Valparaiso; and Boone Grove Middle School at 325 W. 550 S in Boone Grove.

In her lengthy statement, Domer said over 1,000 voters used the four vote centers in the last election. “I am proud to be a resident of Porter County, whose Election Board voted that we needed more vote centers,” she said, and asked if the board had considered the county’s growth rate of 1.6% annually.

Annemarie Marti of Valparaiso was concerned about taking away the Hampton Inn, the nearest vote center for Valparaiso University students. “They may not have a car or other transportation to get even a mile away,” she said.

Four Odgen Dunes residents spoke of how their town would not be complete without a polling place. “When you close a polling place, you close a door to someone’s constitutional right,” said Danny Goldsmith.

“The last time I voted, there was a line out the door,” said 25-year Odgen Dunes resident Elsie Anderson, who said she passes other polling places with fewer people and wanted to know why the Ogden Dunes Fire Station was chosen.

County Clerk Jessica Bailey recapped the decision process with a PowerPoint presentation.

She explained that the discussion began last August.

“We discussed it each month, so it should not come as a surprise,” she said. When the county moved from precinct voting to vote centers in 2022, it reduced available polling places from 62 to 44 and has been the county with the highest centers per registered voters in the state. “Going down to 40 will still keep us among the highest,” Bailey said.

“This was data-driven decision making,” she added, explaining that the four centers didn’t just have low voter turnout, but some had accessibility issues. Bailey cited an audit of some sites for ADA compliance in 2022 that included the Ogden Dunes vote center.

She said the audit returned a 10-page workup of “everything that was wrong with that site.” A new gazebo requires the placement of cones for the protection of the visually-impaired, but those cones then narrow the walkway too much for wheelchair compliance.

“That’s a lawsuit, not only for the Election Board, but for the town of Ogden Dunes,” Bailey added. “That’s something to think about.”

Coincidentally, legally blind Ogden Dunes resident Ursula Henkel wasn’t impressed by their concern and said semis hauling steel pose a different risk for those who would try to walk to the next-nearest vote center.

“I think it’s absolutely heartless of all of you,” she said. “We have a board. We have a town and we like to vote where we know people. There’s not a person who would be safe walking two-and-a-half miles,” she added of the railroad tracks and bridge that pedestrians would have to cross to get to the next-closest vote center.

Board members, who are required by state statute to reach a unanimous agreement on any changes to the number of vote centers, were sympathetic to the concerns but countered them.

“Since we’ve gone to vote centers, we’ve had record turnout,” said Board Member Jeff Chidester. “I am thanked every election” by people who are grateful they can vote anywhere in the county going about their business rather than where they live.

He added that voting at the Valparaiso hotel has been sporadic and there were only 12 Porter County residents registered at VU in the last election.

Board Vice President Ethan Lowe said there has been a lot of dialogue on the number of vote centers since before their inception. “We’ve come a long way with how we are conducting elections and change is hard,” he said.

He also addressed rumors on social media. “Some of the rhetoric that was out there was that there was party politics,” he said, and then explained that the board is made up of automatic membership of the county clerk and two appointments each by the county’s Republican and Democratic chairs.

The Ogden Dunes site has eight other vote center locations within five miles, and the Woodland Park vote center, which is one of the county’s most popular, is within two miles.

There are 12 other vote centers within five miles of the Portage hotel, as well as seven locations within three miles and 12 locations within five miles of Hampton Inn & Suites, as well as three within two miles. Boone Grove Middle School is less than five miles from the vote center at Boone Grove High School.

In other business, Bailey said she hopes to spread the word that a new state law is taking effect July 1 that requires all office-holders who make more than $5,000 in their elected positions to have an open campaign or face a fine of up to $1,000.

That requires officeholders to file their annual campaign finance report every January or face a fine of $50 per day up to $1,000. The state does not hold the Elections & Registration Office responsible for reminding people.

Shelley Jones is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.