'No' vote to extend Marion County early voting hours comes with election concerns

A move to extend early voting hours in Marion County failed this week. The Marion County Election Board voted on a proposed change that would have added two hours of voting in the morning at eight early voting locations across Indianapolis.

Advocates for the move argued it would increase voter participation, but those opposed said it is too soon before the election to be making changes.

At a meeting Thursday Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell, who sits on the election board, said more than 79,000 people had cast early in-person votes in Marion County. She said numbers were topping 2020 when early voting spiked during the pandemic.

"I think it’s a common sense approach to this problem of people waiting and waiting and waiting to cast a ballot," Sweeney Bell said.

The three-member board needs unanimous approval to make voting changes. Board Vice-Chair and Republican Jennifer Ping was the sole 'No' vote on the decision not to expand hours. 

"As much as possible, I believe it’s important not to change the rules for people in the middle of an election, mid-voting," Ping said.

The decision followed comments about voter suppression, security, and access.

Jeff Harris sent a statement from the Marion County Democratic Party, Indy Democrats.

"We are disappointed, but not surprised,” the statement read. “The Republican Party has a long history of voter suppression, intimidation and making it harder for working people to vote. Republicans fear more citizens participating in elections because they know their radical candidates and policies are so outside the mainstream that they would be overwhelmingly rejected."

But county Republicans stood firm on the decision.

Joe Elsner with the Marion County Republican Party supported board member Ping’s reason for a ‘No’ vote on expanding hours.

"At this late stage in the election cycle, it is wrong to change the rules that have been agreed upon for months by both major parties,” Elsner said. “With nine early voting locations, Marion County has more early voting options this year than any presidential election cycle in history."

Elsner also pointed out that he has advocated for expanded early voting locations in the past and was told staffing was an issue.

“While we understand that staffing is a concern and a serious challenge, we are eager to analyze the data after this election and work with our Democrat counterparts to determine what we need to do in future elections to continue to make it easy to vote and harder to cheat," he said.

Early voting continues at eight township locations on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from eleven to six. The clerk’s office at the City-County Building has later hours this weekend and early voting hours on Monday before Election Day.

Contact WFYI city government and policy reporter Jill Sheridan at jsheridan@wfyi.org.