Preparations for the fast-approaching May 7 primary elections in Monroe County continued this week.
Decided by a vote of the Monroe County commissioners on Wednesday were the 30 polling locations across the county, where voters in each precinct are assigned to cast their ballots in the May 7 primary elections.
The same polling locations will be used in the Nov. 5 general election.
On Tuesday night, the pay for the election workers who handle the various kinds of absentee voting was clarified by the Monroe County council—it will be hourly, not based on a per diem amount.
Coming up on Friday (March 15) will be the viewing of the ballots at 2 p.m. at the Election Central building (the old Johnson’s Hardware store). [Updated on March 14, 2024 at 12:45 p.m.: The start time for the ballot viewing has been changed to 10 a.m.]
The ballot viewing is a chance for candidates to inspect the drafts of the ballots for each precinct, and catch any typos that might have crept into the mix.
Returning as a polling location this time around will be Meadowood, the senior living community on the north side of Bloomington. Meadowood had dropped out during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There are 83 precincts in Monroe county. Registered voters are assigned by precinct to vote at one of the 30 polling sites. That means most of the polling sites are the designated place to cast a ballot for voters of more than one precinct.
The idea of vote centers—places where people registered anywhere in the county can vote—is currently being studied, but would not be implemented until 2026.
For now, voters in Monroe County have to cast their ballots at their assigned polling location. Indiana’s secretary of state maintains a website where a voter’s assigned polling location can be looked up: polling site lookup.
In-person early voting, which starts in under a month, on April 9, will still take place for everyone at the election operations building (the former NAPA Auto Parts store) at 3rd and Walnut streets. The day before that, April 8, is the last day to register to vote in the May 7 primary.
At the county council’s Tuesday meeting, the pay for absentee voting board members was set, and the county’s salary ordinance was revised accordingly.
Absentee voting board members include those who process mail-in absentee ballots, the “leads” who help train poll workers, and the workers who handle early in-person voting. The pay for absentee voter board workers got closer attention last fall after some election workers were overpaid by mistake, and the workers themselves reported to the county the overpayment in their checks.
When county attorney Molly Turner-King reviewed the issue, she wanted the local salary ordinance to be amended to square it up requirements in state statute.
At last week’s meeting of the election board, Turner-King reviewed the issue with election board members, who indicated three preferences: an hourly rate, instead of a per diem rate; the use of subcategories of workers; and a pay difference between pay categories.
Based on the election board’s input, the resolution that Turner-King put in front of the county council established three subcategories of absentee voter board workers, labeled as A, B, and C, each with a different pay rate.
The county council’s resolution was eventually passed in amended form. The election board has the task of assigning different kinds of absentee voter board workers to the different categories.
In the original draft of the resolution, the pay for A, B, and C subcategories was: $17, $17.50 and $18 per hour, respectively. On Tuesday night, the county council amended those amounts to: $17, $18.50, and $20 per hour, respectively.