Early voting for 2026 primaries in 5 months, Monroe County preps new space, vote centers linger

A sign posted at the Monroe County government’s North Showers building, inside the north entrance, now directs visitors to the new location of offices for the parks and recreation department.

The parks and rec department has moved to make way for early voting and voter registration. There’s a significant remodeling project that’s needed to make the space ready for the 2026 election cycle.

At its regular monthly meeting on Thursday (Nov. 6), Monroe County’s election board got a briefing from county fleet and facilities director Richard Crider about the project. The construction contract with Strauser Construction Company was signed after getting approved by the county commissioners on Oct. 30. Crider reported that Strauser had gone ahead and applied for the building permit to expedite the process.

The topic of voter centers for Monroe County got a mention on Thursday, when a clarification about the required time for ordering and receiving the necessary printing devices was given—one that is much shorter than had been earlier thought. The board’s discussion of vote centers at a special meeting two weeks ago, ended in postponement to the board’s Dec. 4 meeting, not this month’s meeting.

That was due to the fact that Republican Party appointee Danny Shields, and current chair of the board, could not attend. Shields designated as his proxy Franklin Andrew, who served as GOP county chair in the mid-2000s. It was Andrew who presided over this Thursday’s meeting.

Vote centers, which would be different from the precinct-based locations used by Monroe County, will likely get more discussion at the December meeting of the election baord.

For the North Showers remodeling work, Crider thinks the building permit could be issued next week, and if that turns out as hoped, Strauser plans to mobilize on (Friday) Nov. 14 with interior demolition work to start the following Monday (Nov. 17).

The work was originally estimated to cost $1.5 million, but the actual contract is for $653,600, to be paid for out of the $6 million general obligation bond that was approved by the county council and the county commissioners last week. The design work for the roughly 6,500 square feet of office space was done by Springpoint Architects under a $26,000 contract.

There’s an urgency to the project, especially the part that provides space for early voting activity. For the last few election cycles, Monroe County voters have cast in-person early ballots at the old NAPA building at 3rd and Walnut streets. The NAPA building was demolished to make way for the convention center expansion.

Early in-person voting for primary elections is set to start April 7, 2026, just five months away. Earlier than that, on Jan. 7, 2026, candidates can file their official declarations, which is currently handled out of the same offices as voter registration.

Voter registration is currently handled at Election Central—that’s the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets. The plan now is to consolidate voter registration and early voting operations in one place—the North Showers building. That part of the building is owned by the Monroe County government. It’s the same structure occupied by Bloomington city hall. The city owns its portion of the building.

The building remodeling project is conceived as having two phases, with the first priority to complete the construction for early voting space. The second priority is to complete the construction for the voter registration offices.

Another related project that’s needed to make the North Showers location work for early voting is “hardscape improvements” for the north parking lot. The scope of work includes drainage improvements, sidewalk repair and replacement, and asphalt replacement.

At Thursday’s (Nov. 6) board of county commissioners meeting, bids for the work from three different companies were opened (Crider Construction, E&B Paving, and Milestone Construction).