Push now to reopen Monroe County vote center debate resisted by board chair, clerk

Vote centers were again a topic of discussion for Monroe County’s election board, when board member Penny Githens on Thursday pushed for the board to reset a process for establishing them.

Just four months ago, the board voted 2–1 to establish vote centers in Monroe County, which meant the measure failed. That’s because a unanimous vote of the three-member board is required for enactment of vote centers.

Based on Thursday’s board discussion, it appears unlikely that the board will re-initiate the process now. But the three-member group is holding open the possibility of convening a special meeting sometime in the remaining part of October.

Also getting a mention at Thursday’s board meeting was another issue that raises questions about how the 2026 elections will be conducted. There’s a tight timeline for completion of the planned renovation of space in the Showers North building, in order to house voter registration and early voting activity.

Voter registration is currently done at Election Central, in the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets. For the last few election cycles, early in-person voting has been done at the old NAPA Auto Parts building at 3rd and Walnut streets, which was demolished to make way for the convention center expansion.

Vote center debate restart?

A special October board meeting about vote centers is contingent on any new information that might be received from a direct inquiry with Indiana’s secretary of state, Diego Morales, about the status of a study that the state legislators earlier this year tasked the secretary to complete by the end of October.

Vote centers are different from the kind of precinct-based polling locations that are currently used by Monroe County. At a precinct-based polling site, only voters from specified precincts can cast a ballot there. Vote centers are polling places where a voter who is registered in any precinct of the county can cast a ballot.

Under the act that the legislature passed, Morales is supposed to estimate any cost savings that might result from a requirement all counties to use vote centers, how those changes would affect voter turnout, hold at least three public meetings on the proposals, and to submit a report with the findings to the state’s Legislative Council by Nov. 1, 2025. The three public meetings have already been held.

Not getting as much attention as vote centers is an additional part of the act that directs the secretary of state to study cost savings from shifting local or municipal elections to even-number different years.

As of early 2025, 68 of Indiana’s 92 counties have adopted vote centers.

The local partisan politics include Githens as the Democratic Party’s appointee, Danny Shields as the Republican Party’s appointee, and Nicole Browne, a Democrat, who serves on the election board as the elected county clerk. Browne and Shields were the two votes that put Shields in the chair’s seat last month over dissent from Githens.

On Thursday, Githens proposed that the board hold two public hearings before Nov. 14 to reconsider the adoption of vote centers in Monroe County for the 2026 election cycle—so that the board could consider the proposal at its regular meeting on Dec. 4.

As one argument, Githens cited the fact that vote centers allow voters to cast their ballots at any voting location in the county. “Vote centers eliminate turning away voters because they’re at the wrong polling location … or offering provisional ballots, which are later rejected,” Githens said.

In the restarted process, Githens wants to use the same required plan that a committee worked to produce earlier this year. “I would like for us to use the existing plan, because it was created earlier this year. I don’t feel that it’s necessary to create a new plan. I think it’s completely valid.”

Browne raised the question of the study that is underway by the secretary of state, and eventually suggested putting off a vote on Githens’s proposal until more information is available.

Even stronger resistance was offered by board chair Danny Shields, who cast the dissenting vote in May on vote centers, and made clear that his position on vote centers has not changed in the meantime. “We can have a motion, you can have hearings, but nothing has happened that would change my vote,” Shields said.

“If the secretary of state and the legislature mandate vote centers, then we’ll put a plan together… but at this point in time, nothing has happened that would change my vote.”

Browne suggested the board wait for more information from the secretary of state’s office, which is currently holding public hearings statewide on the vote center issue.”

Shields agreed to reach out to the secretary’s office for an update, and Browne indicated a willingness to call a special meeting, if needed.

A big logistical hurdle to any attempt enact vote centers in Monroe County in time for the 2026 elections is the acquisition of enough printers to do the on-demand ballot printing that vote centers rely on. Instead of pre-printing all the various ballot styles that would be needed for any precinct in the county, the correct ballot style is printed for each voter.

At Thursday’s meeting, Monroe County election supervisor Kylie Farris told the board the expected delivery time for printers would be six to eight months after ordering them.

Early voting, voter registration

Voter registration is currently handled at Election Central—that’s the old Johnson’s Hardware building at 7th and Madison streets. 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. It was demolished to make way for the convention center expansion.

The plan now is to consolidate voter registration and early voting operations in one place—the North Showers building, which is owned by the Monroe County government. It’s the same building occupied by Bloomington city hall.

In March, the county commissioners approved a $26,000 contract with Springpoint Architects to assist with design, construction documents, quoting, and renovation of approximately 6,500 square feet of office spaces in the North Showers Building to house voter registration and early voting operations.

According to Richard Crider, who is Monroe County’s fleet and building manager, the construction documents, and bid submissions are complete. The acceptance bid award will be presented to the county commissioners meeting at their meeting on Oct. 16, 2025, according to Crider. Construction is supposed to begin no later than Nov. 3 and is expected to be substantially complete within 90 days, Crider said.

At Thursday’s meeting, election supervisor Kylie Farris told the board that there’s some question about whether the construction in Showers North on the voter registration offices would be complete in time for primary election activity, although the early voting space was supposed to be finished. Early in-person voting for primary elections is set to start April 7, 2026. Candidate filings can be made starting Jan. 7, 2026.

Crider confirmed to The B Square that he’s thinking of the project in 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. In any case, the completed construction will allow for eventual consolidation of both election functions in the same building, Crider indicated.