EDITORIAL: A perplexing voting veto of election bill to make registration easier

The Journal Gazette

Last week, Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law an election bill that makes voter registration easier. At the same time, and with inadequate explanation, he vetoed another bill that would have made it more convenient for voters to cast their election ballots. Hoosier voters and lawmakers deserve a clearer justification from Daniels about his objections to the bill.

Senate Bill 209 passed in the Senate 48-0 and in the House 55-43. It allows the three-member county election boards to create multiple early-voting sites by a 2-1 majority board vote rather than the previous requirement for a unanimous 3-0 vote. Every county must have one early-voting center, but the decision to open additional satellite early-voting centers must be unanimous. That provision was designed to eliminate partisan skirmishes similar to the long legal battle that occurred in Lake County last fall. Democratic members of the Lake County election board opened more early-voting centers to meet demand, but Republican members opposed the move and asked the courts to close the sites.