INDIANAPOLIS -- All Indiana counties would have the option to use vote centers on Election Day under a bill that passed the Senate on Tuesday.
The legislation by Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, will now be considered by the House. The names of Republican Sens. Ed Charbonneau of Valparaiso and Brandt Hershman of Wheatfield appear on the bill, along with lawmakers of both parties from other parts of the state.
It passed 49-0.
"It is a fair bill," Alting said of Senate Bill 32. "It is a bipartisan bill."
Residents of a county that switches to vote centers may cast their ballot at any of their county's vote centers, regardless of where in the county those residents live. Alting said vote centers offer convenience, increase voter turnout and save tax dollars.
Before the vote, Sen. Lonnie Randolph, D-East Chicago, asked who would decide how many vote centers each county would get and where they would be located.
As the bill is written, the local election board would adopt a vote-center plan after holding public hearings and collecting public comment. That plan would include the number of vote centers and their locations.
Alting also said a county election board could only exercise the vote-center option by unanimous vote.
Because that would require the consent of Republicans and Democrats, he said, that provision takes politics out of the bill.