Long lines in Marion County should come as no surprise

Chris Sikich
Indianapolis Star

Voters have been plagued by hours-long lines at early polling sites in Indianapolis, which should come as a surprise to nobody.

Marion County voters have fewer places to cast ballots per voter than in any of the seven surrounding counties, an IndyStar analysis found. With high interest in the presidential election, the situation has led to waits that in some cases rival a working day. 

Some relief is on the way. The two major political parties have a tentative agreement to open Lucas Oil Stadium this weekend with 50 ballot boxes. Election board members will vote Friday morning. Clerk Myla A. Eldridge also extended voting hours in her office

"We are happy to see that so many people are sticking it out and it's not deterring voters here in Indiana," said Katie Blair, director of policy and advocacy at ACLU Indiana. "People are showing up in comfy clothes, bringing snacks and water and are happy to participate in our democracy. But certainly both parties should have agreed earlier to open more locations." 

Marion County voters have long faced challenges casting early ballots. A 2017 Indianapolis Star investigation found state and local Republicans systemically expanded early voting in GOP-dominated areas in the suburbs and restricted it in Marion County and other Democratic strongholds. 

Marion County was able to expand early voting in 2018 after voter-rights group Common Cause Indiana and the Indianapolis NAACP won a court judgement. 

"Satellite voting took a 10-year hiatus in Marion County," Common Cause Policy Director Julia Vaughn told IndyStar on Thursday, "and that was definitely an attempt by Republicans to suppress the vote after Barack Obama carried the county in 2008. Before that everything was rosy. But when turnout surged and a Democrat for the first time in 40 years took this county, Republicans sprung into action." 

How Marion County got to this point

Here's the issue. County election boards, which include Republicans and Democrats, must vote unanimously on early voting plans. In Marion County, they agreed to six locations for 670,208 registered voters.

Hamilton County, meanwhile, has 38 percent the registered voters but two more places than Marion County has to vote early as of Friday. Boone County has 8% of the voters but three more places to vote early.

Those aren't anomalies. Hoosiers in Hancock, Hendricks, Johnson, Shelby and Morgan counties also have more places to cast ballots per voter than in Indianapolis. 

So why do Marion County voters have so few places to vote, comparatively speaking?

That depends on whom you ask. 

Marion County Democratic Party Chairwoman Kate Sweeney Bell said Democrats argued for more early voting locations but couldn't persuade Republicans to go along.

Jennifer Ping, the Marion County GOP election board member, said she never voted against a plan or was aware of a plan for more early vote centers. She said the clerk's office lacked the poll workers necessary to operate more centers and didn't anticipate the high demand for early voting.

"I would be in favor of opening more centers right now if we have the ability to before Election Day," Ping said. 

Sweeney Bell said the idea there weren't enough poll workers is "preposterous." She said more than twice as many people applied than the county is using. 

She said Republicans want to suppress the vote in Democratic strongholds, an accusation Ping denied.

"Donald Trump has made it clear that keeping the vote down is beneficial to him, and they are toeing the party line," Sweeney Bell said. 

When asked whether there was a plan for more locations, Russell Hollis, the deputy director of the Marion County Clerk's Office, which is headed by a Democrat, told IndyStar he is not going to referee that back and forth so close to the election. He pointed out the county does have the volunteers to operate a center at Lucas Oil Stadium, though. 

A troubled history 

For Marion County voters, lack of access is nothing new. 

Common Cause Indiana and the NAACP’s Indianapolis chapter filed a lawsuit in May 2017 over a lack of early voting opportunities in Marion County. 

A 2017 Indianapolis Star investigation conducted after that lawsuit was filed found that Republicans on the election board voted to block vote centers in Marion County in elections between 2009 to 2016.

The only place to vote early was the clerk's office, which is allowed by state law. The surrounding counties, though, opened additional early vote centers besides their clerk's offices. 

For a time, former Clerk Beth White found a loophole by opening early voting locations at traffic court and juvenile court, which technically were under her purview.  Republicans in the state legislature closed that loophole in 2013, with a law specifically targeting blue-leaning Marion, Lake and Allen counties from opening such locations. 

Ultimately, a judge ordered Marion County to open early voting locations. Former GOP county chairman Jim Merritt and Sweeney Bell negotiated to open several early voting centers. They also eliminated precinct-only voting by making every voting center open to any county voter. 

Merritt, county chairman in 2017-18, denied that Republicans wanted to suppress the vote. He said they were concerned having voters cast early ballots in multiple locations would  lead to fraud. As technology improved, he said those fears lessened.

Asked why Republicans in the suburbs didn't share those fears in their counties, Merritt said he could only speak to Marion County. 

"I'm really glad that we came to a resolution with early voting," he said. "I think we came to a good solution because we were able to sit down and talk face to face." 

Voting issues persist

Other problems have plagued the clerk's office. When an unprecedented number of absentee ballots were cast in the primary, about 1,800 were left uncounted because they arrived too late.

IndyStar reported earlier this week that the county had lost track of as many as 600 absentee ballots ahead of this election. 

Early voting continues through Monday. Polls are open 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Election Day Nov. 3. 

Call IndyStar reporter Chris Sikich at 317-444-6036. Follow him on Twitter: @ChrisSikich.