A dozen people attended last night’s Vote Center public meeting in the County Building. The meeting was the first opportunity for the public to see the draft plan of moving Marshall County from a precinct voting county to a vote center county.
The plan is being created by a seven member committee including Election Board members Deb VanDeMark, Sean Surrisi and Rick Huff, party chairmen Dave Holmes and Jim Smart along with citizens Mike Woolfington and Dan Adams.
The most important portion of the plan to voters is unveiling the proposed vote center locations.
Marshall County has a total of 28 precincts, but they have been combined into 14 polling sites since 2014. The vote center plan proposes to have 12 vote centers; in Bourbon at the Triton High School, in Plymouth at the National Guard Armory, Knights of Columbus and REMC, in Bremen at the Bremen High School and Missionary Church, in Argos at the United Methodist Church, in LaPaz at the Fire Station, in Tippecanoe a the Community Building, in Culver at the Depot, in West Township at the Pretty Lake Church Fellowship Hall and in Tyner at the Polk Township Fire Department.
These are the same sites people have voted in with the exception of taking the site at Lake of the Woods and the Plymouth Baptist Church out of the mix.
The committee felt having 3 sites already in Plymouth was enough and the Baptist Church is already close to the K of C. The Polling site at Lake of the Woods consistently has low voter turnout.
The vote center committee will now accept written comments and suggestions on the draft plan for the next 30 days. They can be sent to the County Clerk’s office in the courthouse.
