John Tuohy of the Indianapolis Star wrote a story posted to IndyStar.com April 13th about early voting.  If you haven’t read it, it is worth your time.

We in Hamilton County have a very good situation because we have three early voting centers in the county plus the courthouse in downtown Noblesville. There is one early voting location  here in Fishers.  But compare our situation with that of Marion County, which has three-times the population compared to Hamilton.

Indianapolis has one early voting location, at the City-County Building downtown.  That’s it.  Why is that the case?

Tuohy reports it is all set by state law.  Each county has an election board, and all members, composed of Democrats and Republicans, must unanimously agree to establish satellite voting centers.  In Hamilton County, Democrats and Republicans agree on establishing voting centers outside downtown Noblesville.  In Marion County, the Republican Party is vetoing the extra voting sites.

There is a pending law suit challenging the state law requiring a unanimous county election board vote to establish satellite voting centers.  Common Cause of Indiana and the Indianapolis office of the NAACP are plaintiffs in the legal action.

State lawmakers could fix this quickly if they have the desire to do so.  I do not believe either party should have veto power over establishing more voting sites in any county.  If you believe in democracy, it is hard to understand why anyone would support the status quo.

It is just sad that a lawsuit is required in order to get consideration of early voting sites because our state lawmakers have failed to fix a broken system.  State legislators have a special session coming up.  They could act if they choose.  Sadly, they likely will not.