Shifting to centers

Registered voters in Jay County may be able to cast ballots at any county designated location in 2026.

Jay County Commissioners approved a resolution Monday designating the county as a vote center county. Their decision follows Jay County Council’s approval Feb. 19.

Next steps include forming a study committee, drafting a plan and seeking public comment on the choice to move to vote centers instead of polling places for each precinct.

Jay County Election Board has been looking into making the switch, with county clerk Missy Elliott approaching council Feb. 19 and commissioners on Monday.

More registered voters have been casting their ballots early as opposed to on Election Day in the last few years, explained Elliott.

Vote centers are an alternative to traditional precinct-based voting in which voters are assigned a voting location in their area. Vote centers allow registered voters to cast a ballot at any county polling location on Election Day.

Currently, the county has eight polling locations. Elliott estimated the county will implement between three and four vote centers.

Indiana has allowed counties the option of vote centers since 2011. More than 70% of Indiana counties use vote centers, including most of those adjacent to Jay.

Elliott explained last week to council that the election board decided to move forward with the change now because it’s an off-year for elections. (Jay County has purchased new polling equipment in recent years, meaning there would be no added cost for required upgrades.) She noted Monday there would be some cost to notifying voters about the change.

Now that council and commissioners have declared Jay County as a vote center county, the implementation process includes creating a study committee, devising a plan, holding a public hearing and public comment period and implementing public comments into the plan. From there, the county election board must vote unanimously to adopt the plan.

Answering a question from commissioners president Chad Aker about potential vote center locations, Elliott said most vote centers are within 10 miles of voters. She noted vote centers must also be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility guidelines.

Also Monday, during the drainage board meeting, commissioners OK’d drafting a resolution to designate county tiles measuring at 8 inches or larger as legal drains. 

County surveyor Brad Daniels explained commissioners made a resolution in 1992 to that effect. (Prior to the 1992 resolution, tiles had to be made a legal drain through the court system and had to impact more than one landowner.) Daniels pointed out that resolution was tweaked in 1997 to designate county tiles at 10 inches or larger as legal drains. 

He said he would like to return to the 8-inch tile designation, explaining that many of the county’s tiles measuring 8 inches and larger are mutual drains and need to be maintained.

Also Monday, commissioners agreed to move forward with an ordinance establishing a temporary no-truck route along a detour in Jay County.

Indiana Department of Transportation plans to replace a bridge deck along Indiana 18 just west of Bryant beginning in April. A detour for local traffic will be routed along county road 50 West, 650 North and 250 West.

Commissioners discussed creating and enforcing a temporary ordinance banning truck traffic from the detour, instead requiring them to stick to the state highways. They asked county attorney Wes Schemenaur to move forward with drafting the legislation.

In other business, commissioners Doug Horn, Duane Monroe and Aker:

•Approved the following: a $47,214 service agreement between Jay County Health Department and Purdue University, effective retroactive Jan. 1 through Nov. 30, for Purdue to provide programming that aligns with state requirements for Health First Indiana funding; $182,297 pass-through claim from LifeStream Services; an updated contract with geographic information system company Beacon — it recently bought out Elevate — subject to meeting commissioners’ ordinance regarding contract requirements; a $176,875 claim from CivilCon of Jeffersonville for engineering work in replacing the bridge on county road 600 West north of Indiana 26 with a culvert; a $87,774 claim to purchase vehicles for Jay County Sheriff’s Office from Thomas Dodge Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Highland and a $85,017 claim to purchase a van for the sheriff’s office from FR Conversions of Westminster, Maryland; $851.85 for food services provided to Jay County Jail from Canteen Services; and a $200 claim for establishing a petty cash fund for Jay County Country Living.

•Approved claims totaling $58,810 for Priority Engineering to replace a book scanner at Jay County Recorder’s Office and claims totaling $24,660.33 for Hays + Sons Complete Restoration of Muncie to make water damage repairs at Jay County Courthouse. Auditor Emily Franks passed on hopes to have repairs to the recorder’s office completed by the end of next week. (Recorder’s office employees have been working out of the commissioners’ room on the second floor since a water leak in September. Damage also impacted some workspaces in Jay County Prosecutor’s Office.)

•OK’d Jay County Highway Department to trade in a 2024 Dodge ($34,000) with electrical issues for a 2024 Silverado 500 ($48,500) at Kelley Automotive Group of Fort Wayne.

•Thanked the highway department for its work in keeping the roads plowed over the winter.

•Heard Jay Emergency Medical Services' financial breakdown for December from director Gary Barnett. The department had $144,119.17 in expenses and $76,970.88 in income.

•Accepted $200 in donations to Jay County Country Living.