Perry County election board debates polling-place accessibility, e-pollbook rules and vote-center options
February 05, 2026 | Perry County, Indiana
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Speaker 2 introduced an ADA polling-location accessibility checklist and urged the board to inspect all polling places about a month before the primary to confirm compliance. "About a month or so before the election that we take a day and go to all the polling locations and double check that they are accessible," Speaker 2 said.
The checklist review prompted a broader discussion about state rules for e-pollbooks and whether Perry County could or should designate vote centers instead of precinct-specific sites. "State law does not permit you to have multiple precincts on the same e poll book," Speaker 2 said, describing a statutory constraint that requires non-vote-center counties to keep separate poll lists and voting-machine configurations for each precinct. Board members said that requirement reduces flexibility when multiple precincts are combined at a single physical location, such as the county highway garage.
Members also discussed the number and placement of handicap-capable voting machines. Speaker 2 said the county might not have sufficient equipment or budget to meet an interpretation that every precinct on a multiple-precinct site must have its own handicap machine: "If she says that, I'm gonna say, we don't have them. We don't have the money to have them." The group agreed to ask "Angie" for specific code citations and to bring more precise legal guidance to the next meetings.
Board members weighed vote-center advantages — where any voter in the county can cast a ballot at any designated vote center — and the practical trade-offs for residents who must travel farther to centralized locations. Several possible local vote-center sites were named, including school gyms and the highway garage; no final decision was made.
What happens next: the board asked staff to request specific statute/code citations from their state contact, schedule a pre-election accessibility site visit day, and raise the vote-center question with county commissioners at their Feb. 17 agenda as follow-up.
The checklist review prompted a broader discussion about state rules for e-pollbooks and whether Perry County could or should designate vote centers instead of precinct-specific sites. "State law does not permit you to have multiple precincts on the same e poll book," Speaker 2 said, describing a statutory constraint that requires non-vote-center counties to keep separate poll lists and voting-machine configurations for each precinct. Board members said that requirement reduces flexibility when multiple precincts are combined at a single physical location, such as the county highway garage.
Members also discussed the number and placement of handicap-capable voting machines. Speaker 2 said the county might not have sufficient equipment or budget to meet an interpretation that every precinct on a multiple-precinct site must have its own handicap machine: "If she says that, I'm gonna say, we don't have them. We don't have the money to have them." The group agreed to ask "Angie" for specific code citations and to bring more precise legal guidance to the next meetings.
Board members weighed vote-center advantages — where any voter in the county can cast a ballot at any designated vote center — and the practical trade-offs for residents who must travel farther to centralized locations. Several possible local vote-center sites were named, including school gyms and the highway garage; no final decision was made.
What happens next: the board asked staff to request specific statute/code citations from their state contact, schedule a pre-election accessibility site visit day, and raise the vote-center question with county commissioners at their Feb. 17 agenda as follow-up.
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