No vote center at Purdue raises Election Day red flag

Election Board, university couldn’t come together to find suitable polling place on campus. Is it too late to fix before November election?

• This edition is sponsored by Lafayette Urban Ministry, presenting Hunger Hike Sept. 22. Hunger Hike is a joint fundraiser for Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank and the Haiti Ministry at St Thomas Aquinas – and it's also just a lot of fun. Join them at 1 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22 at Riehle Plaza for clowns, costumed characters, music, magicians, Zumba, free hotdogs and watermelon, and more.  They've got  two walk routes this year – a 1.5K family-friendly route with stops along the way for a boat demonstration, street magic show, live music, and popsicles, and a 4.25K route for those who want to go farther.  Your support is so important, as these three agencies work to meet an ever growing need for food and shelter – both here and in Haiti. But whether you can make a donation or not, please come join them for the celebration. 

Get more details here

---

NO VOTE CENTER AT PURDUE RAISES ELECTION DAY RED FLAG

Calls continued to grow in the past week for Tippecanoe County election officials and Purdue to work out a way to plant a vote center on the West Lafayette campus, offering easier access to polls for those registered to vote locally among the university’s 55,000-plus students.

As it stands, of Tippecanoe County will have 15 Election Day vote centers and nine early voting sites starting Oct. 8.

None of those will be on campus during a presidential election that typically draws the biggest turnouts, based on a schedule set Aug. 15 by the three-member Tippecanoe County Election Board.

The Election Board, citing difficulties in finding suitable places to vote as it had in the past on campus, settled for an Election Day vote center at West Lafayette City Hall – about three blocks from the eastern edge of campus – and five hours of early voting on Oct. 22 at First United Methodist Church, a half-mile west of the university’s residence halls on Mitch Daniels Boulevard.

In 2020, the most recent presidential election, on-campus vote sites combined for 2,426 ballots, or 6.1% of the total cast in Tippecanoe County. In the three presidential elections before that, campus polling places have handled between 2,597 and 7,268 ballots, according to county election records.

The question remains: Is there time before the Nov. 5 election to change things and put a vote center on Purdue’s campus?

“Statutorily, yes,” Mike Smith, a county election office staff member in charge of lining up vote centers, said. “Many issues would need to be addressed by Purdue, and that’s a tough mountain to climb.”

Smith said the county looked to work through logistics, including dedicated secure connections for voter registration data, with Purdue and suggested various sites on campus – Elliott Hall of Music and the Purdue Armory, among them – without getting the university to commit.

Purdue officials, so far, have been virtually silent on the situation. Staff connected with the university’s PurdueVotes program referred questions to the administration. Trevor Peters, a university spokesman, said the university doesn’t set vote center locations and pointed to the PurdueVotes page about how students could register to vote and be sure they had proper IDs in Tippecanoe County and in Marian County, where Purdue’s Indianapolis campus is.

“As demonstrated across many different areas, Purdue believes strongly in civic engagement and its PurdueVotes student group recently released a video to inform Purdue students in West Lafayette and Indianapolis how to register,” Peters said in an email.

In recent days, news about the lack of a vote center on campus has raised alarms.

“Purdue students are a vital part of our community, and the League is disappointed to see that, unlike in previous elections, in this election cycle there are no places on campus to vote on Election Day, or for early voting,” Taylor Flanery, voter services chair for the League of Women Voters of Greater Lafayette, said. “This makes it more difficult for students to exercise their right to vote, and to participate in our representative democracy, and we're concerned this lack of voting locations will suppress turnout among students.”

Jacque Chosnek, chair of the Tippecanoe County Democratic Party, urged Purdue and the Election Board “to resolve any differences to ensure that both students and staff have the opportunity to vote on campus.”

“Removing as many barriers as possible for young, often first-time voters is crucial,” Chosnek said. “With Purdue students now required to complete Civic Literacy in order to graduate, ensuring they can vote freely and conveniently promotes civic engagement and strengthens our democratic process.”

Statewide campaign officials and candidates took note, too, particularly among Democrats noting the 2-to-1 balance for Republicans on the Tippecanoe County Election Board.

“As one of our country’s best universities, every student, regardless of party, at Purdue who is legally registered to vote should be able to make their voice heard in this important election,”  Indiana Democratic Party Chair Mike Schmuhl said Monday. “Tippecanoe County is taking away the on-campus polling site by vaguely claiming that Purdue facilities don’t meet statutory requirements. University administrators don’t seem to be pushing back.”

Destiny Wells, a Democrat challenging Republican Attorney General Todd Rokita, posted about it on social media Sunday. She referred to her 2022 campaign for Secretary of State, which lost statewide but won in Tippecanoe County – a victory that affected ballot order locally in coming elections: “Given that Democrats flipped Tippecanoe County in 2022 for (Secretary of State), allowing Dems things like better ballot placement this general election… Well.”

Tracy Brown, a Tippecanoe County commissioner and chair of the county Republican Party, said he was holding out hope that some of the issues could still be worked out.

“Especially if it comes down to things like getting access to secure internet connections,” Brown said. “Big Ten university, always ranked in the top five … I’m fairly certain that there are some minds over there that could absolutely make this work.”

The Election Board, made up of two Republicans and a Democrat, voted unanimously for the elections office’s vote center recommendations.

The county had used the Purdue Black Cultural Center during the May primary as an early voting site but had opted to move to First United Methodist Church for an afternoon of pre-Election day voting because it had better access and parking. Smith told that board that a meeting with Purdue days before the Election Board vote didn’t come up with a campus location for Election Day, including solutions for dedicated internet connections for the poll books that check voter registration information before someone goes to vote machine.

Smith said the city hall vote center – “sitting in the bustling Chauncey business district that sees thousands of students pass by every day,” he’d say later – would be able to handle Election Day traffic from near campus.

Before the vote that day, Randy Vonderheide, president of the Election Board, called on Melissa Gruver, who is with the Student Leadership and Civic Engagement office at Purdue. She confirmed that the county and Purdue had met about those changes.

“We’re really committed to working together to find ideal locations on campus for voting in future elections,” Gruver told the Election Board.

Purdue officials didn’t respond immediately to questions about the county’s negotiations for a vote center site, Smith’s version of how thing played out or whether requests came too late in the season to accommodate. Smith said later that the questions didn’t sneak up on Purdue.

“They’ve known about all this for the past two years, at least,” Smith said. “I am definitely trying to find the best answers and the right answers for folks. I understand my obligation as a public servant, and I am disappointed in where we're at. But I think we made the best possible solution that we can.”

That day, Lisa Dullum, a Tippecanoe County Council member, told the Election Board that day that the decision was a disappointment.

“I have two students at Purdue,” Dullum said. “City Hall is somewhat close, but it’s still far away from the residence halls.”

(The meeting also raised an objection from Barb Knochel, Washington Township trustee, who asked why there weren’t better voting options for residents in the northeastern part of the county, particularly with the Indiana 225 bridge leading to Battle Ground and a vote center there is closed to traffic.)

Tippecanoe County uses a vote center system that allows voters to go to any polling place in the county to cast a ballot, rather in their home precincts. Here’s how voting when at on-campus vote center sites in the past four presidential elections.

• 2020: 1,127 on Election Day (Mackey Arena); 1,299 in early voting (Mackey Arena)

• 2016: 2,409 on Election Day (Purdue Memorial Union); 426 early (Stewart Center)

• 2012: 2,171 on Election Day (Purdue Memorial Union); 450 early (Stewart Center)

• 2008: 3,475 on Election Day (Purdue Memorial Union); 3,793 early (two days at Stewart Center)

When early and Election Day ballots were combined, here’s how campus vote centers contributed to the overall turnout in each of those presidential election years in Tippecanoe County, based on county records.

• 2020: 2,426 was 6.1% of the total (39,932)

• 2016: 2,835 was 4.4% of the total (64,227)

• 2012: 2,597 was 4.4% of the total (58,275)

• 2008: 7,268 was 10.4% of the total (69,574)

Those totals would include anyone who chose to vote at those sites, whether they were Purdue students or staff or general public. And not all students would have voted on campus, whether they chose another site in Tippecanoe County or voted in their home counties or states. (The PurdueVotes video touted by the university stated that 67% of eligible student voters participated in the 2020 election.)

Ken Jones, a Lafayette resident and League of Women Voters member who attended the Election Board meeting in August, said the situation raises questions about why polling places on campus dried up, even as they remained busy.

“They knew it would be a concern that no sites were at Purdue,” Jones said. “We’ve gone from packed campus voting locations in 2016 to nothing. That serves someone’s agenda, and it’s not the student voters or representative democracy in Indiana. … Purdue under (President) Mitch Daniels fully supported on campus voting. Has that changed? If so, why?”

Laila Veidemanis is a Purdue student who represents a campus district on the West Lafayette City Council.

“I do think that Purdue should have done everything in their power to make voting locations available on campus for students to exercise their right to vote,” Veidemanis said. “I know not everyone has transportation to go somewhere to vote easily and feel that this might be a case of voter suppression. I encourage people who don't think they will be able get to a polling station on the day of to vote early or get an absentee ballot.”

State Rep. Chris Campbell, a West Lafayette Democrat, represents campus in Indiana House District 26. She faces Republican Jim Schenke on the November ballot.

“I have had a lot of people sending me messages of outrage about this,” Campbell said. “I recall voting on campus in the ‘80s and have never witnessed a time that the university, one of the most densely populated area of the county and highest numbers of employees, did not have a poll location on campus. … I am disappointed and outraged.”

FOR MORE

Your ballot and voter registration check: The voter registration deadline to vote in the Nov. 5 election is Oct. 7. To check your voter registration, get registered or to see candidates who will be on your general election ballot, go to the Secretary of State’s portal at www.indianavoters.com.

Vote center locations: Tippecanoe County voters may cast a ballot at any vote center, whether on Election Day or during four weeks of early voting. Here’s where they’ll be.

Early voting

• Oct. 8-Oct. 11, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

• Oct. 15-Oct. 18, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

• Oct. 21-Oct. 25, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

• Oct. 22, noon-5 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1700 Mitch Daniels Boulevard, West Lafayette

• Oct. 26, 9 a.m.-1 p.m., West Point Fire Station, 4949 Indiana 25 S., West Point; Otterbein United Methodist Church, 405 Oxford St., Otterbein; Clarks Hill Christian Church, 9510 Pearl St., Clarks Hill; 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette;

• Oct. 28-Nov. 1, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

• Oct. 29-Nov. 1, noon-6 p.m., Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette; Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South, Lafayette; John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette.

• Nov. 2, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette; Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South, Lafayette; John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette.

• Nov. 2, 9 a.m.-4 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

• Nov. 4, 8 a.m.-noon, Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette

On Election Day

Lafayette

• Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road

• Lafayette Community Church of the Nazarene, 3801 Union St.

• Evangelical Covenant Church, 3600 S. Ninth St.

• Tippecanoe County Historical Association History Center, 522 Columbia St.

• Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South

• Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South

• Northend Community Center, 2000 Elmwood Ave.

West Lafayette

• Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.

• Margerum City Hall/West Lafayette City Hall, 222 N. Chauncey Ave.

• Connection Point Church, 2541 Cumberland Ave.

• John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road

Others

• Dayton Gathering Point Church, 7201 Wesleyan Drive, Dayton

• Shadeland Town Hall, 2485 Indiana 25 West, Shadeland

• Battle Ground Fire Station, 112 North St., Battle Ground

• Tippecanoe Township Volunteer Fire Station No. 2, 448 W. County Road 650 North, West Lafayette

Thanks, again, to help with this edition from sponsor Lafayette Urban Ministry, presenting the Hunger Hike Sept. 22. For more details and to get involved, check hungerhike.org

Thank you for supporting Based in Lafayette, an independent, local reporting project. Free and full-ride subscription options are ready for you here.

Tips, story ideas? I’m at davebangert1@gmail.com.