05/13/13 A few registered voters in Plymouth will have a new voting precinct next year.
Last week the Marshall County Election Board; Clerk Julie Fox, Republican representative Nelson Chipman and Democrat representative Roger Wise appeared before the Marshall County Commissioners seeking their approval of amending four voting districts.
Chipman explained that following the 2010 census if was determined that the precincts in the City of Plymouth were not equal, thus the reason for amending the voting districts. In reviewing the census blocks it was decided that moving just a few active register voters would be the easiest way to balance the districts.
There were only minimal changes in Center 1 with 14 voters being added from Center 2 and in Center 3 there will be 36 voters moved to Center 4. Chipman said voters affected in the changes will be notified of the changes prior to the next election.
County Clerk, Julie Fox explained that making theses minimal changes will be money saving since they won’t have to make multiple ballots.
The Marshall County Commissioners unanimously approved the amendment. The changes will now be forwarded to the Indiana Election Board for final approval.
In other business the Election Board asked for support in purchasing 10 more computerized voting machines from MicroVote. The clerk said during the presidential election there were times when voters had longer lines to wait in than anticipated. It is believed that 10 additional voting machines strategically placed will alleviate wait times to vote. Each machine is $2,950 so the election board will need an additional appropriation of $29,500 to purchase the machines. The election board said they don’t have the required funds and will seek an additional appropriation from the County Council at their May 13th meeting. The commissioners put their support behind the election board in seeking the additional funds from the County Council.
