The Tippecanoe County Court House in Lafayette Indiana is one of the most elegant, history-laden, courthouses I have seen. Being a fan of history, government, and courthouses, I have seen many such architectural pleasantries and I rank this one as beautiful... Approaching the beauty of even my own Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen Indiana.
But, I was not in Lafayette to visit historic buildings. As a member of the Elkhart County Vote Center Study Committee, I along with Sharon Harder, of same committee, visited Tippecanoe County today to observe voting in their Vote Centers.In Indiana, a Vote Center county allows voters to cast their votes at any polling place in the county, regardless of where the voter may live. This is in contrast to the traditional precinct vote system where one can vote only in their precinct.
Part of what I did today was interview voters as they exited the polling place to get their opinions of the Vote Center concept.
Without exception, all said that they liked the vote center system better than the precinct system.
One fellow explained that he had to leave for work today earlier than when the polls opened, and would return later than when the polls closed. Being able to vote anywhere in the county enabled him to stop by a Vote Center while at lunch and cast a vote. There! At least one otherwise discouraged voter was accommodated!
And I'm sure many, many more.
Good job Christa Coffey, Tippecanoe County Clerk(and all of your helpers)!
As we, Sharon and I, visited the Vote Centers and asked questions, it became obvious to us that this system works very well and insures the integrity of each vote cast and counted. Thank you, Sharon, for such relevant and defining questions.
I encourage Elkhart County to move to become a Vote Center County. It will save money, and accommodate democracy.
Also, if you happen to visit Lafayette, drop in and eat at Sgt. Preston's of the North. This is a fun restaurant with a Canadian Mounties theme. I had the Buffalo Burger.
