Porter County opening satellite voting centers
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent September 15, 2012 11:08AM
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Porter County residents can find more details on voting in the Nov. 6 general election at www2.porterco.org/home/
departments/voter/.
Updated: October 17, 2012 6:45AM
VALPARAISO — Satellite voting centers in Chesterton and Portage will tentatively be open along with the one in Valparaiso for the two Saturdays leading up to the presidential election.
The Porter County Election Board voted 3-0 Friday to open the additional centers, pending an Oct. 19 board meeting to gauge whether the flow of early ballots merits having all three places available. The last two Saturdays before the Nov. 6 election are Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.
Early voting begins Oct. 9, and ballots can be cast at the Porter County Government Center, 155 Indiana Ave., Suite 105, Valparaiso; the North County Government Complex, 3560 Willowcreek Road, Portage; and the Chesterton Town Hall, 790 Broadway, Room 107, Chesterton.
The Chesterton location was added as a polling place for the May primary, in part to meet the need of voters in that community casting ballots on a referendum for the Duneland schools.
Voter turnout could be high. In 2008, the county received 17,000 absentee ballots, said Kathryn Kozuszek, Democrat director for the Voter Registration Office. That included 12,000 people who voted in person in the Valparaiso and Portage locations.
During the 2008 presidential election, the Portage site was open in addition to the Valparaiso site on the two Saturdays leading up to the election, election board attorney Clay Patton said.
The decision requires approval from the Porter County Board of Commissioners, as well as the Chesterton Town Council, and requires security measures to be put in place, said Karen Martin, one of the members of the board., adding it was better to be proactive.
