Early voting brisk in Porter County
By Amy Lavalley Post-Tribune correspondent October 19, 2012 5:04PM
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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: November 21, 2012 6:11AM
VALPARAISO — Early voters have been lining up outside the Porter County Voter Registration Office, and that response is enough to merit opening satellite voting centers in Chesterton and Portage, along with the one in Valparaiso, for the two Saturdays leading up to the presidential election.
“Voting has been brisk,” said Kathryn Kozuszek, the office’s Democrat director, during a Porter County Election Board meeting Friday.
Early voting drew 431 voters on Oct. 9, the day it started, and has been averaging about 300 voters a day, she said.
The board voted 3-0 at its Sept. 14 meeting to open the satellite centers on Saturdays, pending how the early turnout was. The Valparaiso office must be open by state law, and the Portage site was open on Saturdays four years ago for the presidential election. This is the first year for the Chesterton site.
“I’m recommending we have the Saturdays,” she said, adding poll workers are already lined up.
The sites will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Oct. 27 and Nov. 3. The sites are 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.
Early voting also is available from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday at those sites. Early voting ends at noon on Nov. 5 at all sites.
So far, the county has received 4,374 ballots between walk-ins, those that have been mailed, and emails and faxes from members of the military, said Sundae Schoon, the office’s Republican director.
In other business, James Stankiewicz, the Democratic appointee to the election board, will be taking a break until after the board certifies the November election results because his wife, Nancy Vaidik, is an appellate judge up for retention.
Additionally, the board held the state-required test of voting machines.
