Hamilton County Council advances resolution calling for vote centers

By GREGG MONTGOMERY
WISH-TV | wishtv.com

The Hamilton County Council on Wednesday approved a resolution that calls for the creation of vote centers for future elections.

Vote centers eliminate the need for a county’s registered voters to find a specific precinct on election days, which can cause frustration when voters go to the wrong polling place.

If the Hamilton County Commissioners and the Hamilton County Election Board also back the proposal, vote centers would be used instead of individual precincts as soon as Primary Election Day on May 5, 2026.

In the November 2024 general election, Hamilton County had 220 precincts at 111 polling locations, according to a document from the county government. Due to the growing population of the county, the number of precincts could increase to 235 in 2026.

Hamilton County has identified possible sites for the creation of 52 vote centers in the May primary and the November general elections.

As of July 16, Hamilton County had 265,199 active voters.

Hamilton County already has early-voting locations where any registered voters can make their selections ahead of election days.

Sixty-seven of Indiana’s 92 counties – including Marion County and Indianapolis, which started vote centers in 2019 – use them on election days. Brown, Hamilton, and Monroe counties are the only ones in the Indianapolis metro area that do not use vote centers.

This story was originally published by WISH-TV at wishtv.com/news/election/hamilton-county-council-advances-proposal-to-create-vote-centers.