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Local parties clash over early voting hours

Early voters wait in line at the Rousseau Center in downtown Fort Wayne ahead of election day.
Ella Abbott
/
WBOI News
Early voters wait in line at the Rousseau Center in downtown Fort Wayne ahead of election day.

Local Republican and Democrat officials are butting heads on extending hours for early voting on Saturday, spurred by long wait times at the location in downtown Fort Wayne. WBOI’s Ella Abbott reports on what’s causing the division.

The Allen County Democratic Party is trying to get extended early voting hours for this coming Saturday, but it would have to be a bipartisan decision made by the Allen County Election Board, which denied the request for an emergency meeting earlier this week.

Republican Party Chair Steve Shine says the hours that were originally agreed upon by both parties are very generous and exceed the state’s minimum requirements.

“Now, with a week and a half away from the election and the ability to ascertain who has and who hasn’t voted, that’s unfair to seek to change the dynamics.”

Shine suggested Democrats are attempting to change the hours because they aren’t seeing the response from their base they expected. Democratic Party Chair Derek Camp says from what he can tell, the current breakdown of early voters leans more democrat.

Camp says the effort to increase hours is a response to long wait times at the Rousseau Center.

“It’s not a convenient way of conducting elections, nor is it an effective use of government.”

The Rousseau Center is currently open 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, it will be open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and beginning next week, four other satellite locations will be open as well, with the Rousseau Center extending hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

October 24 is the last day to request an absentee ballot in Indiana.

Ella Abbott is a multimedia reporter for 89.1 WBOI. She is a strong believer in the ways audio storytelling can engage an audience and create a sensory experience.