The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration voted to submit the board’s proposed precinct consolidations to the state’s election division because the Secretary of State’s proposal created county council, county commissioners, school and city splits.
Secretary of State Diego Morales sent the county a letter in July stating that Indiana law dictates that after a presidential election, precincts with fewer than 600 active voters should be consolidated.
In the letter, Morales said that the election board should submit “a proposed precinct consolidation plan with unanimous approval” from the board members.
“In the alternative, individual members of the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration can present the office with a proposed precinct consolidation plan if an agreement between members cannot be made,” Morales wrote in the letter.
During its July 30 meeting, the board unanimously approved 29 precinct consolidations, while five precinct consolidations were approved in a 3-2 vote along party lines and one precinct consolidation was approved in a 3-1 vote with one member abstaining, according to election board data.
Lake County ultimately sent in two reports for precinct consolidation, Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Director Michelle Fajman said, one by her on behalf of the board after it voted on the precincts and one by Republican assistant director Jessica Messler.
“It was not a Democrat plan, it was a board looking at specific precincts that were under 600,” Fajman said of the report she submitted.
Messler said her report contained public record of the precinct consolidations the board discussed. Messler said she submitted a report after the Republican election board members asked her to.
“It’s been a standard practice that both sides submit a report,” Messler said.
A precinct split would just add a step on Election Day as poll workers would have to make sure of the right encoder, which has the proper ballot, Messler said. The voters wouldn’t see a shift in procedure, she said.
Mike Mellon, a Republican election board member, said at the board’s Oct. 21 meeting that the Republican members can submit a separate report.
“The minority party obviously has the right and the obligation to submit information when there’s a 3-2 vote against,” Mellon said.
The election board’s practice has been to submit one report approved by the board, Fajman said.
The Secretary of State’s precinct consolidations, which were established after the county board approved precinct consolidations, were mostly similar to the board’s proposal but made eight changes that created various splits, Fajman said.
Further, Fajman said, the eight precincts that the Secretary of State established were taken from Messler’s submission.
The eight impacted precincts were:
*The Secretary of State merged Gary 5-13 with Gary 5-16, which created a county council split.
*The Secretary of State merged West Creek Township 01 with West Creek Township 02, which created a town boundary split.
*The Secretary of State merged East Chicago 02 and East Chicago 24, which created a city council and school board split.
*The Secretary of State merged East Chicago 22 and East Chicago 23, which created multiple splits.
*The Secretary of State merged Hammond 2-05 and Hammond 2-14, which created a county council split.
*The Secretary of State merged Hobart 19 and Hobart 21, which created a city council and school board split.
*The Secretary of State merged Gary 05 with Gary 07, which created a commissioner and county council split.
*The Secretary of State merged Merrillville 02, Merrillville 30 and Merrillville 30A, which created a county council split.
The Lake County board has been working to clean up precinct splits when reviewing precinct data, Fajman said.
“Splits can be very confusing. It’s confusing to voters. It’s confusing to candidates, as they walk a precinct trying to get materials out,” Fajman said.
The Secretary of State’s precinct consolidation went into effect when he issued it, Fajman and Messler said.
When the election board met Oct. 21, it voted 3-2 to correct the changes made by the secretary of state for precinct consolidations. That means, Fajman said, the board directed the office to change the precinct consolidations back to what the board approved July 30.
Now, the election division will consider the proposals for approval. If everything is approved, Fajman said notices of precinct consolidations go out, and if not, the election division holds a hearing, she said.
akukulka@post-trib.com
