VOTER ACCESS UNDER ATTACK!

At Thursday's meeting of the Warrick County Election Board, Democrat board member Dennis Sullivan made a statement that he had no intentions of supporting the continued use of the satellite voting location at the Ohio Township Public Library for early, absentee-in-person voting for the 2010 election. Demcrat chairman Terry White also made statements to this effect in a number of communications with Warrick County Clerk Sarah Topper. Because a unanimous vote of the Election Board is required by law to approve the use of a Satellite Office, it appears that the 26,000 plus voters in Ohio Township will be denied the access to polls that was extended to them in 2008.

Sullivan's stated reason for his refusal was that it would be unfair to voters in other parts of the county if a satellite office were provided in Newburgh, and not in all other parts of the county, namely Lynnville, Tennyson, Elberfeld, Chandler and Boonville. However, early voting is already available at the Clerk's Office in Boonville, and the days and hours for voting there far exceed those available at the satellite office. While satellite offices in all communities in Warrick County appears to be a good idea on its face, cost is a significant factor. While it makes sense to provide a satellite office in an area surrounded by 26,000 of the county's registered voters, it doesn't make sense to spend the same money to provide an office in a location where only a few hundred voters reside.

The Democrats' refusal to allow absentee-in-person voting at the Ohio Township Library is a complete reversal of policies instituted under former Democrat Clerk Shannon Weisheit. The satellite office in Ohio Township was designed to expand access to all voters in Warrick County, regardless of political party affiliation. The fact that Warrick County had a 300% increase in absentee voting in 2008 as compared to 2006 is a clear indication that the citizens of Warrick County want this office to remain open. The Warrick County Republican Party supports efforts to offer satellite voting in Ohio Township in 2010 to provide greater access to all voters.

Sullivan's failure to support the Ohio Township satellite office is a blatant, partisan political attempt to deny access to voters that he and chairman Terry White perceives to be Republican. In fact, according to a Political Party Statistics Report generated by the Warrick County Clerk's Office, the largest group affected by this action would be non-partisan voters, followed by Democrats and then Republicans. Under the Democrats plan to close the Ohio Township satellite office, efforts to expand the democratic process by allowing more voters to participate in elections would be seriously jeopardized.

On Wednesday, March 10 at 4:00pm in the Commissioner's Meeting Room in Boonville, the Election Board will reconvene to take a formal vote on whether to keep democracy, and the satellite office, alive, or revert to a system where voter access to the polls was limited. I encourage anyone affected by this decision to come to the meeting and voice your support for democracy.

Rick Martin