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The Indiana Department of Transportation holds a public hearing on Section Four of the proposed I-69 extension; the city’s Human Rights Commission reports a drop in the number of reported hate incidents; Indiana State Police troopers save a woman in respiratory arrest on State Road 37; the East Monroe Water Corporation issues a boil order for customers after a temporary water line break; Bloomington volunteers will take part in a national “Moving America Forward” day of action this Saturday; the Indiana Arts Commission and Bloomington Entertainment and Arts District announce plans for a public celebration of the community’s state-certified cultural district designation; Lotus World Music and Arts Festival released parade route details Tuesday; County officials schedule an open house for the county’s new on-site health clinic for local government employees.
FEATURE
Yesterday local Democrat party chair Rick Dietz worried that one vote by one person on one board could keep thousands of Monroe County voters from casting their ballots in satellite voting locations. He was right. That’s exactly what happened last night as the fate of satellite voting centers in Monroe County rested in the hands of just one person on the county election board. The board has only three members –county clerk Jim Fielder plus one representative from both the Democrat and Republican parties. In 2008 the board voted to host satellite voting on IU's campus, at the Sherwood Oaks Church, and at the Ellettsville Fire Department. Around 4400 votes were cast at those centers, nearly seven percent of total voter turnout. But the board membership has changed, and the new Republican appointee on the election board, Judith Smith-Ille, says she doesn’t think voter turnout will merit spending the money to run the satellite centers - money that was already appropriated for that purpose by the county council. In order to move forward with satellite voting, the Election Board vote must be unanimous, so Smith-Ille’s “nay” vote in effect blocks satellite voting for this entire community. In a press release issued just a few hours ago, Congressman Baron Hill called on the board to reconsider, calling Ille’s reasoning for the decision quote “an insult to the voters of Monroe County”. We take you on-location to last night’s meeting to hear from Ille and board chair Jan Ellis as well as members of the public in this WFHB radio exclusive.
VOICES IN THE STREET
Freshman Frenzy! Our weekly public opinion feature talks to some of Bloomington’s seven thousand newest residents about their new life in our college town.