FISHERS, Ind. (WISH) — It’s a no-go for voting centers in Hamilton County in 2026.

The County Election Board on Thursday voted down the measure. The proposal would have allowed voters to cast their ballots in any vote center across Hamilton County on election days, not just at their assigned voting precinct.

A unanimous vote of three was needed for the change to voting centers to pass, but it was short one. Republican appointee Ray Adler cast a vote against the centers. He sent a statement in a news release issued Thursday.

“I just think we should let Allen County go through it and see what problems they have. We’re changing voting for hundreds of thousands of people and I want to make sure it’s not an experiment.”

Hamilton County is growing with over 280,000 voters. County Clerk Kathy Williams introduced the proposal and said it would have saved the county money and made voting more accessible. “I was disappointed.”

Williams thought it was the perfect time to make a change, particularly because she said 15 new voting precincts are needed for the 2026 election, and that would bring the total number of precincts to 235. “It’s getting harder and harder to find a location in communities that is handicap-accessible, has a paid parking lot, and will allow us to stay there for the day.”

But by switching to voting centers, she said, it would have only required 57 locations. She says it would have saved the county an estimated $50,000 per election, and required fewer poll workers, have been accessible.

“It would make it more convenient. If you were taking your mother to vote and she lives in one precinct and you live in another, now, you have to go to both locations.”

News 8 reached out to Adler, who voted against the centers. He did not respond but instead referred News 8 to Mario Massillamany, the chair of the Hamilton County Republican Party.

“I want to make it more accessible for people to vote, not make it less accessible, especially for our elderly and people in our rural communities, or people who don’t have cars, because there are people who still don’t have cars and they live in Hamilton County. We don’t have a great public transportation system,” Massillamany said.

The chairman added that the current system works and that schools can be added as new voting precincts.

So far, 68 of Indiana’s 92 counties — including Marion County — have adopted the vote center model, including Allen County just recently. Massillamany was hesitant to adopt a new system. “And if some other county wants to experiment to see if that’s a good thing, let them do all the work. Let them figure out if it’s a bad thing. I don’t want to have it be something that’s bad, and then we switch back.”

The release said that of 200 voters surveyed, 60% opted for voting centers.

However, the GOP chairman pushed back on those numbers. He said he received comments against the centers.

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