CROWN POINT | The Lake County election office here jumped Tuesday morning with early voters and requests for absentee ballots, but early voting in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago remained on hold amidst a legal fight.
Elections board Director Sally LaSota said board attorneys have ordered a delay of opening satellite early vote centers in those cities until some legal order is established among conflicting orders and agreements in three separate courts.
Michelle Fajman, county elections supervisor, said 250 people Monday used early in-person voting facilities in the Crown Point office. Requests to mail thousands of absentee ballots were being processed Tuesday as were 18,000 voter registration applications.
Democratic officials want the satellite offices in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago immediately opened on grounds they expect a record voter turnout and want to avoid long lines and other impediments to voting by Nov. 4.
Republicans oppose opening the early voting satellite locations, arguing the locations would strain the county election staff's efforts to stop vote fraud. The two parties have filed lawsuits in two Lake County courtrooms and in Hammond federal court to resolve the matter.
Lake Superior Court Judge Calvin Hawkins issued an injunction Friday delaying the satellites' opening without a unanimous vote by the bipartisan county elections board. Two Republican board members voted against the satellites last month.
But Lake Circuit Court Judge Lorenzo Arredondo issued an order Monday for officials to open the satellite locations on grounds that restricting early voting was an unconstitutional infringement of voters' rights.
Meanwhile, U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Van Bokkelen ordered attorneys for all parties to participate in a noon teleconference Tuesday regarding the matter. He wasn't expected to rule on the matter until Thursday.
The Indiana State Conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and Service Employees International Union have intervened in the federal suit on behalf of the Democrats and four county residents.
Deborah Stringer, a Hammond nurse; Linda Peterson, a Gary postal worker; Roosevelt Phillips, a Gary nurse; and Mary Aaron, a Gary teacher all state in court documents that they need early voting centers in their home cities because illness, work or family obligations.
