LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Election Day is right around the corner and so is the deadline to register vote.
That deadline is Oct. 7, with early voting starting the next day.
Some Purdue University students, Indiana State Democrats and voting rights advocates are concerned some Purdue students won’t get a chance to cast their ballot.
In August, Tippecanoe County Democrats say they learned from the county election board there would be no voting locations on Purdue’s campus for the general election on Nov. 5.
Earlier this month, the Tippecanoe County Election Board said no campus location met statutory requirements to be a voting site.
Now the board is set to vote Friday on an early voting center on campus at the Cordova Recreational Sports Center.
13News spoke on the phone to a person at the Tippecanoe County Clerk’s Office who said the proposed voting site would only be open one day, Oct. 24, and only open for four hours, but not on the actual Election Day.
“I think it’s a great location,” said Eli French, vice president of Purdue University’s College Republicans.
French said he plans to go home to northern Indiana to cast his ballot, but hopes other Purdue students will have chance to cast theirs on campus.
“I think it would be a perfect location very central to campus,” said French of the rec center as a location.
He doesn’t understand why that wouldn’t be the case on Election Day like it’s been in years past.
In 2020, more than 1,100 students cast their ballots at Mackey Arena. In comparison, just over 550 students voted at a nearby church off campus.
Now, the Tippecanoe County Election Board will decide on whether Purdue will get one early voting location, open for one day, for four hours.
“At the end of the day, we also think that that’s inadequate,” said Mike Schmuhl, chairman of Indiana’s State Democratic Party.
Leaders with the state and county Democratic Party held a news conference Thursday afternoon, calling for at least one on-campus voting site on Election Day.
“Having a voting site that is open for 12 hours on Election Day that is one of the most consequential elections that we are going to have in our lifetime regardless of your political persuasion, I think is a no-brainer,” said Schmuhl.
French, a registered Republican, doesn’t disagree.
“I think this would be the one time I would agree with some Democrats,” said French.
The vote by the Tippecanoe County Election Board is set for 10 a.m. on Friday.