INDIANAPOLIS, CITY-COUNTY BUILDING – Limited early voting sites in Indianapolis’ Marion County have created well-behaved and disgusted chaos.

Early voting started earlier this month downtown at the City-County Building with lines. The five remote centers opened Saturday with incredibly long lines with some voters waiting up to 7 hours to vote.

I did video from the site this morning and got a couple of things wrong so let’s fix that right here. The Marion County Election Board voted unanimously – not a lone GOP dissent – to have six sites. Sorry Ms. Ping.

But what they did do, as a group, is equally frustrating. The decision was made in August and the reason given for only six sites was they couldn’t get enough poll workers for the period of time the sites would need to be open. Well, it was August!!!!!! Find some! It’s easy to judge based on hindsight but all clues pointed to a huge fall turnout.

I waited in line 1:50 this morning to vote. It was chilly and the air was damp. I must say it was orderly, people were nice but most all incredulous at how this played out. Still, it stinks a little of politics. Democrats largely control Marion County but GOPers across the country have done all sort of nonsense to limit sites and voting expansion.

For example, Gov. Holcomb poo-pooed expanded mail-in voting saying Hoosiers should vote on election day. That’s the exception accross the country with most states expanding those opportunites because of the pandemic. Must have been an order from Mike. (had to be snarky remark here somewhere.)

Hamilton County, think Carmel, has about a quarter-million registered voters and has 8 voting sites. Marion County has nearly a million registered voters and only six early voting centers.

That’s a problem for both parties. Voters can’t let this happen ever again and must hold both parties responsible. It’s inexcusable any Hoosier must wait seven hours to vote. One or two might say 1:50 is too long to cast your ballot.

WRITER’S NOTE: While most folks visiting this blog expect wine news and the occasional restaurant review. I stated when I retired I would occasionally get my nose into community issues and even less often politics.