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Secretary of State provides 2007 Municipal Election Update, 5:30p.m.

(Indianapolis, IN)– As the 2007 municipal election winds down, Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita wants to thank the 30,000 poll workers scattered throughout the 5500 precincts across the state.

"Well trained poll workers are what make elections a success," said Rokita. "Nearly all of the counties in Indiana holding elections today experienced smooth elections and that only happens when poll workers are committed to running fair, accurate elections."

In addition to poll worker efforts, deputies from the Secretary’s office were joined by staff from the U.S. Department of Justice in fanning out across the state to monitor municipal election processes. The teams’ mission was to ensure that the election process was implemented in a fair, efficient, and effective manner. The team reviewed polling places for accessibility issues to ensure that each person was treated equally, including watching for and preventing vote fraud.

Besides the onsite observations, communication tools designed to facilitate smooth elections experienced high usage, including the Hoosier Voter Helpline, 1-866-IN-1-VOTE and the IndianaVoters.com website. Employees of the Secretary of State's office staff the helpline which received and responded to over 400 typical election related calls. The Helpline will remain open until all polls across the state are closed. In addition, the IndianaVoters.com website which allows users to check polling place locations received 9,000 page hits thus far.

Rokita visited the Tippecanoe County fairgrounds in Lafayette to review Indiana's Vote Center Pilot Project. Wayne and Tippecanoe Counties are piloting the Vote Center concept in this general election -- an election model that allows voters to vote at the centralized polling place of their choice rather than being bound by the traditional precinct-based process.

Throughout the day, the Secretary of State’s office reached out to every County’s Circuit Court Clerk and election board to obtain status updates on their municipal elections. For updated results on mayoral races across the state, visit  www.in.gov/apps/sos/election/general/general2007 beginning 90 minutes after polls close.

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