Democrats file complaint over delayed openings at Hamilton County polling sites

The Indiana Democratic Party has filed a complaint with the Hamilton County Election Board, accusing of it of failing to open polling locations on time for Tuesday’s election.

The complaint says a technical issue is to blame for the 15- to 30-minute delays in opening six polling sites, delays that the Democrats say disenfranchised voters who had to leave and didn’t get to cast their ballots.

The Hamilton County Election Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

According to WXIN-TV Channel 59 (Fox59), the election board said the issue was caused by a technical issue involving a new code on the machines. The issue was resolved by technicians pushing a button on the machines. The board told Fox59 that poll workers were not aware of the issue during training.

“The polls in Hamilton County did not open on time at 6 a.m. local time as required by state law, and an unknown number of voters were disenfranchised and walked away,” Indiana Democratic Party Executive Director Dayna Colbert said in a news release. “We want to make sure every registered Indiana voter has the ability to fairly and equally cast their ballot, and that was not the case this morning.”

The party claims at least six polling locations had delayed openings. According to the complaint filed Tuesday, they were College Park, Bethlehem Lutheran Church, Carmel Water Distribution, Billericay Park Building, Northview Church in Fishers and The Meeting House at West Clay.

Hamilton County Democratic Party Chair Jocelyn Vare signed the complaint, which asks the election board to conduct an inquiry into the technological malfunction, determine its impact and decide how it can be prevented in the future.