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OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Meeting - March 31, 2026

County Boards & Commissions — Tuesday, March 31, 2026

BodyLake County, Indiana

SessionCounty Boards & Commissions

DateTuesday, March 31, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 7:19

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

0:00

I'm gonna call over to the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration for their meeting.

0:05

Oh voting is 31st.

0:08

For anyone that can rise if everyone would rise to say the specified states of America and the Republic or which is underduble liberty and justice for all I don't know who does roll call, but somebody to do it.

0:32

Okay.

0:35

Matt Fetch, proxy for Clerk Brown.

0:38

Present Fred Cagle, present for uh proxy for Mark Candelier Reardon.

0:45

Present.

0:46

Uh Miss Floss Eggman?

0:48

Here.

0:49

Mr.

0:49

Reed?

0:50

Here.

0:50

And Jay Justin Murphy, proxy for Kevin Smith.

0:54

Here's the do have a full quorum.

0:57

Looks like the first thing we have on the agenda is public comment, which means kind of strange that shows there's regard to these agenda items or not.

1:07

Yeah, that's it, just passed.

1:09

Calling public comment twice, public comment three times.

1:12

Moving on, approval of minutes from February 17.

1:15

Motion to approve.

1:16

Second.

1:17

Any question?

1:18

All in favor?

1:19

Aye.

1:21

Abstain.

1:22

Sure wasn't there.

1:23

Abstention and then motion carries.

1:26

Old business to come before the board.

1:34

First thing that we have on the agenda are polling locations.

1:38

I defer to staff to in front of you, you will have a list of polling places.

1:48

We had four recent changes.

1:50

Cedar Creek 7.

1:52

Uh, we are requesting a change to Lowell High School.

1:55

It was at a church that is now closed for business.

2:00

Second one is Gary 22 and 217.

2:06

Umbridge land community center is under construction and no longer available.

2:11

We are requesting to go to Great Bands Missionary Baptist Church.

2:15

Gary 6 18 was at Howe Park Pavilion.

2:22

It's also under construction.

2:24

We're requesting that it vote with G616 at Hooker T.

2:28

Martin Center.

2:29

And then whiting 4 that is the USW hall that is certainly being used by the members as they are on strike, and we are requesting to go to St.

2:37

Mary's Church.

2:38

The other color codes are the greener ones that we've done at prior meetings.

2:42

Um so this is just a full complete list now that we will need to vote on and approve to the polling places for the primary 2026.

2:50

I would move to approve uh the new polling locations based upon represent uh representations of Ms.

2:55

Family.

2:57

Is there a second?

2:58

I'll second.

2:59

We have a motion properly moved and seconded.

3:01

Any questions on the motion?

3:02

Yes, I just have a few brief questions.

3:04

I just this is um I know that things happen and things change, and someone has to go out and look at these locations, but um it's not a ton of notice, and I'm just don't you know I don't know if it's I mean, did we you know does does someone physically how does it work?

3:19

Does someone go out and check or do we call the owners and say, hey, can we we will send the mechanics out upon the approval today?

3:25

So uh they will go out if there's a problem, we'll be letting you know right away.

3:30

But um, we're already at the Lowell High School, of course, should be ADA compliant.

3:36

Um we are already voting at the Smart and Center, so we're already there.

3:43

We will check the greater band and we will check uh St.

3:46

Mary's Church.

3:47

My interding there is a list there at St.

3:49

Mary's Church, but the mechanics will go out later this week to go survey.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Election Procedures█████████████████████████████████████████████61%

Public Engagement███████████████21%

Procedural█████████████18%

Summary of Proceedings

Lake County Board of Elections and Registration Meeting - March 31, 2026

The Lake County Board of Elections and Registration met on March 31, 2026, at 10:00 AM (agenda time) to approve minutes, consider polling location changes for the 2026 primary election, and recess to conduct public tests of voting systems. The meeting was attended by five members, including proxies.

Consent Calendar

Approval of Minutes: The minutes from the February 17, 2026 meeting were approved with one abstention.

Public Comments & Testimony

No members of the public offered comments on agenda items.

Discussion Items

Polling Locations: Staff presented four changes to polling places for the 2026 primary due to closures or unavailability of previous locations:
- Cedar Creek 7: Changed from a closed church to Lowell High School.
- Gary 22 and 217: Changed from the unavailable Umbridge Land Community Center to Great Bands Missionary Baptist Church.
- Gary 618: Changed from the under-construction Howe Park Pavilion to vote with Gary 616 at Hooker T. Martin Center.
- Whiting 4: Changed from the USW Hall (where members are on strike) to St. Mary's Church. Staff explained that notices were sent to all locations over a month prior, and proactive follow-up calls were made. One board member raised concerns about the short notice to voters, but staff confirmed that postcards would be mailed immediately to affected voters in the four precincts.

Key Outcomes

Motion to Approve Polling Locations: A motion was made and seconded to approve the four new polling locations. The motion carried with three votes in favor, with no recorded nays. (The tally was not fully captured due to remote participation.)
Recess for Public Tests: The board voted to recess to conduct the public test of the Direct Record Electronic (DRE) Voting System and the Ballot Card Voting System Automatic Tabulating Machines, both held downstairs.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

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