Bernie Sanders campaign sues over poll opening late in Indiana primary
Bernie Sanders may have won Indiana’s Democratic presidential primary, but an Election Day lawsuit alleged the Vermont senator may have lost some votes after a Marion County poll failed to open on time.
Bernie 2016 Inc., Sanders' campaign operation, went to court late Tuesday afternoon seeking extended voting hours at a polling site just a mile west of the Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis campus, which was considered a stronghold by the campaign’s local attorney, Jon Little.
The suit alleged the polling place at the Goodwill Industrial Center, 1635 W. Michigan St., didn’t open until 7:15 a.m. — 75 minutes after voting should have begun. Some potential voters left, and one woman swore in an affidavit.
The woman, Whitney Jane Bennett, also tweeted out a picture of the vacant voting site.
Russell Hollis, deputy director of the Marion County Clerk’s Office, acknowledged the poll opened late, but said it still opened before 7 a.m. A poll inspector, who had election materials and the key to the voting machines, experienced a child care issue, Hollis said.
In a hearing that began after 5 p.m., Judge William Lawrence denied the request to extend voting until 7:30 p.m. The polls closed at 6 p.m., as scheduled.
The ruling came down to the campaign's inability to bring forth a voter who was actually denied the chance to vote, said Little, the attorney for the Sanders camp. He said the number of denied voters likely was small, but added: “How many people’s rights to vote can you violate until it’s a problem? I say that number is one.”
Hollis, with the election office, said the west-side precinct was the only one of 600 in Marion County to open late.
Other problems surfaced elsewhere, however.
Voters who arrived to the polling place at Indianapolis Public Schools' School 60 in the early afternoon found the normal entrance moved, limited signage pointing the way and — at one point in the afternoon — doors locked by the school due to safety concerns.
The city chooses the polling locations, Hollis said, and it might be worth looking at other options.
"At the end of the day," he said, "we want voting to be as easily as possible for voters."
Call IndyStar reporter Robert King at (317) 444-6089. Follow him on Twitter at @RbtKing.