The long walk to the polls

I have lived in Bloomington for a decade now. Unlike an increasing many who take advantage of the early ballot movement to avoid polling centers, my family relishes the ritual of voting on Election Day. It’s like waiting to see the baby before finding out its gender, or opening presents on Christmas Day. We bring our boys into the booth and talk about the great thing we are doing by participating in a vote. Until Tuesday, the only place I have ever voted is in the elementary school across the street.

We had a young man from the Obama campaign stop by over the weekend to pitch his candidate. He asked us if we needed a ride to the polls, and I thought he was nuts. “We vote across the street,” I chuckled.

This Tuesday—on the morning of the first meaningful Indiana primary in 40 years—we again made the familiar walk to University Elementary to fulfill our civic duty. When we got there, we were told that we had been moved. This is part of the remapping of the City designed to cull missing residents (mainly students) from the rolls and cut down on the overhead. So, rather than the less-than-.1 mile walk in my own neighborhood, we were assigned to Bloomington 16 … 3.3. miles to Meadowwood by car.

Insane Gerrymandering: We traveled 3.3. miles to vote.

To get there, we had to pass several other more reasonable options:

1. Bloomington 9 (Bell Trace)—0.9 miles
2. Bloomington 10 (Stone Belt)—1.1 miles
3. Bloomington 8 (St. Mark’s)—1.7 miles
4. Bloomington 7 (Unitarian Church)—2.8 miles

That list doesn’t include the three campus locations that were all nearer than Meadowwood, the location east of Walnut furthest away from us. Heck, several Perry Township polling centers were a mile closer than the one we were sent to.

What is the logic of that? And to whom to I write to lodge a complaint? In a different situation, that might be a deal-killer for participating. Who does this help?