This story was originally published by Based in Lafayette.
By Dave Bangert
Based in Lafayette
November 6, 2025
After a confusing scramble over polling places at Purdue during the 2024 general election, county officials said Thursday that things are in place to have an early voting site and a day-of vote center on campus during the May 2026 primary.
Mike Smith, a county elections office staff member who coordinates voting sites, told the Tippecanoe County Election Board that a tentative list of vote centers includes an April 21 early voting date at the Córdova Recreation Center at Purdue.
The list also has an Election Day vote center site moving from West Lafayette City Hall to the Córdova Recreation Center for the May 5 primary.
“We’re ahead of it this year and, I think, it all worked out,” Smith said.
The Election Board did not finalize the vote center plans for the primary during its meeting Thursday. But the proposed schedule of early voting sites is listed online by the county elections office.
Purdue and the Election Board fielded tons of criticism leading up to the November 2024 general election when no vote centers were initially scheduled on campus. At the time, logistics due to construction on campus and changes in state election laws were blamed. The county Election Board said issues with Purdue sites weren’t worked out by August of that year, so they positioned vote center locations at other West Lafayette sites, based on density of registered voters.
Amid pressure and accusations of voter suppression – the absence of a polling place on campus would have been a first in a presidential election year dating to the start of the county’s use of vote centers in 2007 – Purdue and county election officials worked through issues of state-mandated available parking and dedicated internet service to set up a day of early voting at Co-Rec two weeks before Election Day.
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On that day, by the end of six hours of voting, 1,312 voters cast ballots at the Co-Rec, putting it in the lead for the most voters at a one-day site on Tippecanoe County’s early voting schedule, according to the county election office.
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But neither side could make things work for an Election Day site, given that the county’s 275 ballot machines had already been assigned and registered with state election officials to other vote centers by the time Purdue committed to finding space to accommodate on-campus voting.
Ken Jones, Tippecanoe County Democratic Party chair, said the plan “is a huge improvement over where we were in 2024.”
“My understanding is also that the county election board and Purdue have been collaborating very closely to find the solution and that it’s something that everyone wanted,” Jones said. “I think it’s a fantastic development.”
Purdue officials did not immediately comment on the plan Thursday.
With the vote center moving from West Lafayette City Hall to campus, West Lafayette also would have Election Day options at Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.; Connection Point Church, 2541 Cumberland Ave.; and the John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, according to a preliminary list of 15 Election Day vote centers across the county shared by the Election Board.
Registered voters in Tippecanoe County may vote at any vote center, regardless of where they live.
Dave Bangert retired after 32 years of reporting and writing on just about everything at the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He started the Based in Lafayette reporting project in 2021. To learn more about subscribing to Based in Lafayette, click here.
