INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Election laws have evolved since Indiana's 1851 Constitution spelled out voting rights for white, male residents at least 21 years old.

But yet, some things haven't changed.

Voters still head to their neighborhood polling places to cast ballots, even though the precinct system isn't as convenient today as it was in the 1800s, said Secretary of State Todd Rokita.

He supports a bill before the General Assembly that would allow any Indiana county to create vote centers, scattered polling sites where voters can go regardless of their precinct.

"Our lives have changed, and technology has changed, but for some reason we haven't put that attitude toward the way we vote," Rokita said. "A vote center says we're going to vote like we live in the 21st century."

That means replacing paper poll books with electronic records. Computers would be connected using real-time reporting to prevent multiple votes. Voters could cast a ballot at a church near their house, at a downtown building on their lunch break or at a supermarket before grocery shopping.

Two Indiana counties — Tippecanoe and Wayne — used vote centers for their most recent elections as part of a state pilot program exploring the issue.

"People really liked it," said Debbie Ingersoll, co-director of the Tippecanoe County Board of Election and Registration. "They liked being able to go wherever it's convenient for them."

Several states, including Colorado, Texas, South Carolina and Tennessee, have created or are studying vote centers, said Rokita, who also serves as president of the National Association of Secretaries of State.

Advocates say the centers can save money by requiring fewer poll workers and less equipment. But some caution that the concept may not work everywhere.

With fewer polling places, many people have to travel farther to vote, which is a problem for those without transportation. Under the proposal, counties are required to have at least one vote center for every 10,000 active voters.

The switch to vote centers also requires education campaigns to make sure people realize where they need to go on Election Day, said Julia Vaughn, with the government watchdog group Common Cause Indiana.

"If for 40 years they've gone over to the elementary school to vote and suddenly that's not an option, you can upset and disrupt a lot of people," she said. "Any little blip can cause people not to vote."

Tippecanoe County found that many longtime poll workers didn't have the necessary computer skills to make the transition to vote centers, and suggested recruiting different people for the next election.

In Colorado, where the vote center model originated, long lines were a problem in some counties during the November 2006 election. Up to 20,000 people in Denver gave up and left without casting ballots because of waits up to three hours. Delays were blamed on voter-verification software.

Rokita said he hasn't seen any systemic problems with vote centers that can't be worked out. The system actually handles some problems at individual sites better than the precinct system, he said.

"If there is an issue, you can go down the street to the next vote center," Rokita said. "If those kinds of things happen in the precincts, which they sometimes do, there's no other relief."

Wayne and Tippecanoe county officials point to the centers' advantages.

Wayne County typically hired 300 poll workers during elections to staff its 58 precincts. The four vote centers operating during Richmond's city election last year required just nine poll workers at each site. Finding reliable poll workers has been a problem for some counties, including the state's largest, Marion, so hiring fewer of them could be an advantage.

Tippecanoe County estimates it would have had to hire 260 poll workers to staff its 52 polling places under the precinct system. Instead, it opened 22 vote centers, with 142 poll workers. The county spent about $56,000 to operate the centers, compared with an estimated $75,000 it would have spent under the precinct system.

"As we talk about trying to save money on the county level, this is a really good alternative," said Sen. Sue Landske, a Republican from Cedar Lake who sponsored the bill in the Senate. "I think it's a program that has a lot of potential, but we're not mandating anything."

Counties could only create vote centers if all members of the county election board approved the change, Landske said. Counties could switch to vote centers as early as the 2010 elections, Rokita said.

If the entire state — covering nearly 4.5 million active voters — opted for the program, 5,648 active precincts would be replaced with at least 449 vote centers, according to estimates from the Legislative Services Agency.

The bill found bipartisan support in the Senate, which approved the measure, 45-3. If the House approves the bill and it clears the General Assembly, it would head to Gov. Mitch Daniels for consideration.

"My impression is this is well worth our exploring," Daniels said. "It might be a lot more convenient for folks, and I'm all for that."