Special election Tuesday for St. Joe, Porter counties

By Dustin Grove (grove@wsbt.com)

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South Shore

(WSBT photo)

By WSBT News1

Story Created: Nov 1, 2009 at 8:53 PM EST

Story Updated: Nov 2, 2009 at 9:07 AM EST

St. Joseph County election workers are preparing for a special election Tuesday, but a lot of people still don't know about it.

Last year, the Indiana legislature passed a law requiring St. Joseph, La Porte, Porter and Lake counties to hold a special election for voters to decide on whether to create a regional transit district.

The district would oversee public rail and bus transportation throughout the four counties.

Advocates say the South Shore Line is a good start, and more needs to be done.

“(The Northern Indiana Commuter Train District) is a good beginning,” said Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority spokesman Leigh Morris.

“Public transportation doesn’t stop at a city limit or the county line,” said Morris. “And that’s the reason for looking at this on a regional basis.”

If passed, the regional transportation district board of directors could raise the local income tax by up to a quarter of one percent.

But the St. Joseph County Republican Party has launched a campaign urging voters to say “no.”

“This was serious enough and was flying low enough beneath the radar that somebody needed to take action to remind the voters that this could result in another tax increase,” said Republican Party Chairman Chris Riley during a news conference last week.

Election workers are expecting low turnout Tuesday, and only Porter and St. Joseph Counties are holding the state-mandated election. LaPorte and Lake Counties told the state it's too expensive.

To pass, voters in only two of the four counties need to approve the referendum.

During an informal poll Sunday evening in Mishawaka, few people knew about the election at all.

“I haven’t heard about anything,” said one man. “What’s it about?”

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