Reminder: Hospital election 5 p.m. Tuesday
Voters in the eastern half of Marion County will be able to cast ballots at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the basement of St. Luke Clinic in Marion to determine whether the unusual way in which directors of St. Luke Hospital are elected should be changed.
Unlike directors of all other tax-imposing districts in the county, hospital directors are chosen not by residents going to the polls in regular elections but in what many have criticized as more of a club-style election.
Boundary of hospital district
At present, the only way to cast a vote is to show up at a specific time and location — typically, 5 p.m. on a worknight in the hospital's clinic basement. Many voters have complained that this is inconvenient and results in only a small handful of insiders controlling membership on a body that imposes more than nine mills of property taxes annually.
On the agenda for the 5 p.m. Tuesday meeting this week is a proposal to make hospital board elections more like school board, improvement, extension, watershed, and municipal and township elections by allowing voters to go to the polls or cast early ballots as part of regularly scheduled elections each year.
Also on the agenda will be the filling of three seats on the board — seats currently filled by Linda Carlson, Roger Hannaford, and Dan Holub.
Candidates will make brief presentations at the meeting before voters in attendance cast ballots for the director positions and for putting the issue of how to conduct future elections on the regular ballot this fall. Current rules do not allow for advance balloting or voting by proxy. Voters must personally attend the meeting.
Last modified May 23, 2026