Voters heading to the polls for this fall’s special election on hospital and school building projects can expect an experience similar to that of a typical Election Day — minus, perhaps, the heavy crowds.

The Marion County Election Board on Wednesday outlined plans for coordinating polling sites and early voting for public questions that voters will answer Nov. 3.

All Marion County voters can weigh in on whether Wishard Memorial Hospital can build a $754 million complex. Voters in Beech Grove and in Franklin and Perry townships — representing about 95 of the county’s 590 precincts — can cast ballots on whether to approve property tax increases for school districts.

About 350 polling sites — mostly the same places used for last fall’s election — will run from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. The only difference in the process is that voters will fold their ballots and put them in a box instead of feeding them through a scanning machine.

Using paper ballots will help cut the cost of the election — about $1.13 million — which will be paid mostly by Wishard, with help from the school districts.

“This election calls out for a streamlined and simple approach,” said Marion County Clerk Beth White.

Voters also will have the option of using the touch-screen voting machines that allow people with disabilities to vote confidentially.

This will be Marion County’s first standalone special election since the state legislature passed a law in 2008 requiring referendums for high school projects that cost $20 million or more; elementary and middle school projects that cost $10 million or more; and all other government projects that cost at least $12 million or whose value equals at least 1 percent of a taxing district’s assessed valuation.

White said there’s no way to predict the number of people who will vote; the closest precedent in recent years was the March 2008 special election to fill the late Rep. Julia Carson’s seat in the U.S. House. That election attracted 17.5 percent of eligible voters, she said.

The latest voter roll purge leaves 581,000 registered voters in Marion County, White said.

Early voting will be available at the clerk’s office from Oct. 5 to Nov. 1. The Election Board also has provided funding for at least two satellite locations. Those sites and their operating hours likely will be determined in September.

Call Star reporter Francesca Jarosz at (317) 444-6310.