Dozens of people were lined up waiting for the doors of Vineyard Community Church to open early Saturday morning as weeks of early voting started drawing to a close in what is turnout out to be a record-setting election.
Whiteland Community High School senior Luke Helton didn’t think the wait would be as long on Saturday as it would be on Election Day. But the first-time voter waited about 45 minutes to cast his ballot, he said.
More than 3,500 people voted on Saturday at five vote centers across the county, which brought the total number of early voters to 23,410, breaking the early voting record set during the 2016 presidential election by about 2,000 votes.
By comparison, less than 4,000 people voted early in the last midterm election.
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Voting continues this morning at the Johnson County Courthouse only before 20 vote centers open for 12 hours of voting on Election Day on Tuesday.
On Saturday, some people waited in line for more than an hour.
Election officials had already decided to add poll workers and voting machines at most locations on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and are planning to double up on Election Day, even though they aren’t sure what turnout to expect, Johnson County Clerk Sue Ann Misiniec said.
She doesn’t know whether people have simply caught on to early voting, or if the number of early voters is a sign of massive turnout on Election Day as well. With early voting only, turnout is nearing 23 percent in Johnson County.
Jenny Henderson hopes it’s a sign of what’s to come.
She doesn’t always vote early, but she did this year because she wanted to make sure she didn’t miss out on such an important election. The U.S. representative race between Trey Hollingsworth and Liz Watson is the one she’s most passionate about, she said.
She anticipated a line, but not a 40-minute wait.
“I’m not entirely sure what it means, but I know what I hope it means,” Henderson said. “Huge change.”
“But there’s probably an equal number of people trying to affect change as there are trying to maintain the status quo.”
Rebecca Waletich wants to see change as well, she said.
The local therapist waited an hour and 7 minutes to make sure her voice was heard in this election. She thought she’d be in and out, she said.
She usually votes on Election Day. But this year, she came out early in case something were to come up on Tuesday and she wasn’t able to vote. It was too risky, she said.
“This is a really important one so I wanted to be sure,” Waletich said.
“As a therapist, I work with transgender youth, so I’m a strong advocate for their rights. I hope that the message gets sent (in this election) that human rights are important.”
Greenwood resident Douglas Hall hopes that whichever politicians win use their positions of power responsibly, he said.
“I just hope that they realize the magnitude of the responsibility they carry and utilize their authority to do what’s best not for their particular party, but for the country,” Hall said.
“There’s a lot of division right now. But at some point, we have to come together and not just stick to party values. Parties shouldn’t determine how our country moves forward. We all should.“
The multitude of issues facing the country and its residents are causing more people to make their opinions heard, he said.
“That’s the only way — to get out and vote — unless you seek a political office,” said Hall, who waited about 30 minutes to cast his ballot at 10:30 a.m. Saturday.
He usually votes early and actually expected the line to be longer, he said.
But by that point, the line had died down a little bit. A steady stream of voters continued to cast ballots until about 4 p.m. Saturday. Vote centers closed at 3 p.m., but anyone who was in line at any of the five locations at that time was still able to vote.
Today is the last day to vote early, but you’ll have to do it before lunchtime. The Johnson County Courthouse will be open for early voting from 8:30 a.m. to noon. Polls open at 6 a.m. on Tuesday and close at 6 p.m.
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Final chance to vote early
You can vote in advance of Tuesday’s election is you make it to the Johnson County Courthouse in Franklin this morning.
Voters can cast their ballots from 8:30 a.m. to noon today.
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Look inside
We’ve got your guide to voting and a list of where you can vote on Election Day.
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