Nearly 12 percent of voters cast ballots in the May primary election, an improvement from the less than 8 percent who voted during the last municipal primary in 2015.
Johnson County is notorious for low voter turnout. In the 2015 primary and general elections, fewer than 10 percent of registered voters cast ballots, making it one of the worst in the state. Johnson County had the fifth lowest voter turnout of Indiana’s 92 counties in the 2015 municipal election. Municipal elections overall bring out fewer voters.
Still, the county has made some changes the last several years to get more residents to cast a ballot, county clerk Trena McLaughlin said.
"We’re still trying to figure that out. How do we get people to come out and vote? Especially during a municipal when people just don’t vote, and that’s a problem in counties around the state," McLaughlin said.
The state average was 13 percent for this year’s primary. Sixty-nine of 92 counties had elections, according to the Secretary of State’s Office. Nearby Rush County (Rushville) came out on top with 35 percent of voters casting ballots, the report said. Martin County (Loogootee), also had 35 percent turnout.
Johnson County’s numbers have fluctuated. The worst came in 2015. By comparison, 63 percent of voters cast ballots during the last presidential general election in 2016, and 40 percent during that year’s primary.
"I’m happy. I was expecting 10 percent. We always want more, of course," McLaughlin said of this year’s primary.
She credits the county’s many vote centers and Saturday voting options for the slight uptick. The county’s election officials are constantly reevaluating how we vote, she said.
"We try to make it as easy as we can," she said.
There were also more candidates and elections than normal this year. Every city and town except New Whiteland had a primary election, and Franklin Community Schools had a referendum on the ballot, which is uncommon for a primary.
McLaughlin does not think the election failure in November had anything to do with this year’s low voter turnout. People aren’t really talking about it anymore, she said. She has, however, received a lot of feedback from voters and poll workers about the voting equipment the county is using this year, and the new vote centers at the Johnson County REMC and John R. Drybread Community Center in Edinburgh.
The public appreciated those changes, she said.
The county is renting equipment and services this year from MicroVote, an area vendor that came to the county’s rescue after its long-time vendor, Election Systems and Software, failed during the November election, disenfranchising voters.
The county is in the process of pursuing bids to buy, or lease-to-buy, all new equipment this year for next year’s presidential election, which is expected to produce a massive turnout, election officials have said.
McLaughlin said three vendors are interested: MicroVote, ES and S and RBM Consulting. None of them have submitted bids so far. They are due on July 2, she said.
County election officials, including the three-member election board and three-member Board of Commissioners, will decide which vendor to go with. It is expected to cost the county up to $1.8 million.
