<p>Amid the hustle and bustle of staff and volunteers at the Voter Registration office in the basement of the Johnson County courthouse, election officials and a representative from MicroVote, the county’s election vendor, tested voting equipment ahead of the general election.</p><p>There are 10 contested local, state and national races on Johnson County ballots for the upcoming presidential election, now just 40 days away. Additionally, there are 14 school board seats up for grabs in the county’s six public school districts.</p><p>Seventeen voting machines, the new VVPAT (Voter-verified paper audit trail) — which will continue to only be used during early voting, as it was in the primary — and two of four readers, used to count ballots on Election Day, all passed the tests.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>The Election Board on Wednesday unanimously OK’d the machines for the fall general election, which it is required by state law to do before every election after 3 1/2 hours of testing.</p><p>The law requires counties to test 5% of the machines they will use in an upcoming election, which means up to 340 will be available.</p><p>As part of Wednesday’s test, Trena McLaughlin, county clerk; Diane Lindley, the Democratic member of the election board; and Phil Barrow, a Republican member of the election board, cast sample ballots on three or four machines each to make sure there were no errors. Kevin Service, a Democrat, and Marie Smith, a Republican, helped.</p><p>The public was welcome to attend, but no one did.</p><p>The test included seven of the county’s precincts, some of which included straight-party voting to make sure the votes cast matched what was on the tally sheet at the end.</p><p>It took each tester about three minutes to submit a ballot, which is about how long it should take someone to vote once they reach the booth during early voting or on Election Day.</p><p>This year’s primary election was postponed about a month, to June 2, due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. That is not the case with the general election, and election officials are no longer encouraging mail-in voting, as it is no longer open to everyone who requests that option.</p><p>But that hasn’t stopped a record-breaking number of people wishing to take advantage of absentee voting.</p><p>As of Wednesday morning, 10,525 ballots had been mailed to voters in Johnson County, and about 1,750 had already returned them, McLaughlin said. And voters still have another month to request mail-in ballots. Completed applications are due by Oct. 22. To compare, 2,824 voters cast absentee ballots during the 2018 general election, and 3,228 during the last presidential in 2016.</p><p>All absentee ballots must be counted on or after Election Day, according to state law. Locally, the more than 10,300 mail-in ballots the county received during the primary were counted by the end of the day. The county plans to use two additional readers, which the ballots must be fed through, for the upcoming election, McLaughlin said. The goal, she said, is to get all of those ballots — regardless of how many come in — counted on Election Day.</p><p>Early in-person voting is set to begin Oct. 6, and continue for a full four weeks. The Johnson County courthouse will be open for voting during the week, with a handful of other vote centers across the county open the two weekends and days leading up to Election Day Nov. 3, when 21 vote centers will be open.</p><p>It is unclear what effect the ongoing pandemic will have on voter turnout, which during the 2016 general election reached 63%. McLaughlin, who said ahead of the primary she could not predict voter turnout due to the pandemic, predicted at least 63% of voters would turn out again for this presidential election, likely more.</p><p>Voting fraud and election tampering are issues of national concern, making the public tests an important step in the election process. But these tests aren’t new. It’s something that’s been done before every election for several years.</p><p>The goal of the public test is to make sure the machines work, catch any invalid entries and make sure the printouts match what was entered into each ballot on the machines. The test ballots will not be counted in the election, and MicroVote representatives cleared the system at the end of the public test. The machines that were used during the test on Wednesday are disqualified from being used during this election.</p><p>The county’s certification will be sent to the Secretary of State’s Office for further certification.</p>[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="Vote Centers" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at approved Johnson County Election Day vote centers. Election Day is Nov. 3:</p><p>» Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, 381 N. Bluff Road, Greenwood</p><p>» White River Public Library, 1664 Library Boulevard, Greenwood</p><p>» Mt. Auburn Methodist Church, 3100 W. Stones Crossing Road, Greenwood</p><p>» Greenwood Christian Church, 2045 Averitt Road, Greenwood</p><p>» Greenwood Public Library (east door), 310 S. Meridian Street, Greenwood</p><p>» Vineyard Community Church, 512 S. Madison Ave, Greenwood</p><p>» The Nest (formerly Jonathon Byrd’s Cafeteria), 100 Byrd Way, Greenwood</p><p>» GracePoint Church, 330 Whiteland Road, New Whiteland</p><p>» Bargersville Town Hall, 24 N. Main St., Bargersville</p><p>» Bargersville Fire Station No. 1, 3991 N. State Road 135, Bargersville</p><p>» Franklin Community Center, 396 Branigan Boulevard at State Street, Franklin</p><p>» Grace United Methodist Church, 1300 E. Adams Drive, Franklin</p><p>» Johnson County Fairgrounds (Scott Hall), 250 Fairground Street, Franklin</p><p>» Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar</p><p>» Princes Lakes Town Hall, 14 E. Lakeview Drive, Nineveh</p><p>» John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh</p><p>» Amity Volunteer Fire Department, 3247 S. County Road 550 E., Franklin</p><p>» Community Church of Greenwood (main entrance foyer), 1477 W. Main St, Greenwood</p><p>» Grace Assembly of God, 6822 N. US Highway 31, New Whiteland</p><p>» White River Township Trustee’s Office, 2929 S. Morgantown Rd., Greenwood</p><p>» Rocklane Christian Church, 4430 Rocklane Road, Greenwood</p><p><em>Source: Johnson County Voter Registration</em></p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="If you go" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at when and where you can cast your ballot early:</p><p><strong>Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin</strong></p><p>8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, starting Oct. 6</p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31 (Saturdays)</p><p>8:30 a.m. to noon Nov. 2</p><p><strong>Trafalgar</strong> <strong>Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar</strong></p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31.</p><p>10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 26-30.</p><p><strong>Franklin Community Center</strong></p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31.</p><p>10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 26-30.</p><p><strong>John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh</strong></p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31.</p><p>10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 26-30.</p><p><strong>White River Public Library, 1664 Library Blvd., Greenwood</strong></p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31.</p><p>10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 21-23 and Oct. 26-30.</p><p><strong>Greenwood Public Library (east door), 310 S. Meridian St., Greenwood</strong></p><p>8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 24 and 31.</p><p>10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Oct. 26-30.</p><p><em>Source: Johnson County Voter Registration</em></p>[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="How to vote by mail" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]<p>Here is a look at directions to obtain an absentee ballot:</p><p>Apply online at indianavoters.com.</p><p>Contact the Voter Registration office at 317-346-4466 for an application to be mailed.</p><p>Completed applications can be sent by email to <a href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>, by fax to 317-736-3798, or by mail to Voter Registration, P.O. Box 451, Franklin, IN 46131.</p><p>Completed applications must be received by Oct. 22.</p>[sc:pullout-text-end]
