This story will be updated throughout the day with new information from the polls. Come back to our website after 6 p.m. for voting results.
5:30 p.m., Grace United Methodist Church, Franklin
With less than an hour to go until polls closed, workers were patiently waiting for the final voters to come through.
Turnout had been light at the polling place, said election inspector Phil Howard.
“It’s a primary, and then the weather this morning kind of kept people away. But after the weather cleared, it’s been steady since then,” he said.
Poll workers had tallied 425 voters thus far, though at no point had they faced much of a rush, Howard said. The voting machines had worked without any glitches, a welcome development. At worst, a handful of registration issues and problems with drivers licenses were the biggest worry, he said.
“‘Collectively, it’s been uneventful,” Howard said.
4:40 p.m., Clark-Pleasant library, Whiteland
Jude Barger had finally reached the legal voting age.
Nothing was going to prevent him from exercising his right to vote for the first time ever.
“I wanted to come out and help the community out by casting my vote. I believe everyone should vote. It’s a natural right we have in a democracy, and everyone should do it,” said the 18-year-old Whiteland resident.
The county prosecutor race was the initial race that caught Barger’s eye, as it was one of the most important and hotly contested in the county. But with a variety of contested races on the ballot, he was sure to do his research and learn about the other candidates and offices up for grabs.
“It helped draw me in, and I learned there were a bunch of other things I had to vote for. So I had to learn about all of those different races up for the midterm and get my vote in, to make it matter,” he said.
Walking out of the polling place, Barger proudly sported his “I Voted” sticker. His experience had been an easy one.
“I was nervous at first, but they make it really easy. You just come in, give them your information, and they tell you want to do. It was a lot easier than I thought,” he said.
And though this was his first opportunity to vote, he is committed to continuing it each election cycle.
“I feel like it’s a big part of what everyone should do,” he said.
– Ryan Trares
4:25 p.m., Clark-Pleasant library, Whiteland
In its first year as a polling place in Johnson County, the new library in Whiteland seemed to be a hit.
The polls had seen a steady stream of voters all day long Tuesday, though at no point was the line much longer than a few minutes, said election inspector Damian Katt.
“It’s been a surprise. We thought that we wouldn’t need this many machines, but it’s been perfect, really. The machines have all been used, and there really hasn’t been much of a line,” Katt said.
At around 4 p.m., more than 500 people had already come to the library to vote. And with a few hours left until polls closed, Katt expected that number to stretch well over 600.
Having the polling place at the library, which opened to the public in March, served a dual purpose.
“It’s been a real bonus for the library, because they’ve gotten a lot of exposure. I was talking to some people here earlier, and they said it was almost like having a second grand opening,” Katt said. “People have been coming in and seeing it for the first time. It’s worked out really well.”
– Ryan Trares
3:30 p.m., The Nest, Greenwood
For many local residents, Election Day is all about fulfilling your civic duty.
Even without a slate of intriguing races and issues, it was still important to Greenwood resident Hanna Poitras to make it to the polls Tuesday.
“It’s our right as United States citizens, and it’s really important to voice your opinion in elections. And that starts in the primaries,” she said.
By the time in the afternoon that Poitras made it into the Nest to vote, lines were nonexistent. People were quickly checking in, getting their ballot and casting their votes for local, state and national leaders without a wait.
Most of the day had been like that, said poll inspector Jim Engmark.
“It’s been slow,” he said. “We have some rushes of people coming in. But for the most part, it’s been slow.”
According to Engmark, 325 people had voted at the site to that point in the day. Those numbers were considerably less than the Nest has seen in past elections.
Still, even on a relatively slow day, it was exciting to be able to serve as a poll inspector.
“Everybody I’ve talked to, all of the poll workers, it’s kind of our civic duty to do this,” he said. “I’ve always enjoyed it. I’ve done it off and on for about 12 years. It’s something I’ve always liked to do.”
– Ryan Trares
3:15 p.m., Johnson County Clerk’s Office
Johnson County Clerk Trena McLaughlin said things have been going smoothly at vote centers across the county. By about 1:40 p.m., about 7% of registered voters had turned out to vote.
The White River Township library has had the heaviest turnout, so far. About 810 votes were cast there by 3 p.m., according to voting data.
As of the same time, other top voting sites are Franklin’s community center with 522 votes, Greenwood’s library with 510, Mt. Pleasant Christian Church with 499 and Whiteland’s library with 484, data shows.
– Leeann Doerflein
3 p.m., Franklin Cultural Arts and Recreation Center
Throughout the course of 80 years, he’s made sure to never miss an election.
Centenarian Gordon Dunn, a World War II veteran who is looking forward to turning 101 next month, arrived at the polls at about 2:45 p.m., and was able to vote within a few minutes of his arrival.
“We’re citizens of this country and we gotta vote. It’s up to us to select who we want; it’s very important, especially in this day and age,” Dunn said. “It’s exercising our privilege. We’re selecting the people we want to represent us.”
Jamie Beck moved to Franklin from northern Indiana 12 years ago, and as a worker for Franklin’s parks department, she finds the polling location convenient.
“It’s the convenience of being able to vote here and voice my opinion in Franklin when I’ve not lived here my entire life,” Beck said. “It’s just the local aspect of it. This is important to our local communities. It’s important to pay attention to the local (elections) just as much as the national ones.”
Election inspector Richard Wertz said turnout was poor before 9:30 a.m., when the rain stopped, but picked up significantly afterwards, as poll workers counted 356 voters by noon. Wertz said he started working the polls more than a decade ago to give back to the community.
“I served on the city council for eight years and the (redevelopment commission), and this is a way to be involved in the community and the future of our country,” he said.
–Andy Bell-Baltaci
2:30 p.m., Franklin Cultural Arts and Recreation Center
As voters approach Franklin’s community center, they are greeted by representatives of the two prosecutorial campaigns. Three people hold up “Joe Villanueva for Prosecutor” signs, while one holds up a “Lance Hamner for Prosecutor” sign.
The Hamner representative is his daughter-in-law, Erin Hamner, who has been at the vote center since before polls opened at 6 a.m.
“He’s the best father-in-law I could’ve ever expected. He’s very supportive and always checks on you. I don’t think he could love his family more than he does. He’s just a genuine man, I got very lucky,” Erin Hamner said. “He has a lot of experience and he cares a lot. When he comes home, he researches things and takes the call no matter what time of day; morning, night, Sundays, holidays, he’ll answer the call and help somebody. Whether it’s his family, community, he bends over backwards to help people. He does a lot of research and he’s very knowledgeable.”
Franklin resident Rhonda Nichols, holding a purple Villanueva sign, also got to the community center’s parking lot at about 6 a.m. Nichols has worked with Villanueva at the prosecutor’s office for 18 years and currently works as a front office legal assistant. She supports him because she’s confident in his integrity.
“I’ve known him for 18 years and worked with him for 18 years,” Nichols said. “I’ve seen him when he’s not running for election. He’s just an all-around great guy and is excellent at his prosecution skills. He wins a lot of cases, but even more so, his integrity and his characteristics, he’s just very respectful to not only his coworkers, but also the public and victims. Just in general, he’s an all-around great guy and I support him 100%.”
–Andy Bell-Baltaci
1:15 p.m. John R. Drybread Community Center, Edinburgh
Outside the community center, a pair of Edinburgh residents sat on lawn chairs, one campaigning for her own re-election to town council and one campaigning for the Edinburgh schools referendum.
Debbie Buck, an Edinburgh Town Council member who won a 2019 caucus vote for her seat, said if she’s elected for a full term, she wants to focus on infrastructure enhancements and attract new developers to increase housing in the town.
“We’ve got the new fire station going, it started two years ago, and we’re continuing that work. We had to bring in a new police chief and we’re working on getting the substation built,” Buck said.
Nancy West, a lifelong Edinburgh resident and member of the political action committee dedicated to passing the school referendum, said the community will suffer if the referendum doesn’t pass.
“It’s very important,” West said. “I’m a graduate, my son and grandson are Edinburgh graduates, along with my husband. We understand the importance of the school district to the community. If we don’t have our own school, the community will suffer. We want the best for the kids in Edinburgh, and we want the teachers and staff to be paid in a manner they deserve for all their hard work. It’s a really important thing.”
–Andy Bell-Baltaci
1 p.m., John R. Drybread Community Center, Edinburgh
Edinburgh’s election judges and clerks are seeing turnout unlike anything they’ve seen in a non election year.
Election clerk Barb Pierse, who has been working elections since 2002, said the Edinburgh schools referendum is likely driving the mass of people.
“I think the referendum has been very influential and I hope that this many people will vote again in the fall,” Pierse said. “This has been the busiest primary that I remember. The presidential election in 2020 was big. We had people lined up, there were 10 to 20 people in line all the time. This is definitely (the largest turnout) in a non-presidential year. This is the first time I can remember we’ve had a local referendum.”
The voters have been coming in steadily, but things really picked up between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., driving the tally past the 200 mark, said Ledajean Flory, election judge.
Election clerk Wanda Giles woke up at 4 a.m., with her and her colleagues getting to the community center at 5 a.m. for the 6 a.m. start, Giles said.
“I’ve been working (elections) for probably 20 years,” Giles said. “I got asked by a friend if they needed workers and the head of the Democratic party contacted me to get workers. I’ve been doing that for a lot of years but now it’s harder to get workers, who are almost always older people. There are some younger, but it’s hard because there’s a lot of hours to put in.”
–Andy Bell-Baltaci
12:30 p.m., John R. Drybread Community Center, Edinburgh
With a referendum and possibly the future of Edinburgh schools on the line, the pair of Edinburgh High School graduates with deep ties to the school district wanted to do their part to make sure the property tax hike passed.
Edinburgh residents Robin Bennett and Carrie Palmeter both cast their votes for the measure at about 12:30 p.m., hopeful they would be successful in helping Edinburgh schools raise money for teacher salaries, new buses and security measures and stave off possible consolidation with another school district.
“I am a 1996 graduate and my oldest daughter is a graduate and we want to see the referendum pass,” Bennett said. “This is for allowing the schools to stay open. I have a younger child in the first grade and want to see her graduate from here. The school is a big part of my family, and I would like to see that continue.”
Palmeter also has a daughter who graduated from Edinburgh High School.
“We just want to keep the schools open,” Palmeter said. “We graduated together and our daughters graduated together and all of our families graduated from here. We wanted the schools here to stay open.”
Ernest Smith, also an Edinburgh resident, said he’s come out to the polls every year since he turned 18. Smith also has ties to Edinburgh schools, graduating from the high school in 1975.
“I’d like to see the school continue to go,” Smith said. “I have a son who will graduate in 2025 and I graduated in 1975 and I’d like to see it continue. I’ve been voting since I was 18. It’s just as important to support your community and vote and keep things afloat in your home town as it is in the whole country. I like to do my part either way.”
Former Edinburgh town council member Kami Ervin also came out to vote in support of the referendum.
“It’s about maintaining the school system as a whole moving forward, if we’re able to pay our teachers what we need to pay them to keep them here,” Ervin said. “We’re not offering the kids the quality education they need because we end up being a stepping stone, and we need to maintain the programs we’re currently able to. Transportation is huge for a small town. A lot of kids live north of (State Road) 252, so crossing 252 is an issue for some kids. They live too close to the schools to be bussed, so it’s also about making sure our kids can get to school safely.”
–Andy Bell-Baltaci
11 a.m., Bargersville Town Hall
About 190 voters had cast ballots by 11 a.m. at Bargersville Town Hall. With a town council race on the ballot and several town residents up for election in other offices, there was a lot to draw people to vote this year.
The town hall had been busy all morning long, said Ruth Ann Moore, election inspector for the site.
“We are pleasantly surprised at the turnout,” Moore said. “Only about twice today there has been nobody here. For an off-year and the weather being as bad as it is, we are doing very well.”
Hyper-local races such as the town council race in Bargersville and the referendum in Edinburgh seem to be increasing turnout in small towns, Moore said. The excitement for local races was apparent at Bargersville town hall on Election Day and at the community center in Edinburgh last week, she said.
All three town council candidates were at town hall campaigning, along with Bargersville resident Scott Strother, a Republican who is running for Indiana House District 47.
When the rain started up candidates donned rain gear and took shelter under tents and vehicle hatchbacks.
Bargersville resident Lena Earl turned out to vote this year to voice her vote on how the country, county and town should be run. Like she does every election, she read up on the candidates and voted for who she thinks will do the best job.
“I think our nation is in such a place that we need to support the people that we think will make our country better,” Earl said.
Another Bargersville resident, Kandeena Rumell, was motivated to vote this year to make sure incumbents who are doing a good job in office remain there, she said.
“We need to get some people re-elected, so I want to do my part,” Rumell said. “We need to get good people elected to do what is best for our community.”
– Leeann Doerflein
9:45 a.m., Greenwood Public Library
More than 110 voters had cast their ballots at Greenwood Public Library by 9:30 a.m. That is decent turnout so far for a midterm election following a highly contentious presidential election, said Chris Sifers, election inspector at the site.
The stream of voters has been steady throughout the morning, with a new voter entering the building about the time one finishes voting, he said.
Several representatives of county prosecutor candidates greeted voters before they entered the door, including a canine supporter of Johnson County Prosecutor Joe Villanueva.
The prosecutor race and other races on the Republican ticket brought Greenwood resident Ann Higdon out to vote. She votes in most elections and, this year, brought her children to see the process.
“It is important to vote for local leaders,” Higdon said.
Greenwood resident Lorene Snyder was sad to see so few choices on the Democratic ballot. With so few choices for Democrats in deep red counties like Johnson County, it would be good to allow voters to choose from both parties, Snyder said.
Nonetheless, she turned out to vote because, no matter the amount of choices, voting is important, Snyder said.
“It is my duty as an American citizen to vote, how else will I make my vote heard?” Snyder said.
– Leeann Doerflein
9:30 a.m., Mount Pleasant Christian Church, Greenwood
In northern White River Township, voters saw almost no wait to cast their ballots at Mount Pleasant Christian Church.
Officials had a bit of a rush around 9:15 a.m., where some voters did have to wait for a minute or two to get checked in, but from there voters had plenty of voting machines to choose from.
David Hoover of Greenwood was one of these voters. Hoover has voted for at least 20 years, though he says he doesn’t do it as often as he thinks he should.
The experience was pleasant and very organized and he was able to get in and out quickly, Hoover said.
“It was very efficient,” Hoover said.
This election Hoover was motivated to vote because his wife is friends with one of the candidates on the ballot: Brittany Carroll, a candidate for Indiana House District 60.
Voting is very important, especially because if you don’t exercise your right to vote, then you have no reason to complain about who was in office. Hoover said.
Voting was also not a new experience for Ariel Roberts of Greenwood. It’s important to vote in primary elections for her because it gives voters the chance to make sure they have the best choice possible running for office during the general election, she said.
Roberts also did not experience any lines and didn’t have to wait long to cast her ballot.
“It was very easy,” she said.
– Noah Crenshaw
8:30 a.m., Johnson County Public Library, White River Township branch
Voters came in at a steady hum at the White River branch of the Johnson County Public Library this morning in Greenwood.
Before voters entered the library’s community room to cast their votes they were greeted outside the building by candidates and those campaigning for them. Among them were supporters of Johnson County Prosecutor Joe Villanueva, Indiana House District 58 candidate Michelle Davis, and Indiana House District 60 candidates Brittany Carroll and Peggy Mayfield.
Voters were also greeted by four candidates: Indiana House District 57 candidates Melinda Griesemer and Craig Haggard, County Council District 4 candidate John Mallers and prosecutor candidate Lance Hamner.
Greenwood resident Patrick Lomstead Sr. has voted for as long as he could remember, he said. Whenever there’s an election, people need to exercise their right to vote. If you don’t vote, then you can’t complain about who’s in office, Lomstead said.
“It’s pretty routine and important for our area that you vote for these things,” he said.
Jayne Walters of Greenwood said voting went smoothly for her, though she was disappointed there weren’t as many Democratic candidates on the ballot as previous years.
Voting is important to Walters because it can lead to change, and positive change is needed, she said. While she votes in every election, this election was especially important due to recent talk about banning books and materials relating to LGBTQ issues, Walters said.
“These are important to me as a librarian, an Indy Pride board member, and as a resident,” Walters said.
In the past, Walters favorite parts of voting was bringing her daughter with her to vote and teaching her how important it is. Now her daughter is grown and votes on her own, she said.
“Teaching that is important. (Election Day) needs to be a national holiday, so no one has to worry about working,” Walters said.
– Noah Crenshaw
7:15 a.m., The Nest, Greenwood
Many things come and go when every election comes around, but there’s one thing that is consistent: poll workers.
Jim Englemark, a community liaison at the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office, has been a poll worker for more than 12 years, although this is not consecutively. This time he’s supervising the polls at The Nest Event Center.
His first inkling of wanting to be a poll worker came in the 1990s, when he began at the sheriff’s office. Englemark was already interested in politics, and for him, a way to get involved was being a poll worker, he said.
“It’s a civic duty,” Englemark said.
His favorite part of working the polls is getting to meet new people — both voters and poll workers. Being able to see the voters and being able to talk to them is great, along with getting to know the poll workers, he said.
“It’s neat to meet (the poll workers) and see how long they’ve been doing it,” Englemark said.
Jolanda Bean of Greenwood has been a poll workers for about five elections. Bean has always been very service-oriented, and it’s especially important to have representation at the polls, along with really good customer service, she said.
Being a poll worker and being able to help people accurately and give them instructions on how to use the voting equipment is one of her favorite parts of the job.
Prior to being at The Nest, Bean was a poll worker at the White River Branch of the Johnson County Public Library.
On Saturday, it was slow throughout the day, something she expects to be the same at this location, she said.
“Knowing people have the opportunity to vote early and vote by mail, it’ll be slow today,” Bean said.
– Noah Crenshaw
6:55 a.m., The Nest, Greenwood
More than a dozen people trickled into The Nest Event Center early this morning to cast their ballots.
Despite the rainy start, Katrina Sison of Greenwood was the first person to vote, after waiting outside for five minutes before the polls opened.
For Sison, voting is fundamental. She has voted in every election since 1982, when she first turned 18. Even before she cast her vote Tuesday, she was thinking ahead to her next one.
“I’ve been here every election. In 2024, I’m going to be here too,” Sison said.
Like Sison, Kathleen Herald of Greenwood has voted in almost every election, only missing one since she turned 18. Voting is very important for Herald for several reasons. The first is because women earned the right to vote, so it’s important for her to do so.
The second is because of how crucial it is for voters to make sure that the people who get into office will do the right things for the country. Voters have to do research on candidates’ backgrounds and not just take things at face value, Herald said.
“You vote for who you think is right for the job,” she said.
Herald was excited to be among the first people to vote this morning. She was happy to exercise one of her freedoms: the right to vote, she said.
“I love this country and I want it to go in a good direction,” Herald said.
– Noah Crenshaw
