Early voting underway at Johnson County Courthouse

October 12, 2022

With minutes to go before the opening of early voting in Johnson County, a line of four people waited patiently for their opportunity.

They were driven by civic duty; though none of the contested races on this year’s ballot ignited much passion, they wanted to make their voices heard.

Casting their ballots first seemed like the best way to do that.

“We’re just hoping to make a change,” said Hurley Davis of the Center Grove-area.

Early voting started at the Johnson County Courthouse Wednesday, as people trickled into the voting area throughout the day. The ballot for this general election features a handful of contested local, state and federal races, with local residents choosing everything from one of Indiana’s U.S. Senators to the Indiana secretary of state to representatives for school boards in Center Grove, Clark-Pleasant, Franklin and Greenwood.

There are also candidates for the Edinburgh and Indian Creek school boards on the ballot, but incumbents are running unopposed.

Early voting will continue throughout October and early November, leading up to the general election on Nov. 8. The county’s election office ready, regardless of what the turnout ends up being, said Trena McLaughlin, county clerk.

“It’s very hard to predict,” she said.

McLaughlin is unsure what to expect from this year’s early voting. The last midterm election, held in 2018, also featured high-profile contested races for offices such as county sheriff, clerk and recorder. Indiana voted for a U.S. senator and other high-level federal offices, and three public questions were on the ballot.

Early voting turnout during the last midterm in 2018 was about 24,000 people, McLaughlin said.

“We had a lot more voters out that year,” she said.

One way that 2018 is measuring up this year is the number of absentee ballots that have been sent out so far, McLaughlin said. That year, the election office sent out 3,077 absentee ballots. Already for this general election, the office has mailed almost 1,600, which doesn’t include the approximately 300 they mailed on Tuesday and about 140 ready to mail today.

Though this year doesn’t have as many prominent races on the ballot, a number of important races are included. The race for one of Indiana’s U.S. Senate seats is a three-way race, with incumbent Republican Sen. Todd Young will face Democrat Tom McDermott, the mayor of Hammond, and Libertarian James Sceniak, of Greenwood.

Also in Congress, U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, a Republican, is challenged by Democrat Cinde Wirth in the Sixth Congressional District race.

At the state level, contested races include Indiana’s secretary of state, auditor and treasurer.

Most local races in Johnson County are uncontested, from the county council and commissioners to all the county-wide offices, including prosecutor, sheriff, clerk, recorder and auditor. But tightly contested races for school boards and township boards, as well as township trustees, are drawing increased attention.

For Greenwood resident Dale Marmaduke, this year’s election represents an opportunity to shake up the status quo of the current government.

“I am a person who does not like to re-elect people in office. So I choose the opposite party. I think our current parties are not in touch with the world,” he said. “I hate any group that votes in unison — all Democrats vote one way, all Republicans vote the other way. I try to eliminate anyone who doesn’t think independently.”

He regularly meets with a group of friends for breakfast each week at Ann’s Restaurant in Franklin. With early voting starting this morning, it was an easy walk over to the courthouse. He wanted to avoid long lines, and raved about the county’s election board preparation.

“The Johnson County system is a quantum leap above other Indiana counties and other states. We have seen Election Day voting with excessively long waits,” he said.

Dan Reed of Franklin had more practical reasons for being one of the first people voting early Wednesday.

“I just didn’t want to wait in line that long. I’ve done that too,” he said, laughing. “And, it’s starting to rain outside, and I’ve seen the line get backed up outside.”

Davis was in line just behind Reed, voting early with his wife, Sarah. They had plans to travel to Terre Haute later today, so they made sure to cast their ballot as early as possible.

Though none of the individual races, they were concerned about the impact inflation was having on the country.

“We don’t like our gas being so high, or our food, or anything,” Sarah Davis said.

Though the courthouse is the only location for early voting currently, more early voting sites will open across Johnson County closer to Election Day.

Satellite early voting centers will open at Johnson County Public Library branches in White River Township and Trafalgar, Greenwood Public Library and John R. Drybread Community Center in Edinburgh. In addition, Greenwood Village South Retirement Community, Compass Park and Otterbein SeniorLife Community will host individual early voting days, according to documents from the Johnson County clerk’s office.

Prior to casting a ballot, voters should have identification, such as a driver’s license, ready at the polls, McLaughlin said.

The clerk’s office has sample ballots available for people to determine what candidates and issues are their ballot. McLaughlin has also been advising poll workers and people who call in that, even when voting for a straight-party ticket, they still need to go in and vote for races that have more than one seat open.

“So all of the school boards, you have to go in and vote for those. Then we have some township boards that are ‘vote for two’ or ‘vote for three.’ You have to go in and vote for all of those,” she said.

WHERE TO VOTE EARLY

Eligible voters may cast their ballot at any voter center in the county.

Voters should come to the polls with government-issued identification.

Johnson County Courthouse, 5 East Jefferson St., Franklin

Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday until Nov. 4.