Early voting starts slow at Johnson County Courthouse

April 9, 2024

The spectacle and fanfare of the total solar eclipse had passed in Johnson County.

On Tuesday morning, county officials turned their attention to the next monumental event — the upcoming primary election on May 7.

Early voting started with a flurry of voters at 8:30 a.m., as about eight people lined up to cast their ballots in the basement of the county courthouse. Though voting tapered off for the rest of the day on Tuesday, election officials are anticipating a healthy turnout for the rest of early voting.

”I definitely think we’re going to see a lot of people come out. Maybe, it was the first day, and they just weren’t ready to start voting yet. They hadn’t made up their mind on some of these bigger races on who to vote for,” said Trena McLaughlin, county clerk. “But I definitely think it’s going to pick up. We’re ready.”

Though both major party presidential picks are all but decided, local Democratic and Republican voters have plenty of down-ballot choices to make.

For local Republicans, they’ll choose between six candidates for Indiana governor, a seven-way race for Indiana’s Sixth Congressional District, two candidate races for county commissioner and coroner, and six candidates for three at-large nominations for county council on the ballot. Voters who live in southern White River Township, along with Union and Hensley townships, also have a two-way race for Indiana Senate District 37.

Local Democrats have a two-way race for the U.S. Senate, as well as four candidates for three Johnson County Council nominations.

John Quinn was one of the first people to arrive in line at the county courthouse, showing up with his wife shortly just after 8 a.m. For the Franklin resident, it was of utmost importance to cast his ballot.

“It’s my duty and obligation,” he said. “I’ve voted in every election since I was able to vote.”

Quinn was most interested in the highly contested governor’s race, though he also wanted to make his voice heard for local races, such as the coroner’s contest between incumbent Mike Pruitt and Robbie Williams.

1 of 7

Nick Strange arrived at the poll shortly after Quinn. He, too, was intrigued by the number of contested races down the ballot.

“It’s kind of the only power we always have, and I wanted to make sure I used it,” the Bargersville resident said. “I knew the primary was coming up in May, but I wanted to do early voting and saw that it started today. So I decided to take advantage of it.”

Ron Bates, who is running to be one of three Republican nominees for the at-large seats on the county council, decided to vote early to get a sense of turnout and gauge what this primary election might be like.

“I wanted to see the surroundings and find out what it’s like on the first day of voting, because I’ve never done it that way before,” he said. “Secondly, I wanted to be aware of the number of people coming out early, because that just shows how interested they are and patriotic they are in doing their duty, so to speak, but doing it in a way where their vote is going to count.”

Bates was expecting much longer lines, so the tepid turnout caught him off-guard.

“I was surprised there wasn’t hardly anybody here. I’d heard there were these big long lines, and I was first in line. I wasn’t sure I was at the right place,” he said.

McLaughlin also figured there would be more people in line as early voting started, though trying to predict that can be tricky, she said.

Presidential election years typically have higher than normal turnout, which could lead to longer lines. The last presidential primary in 2020 saw a turnout of 21.5%, but this was affected by delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2016 primary saw a turnout of 39.8%, data shows.

“I think every election is really hard to predict,” McLaughlin said.

County election officials had been preparing for the start of voting for months, programming and sealing voting machines, recruiting and training poll workers and working out logistics of polling places.

Already, the election office has sent out about 700 absentee-by-mail ballots to voters.

“It’s a lot to prepare. I don’t think people realize how much work goes into it,” McLaughlin said.

Early voting at the courthouse will be open Monday to Friday for the next two weeks. Starting April 27, the courthouse will be open on Saturdays for two weekends, with early voting coming to an end at noon, Monday, May 6.

Five satellite voting centers will open the week of April 22: the Franklin Parks & Recreation Center, the John R. Drybread Community Center, and the White River, Greenwood and Trafalgar libraries. These locations will also be open for two Saturdays, April 27 and May 4, before closing at 2 p.m. May 4.

The Franklin Parks & Recreation was not used as a vote center for early voting last year. But it was added back to the roster this year to alleviate some of the traffic the courthouse is expected to get, McLaughlin said.

Three senior living community vote centers will be open from April 29 to May 1 for one day each. In order of opening, they are Greenwood Village South, Otterbein SeniorLife and Compass Park. These are the same centers that have been used in past elections.

Nineteen locations will be used as vote centers on Election Day, May 7. Three locations — Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, Grace Assembly of God and Scott Hall at the Johnson County Fairgrounds — will feature two vote centers at the same location, making for a total of 22.

WHERE TO VOTE EARLY

Here is a look at when and where you can cast your ballot early. Early voting runs from April 9 to May 6:

Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin

» 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Wednesday to Friday; April 15-19; April 22-26; April 29-May 3