Johnson County officials ready to start early voting Tuesday

Johnson County election officials say they are ready to welcome in voters when early voting begins next week.

Early voting starts at the Johnson County Courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, the start of a Monday to Friday run from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. for the next few weeks. Residents will have several races to vote for, including school boards, the county council, county commissioners, state representatives in the House and the Senate, U.S. Congress, Indiana Attorney General, Indiana Governor and U.S. president. Prince’s Lakes residents will also have a town council election for two seats, though those candidates aren’t contested.

There is also a constitutional amendment on the ballot, asking whether the former state superintendent of public instruction position should be removed from the line of succession for Indiana governor. Three Indiana Supreme Court justices and two Court of Appeals judges are also up for retention.

Later on in the month, from Oct. 21 through Nov. 1, six other locations will open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.: the Franklin Parks & Recreation Center, the John R. Drybread Community Center in Edinburgh, and the Clark-Pleasant, Trafalgar, White River and Greenwood libraries.

The six early voting locations and the courthouse will be open two Saturdays before Election Day from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26 and Nov. 2 for voters to submit their ballots. The day before the election, the courthouse will be the only place to early vote from 8 a.m. to noon., but this year there will be six, said Trena McLaughlin, county clerk. She plans to have plenty of staff working on-site at each location to answer questions and direct voters into proper lines.

People will also be able to vote in three retirement communities from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for one day each near the end of the month. Greenwood Village will open for early voting Oct. 28, Otterbein SeniorLife will open Oct. 29 and Compass Park will open Oct. 30. The retirement communities are open to the public for voting but were specifically opened for residents of the retirement communities, McLaughlin said.

On Election Day, 19 locations will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m, with Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, Grace Assembly of God and Scott Hall at the Johnson County Fairgrounds having two vote centers each.

Ahead of early voting and Election Day voting, McLaughlin stresses that while voters can cast a straight-party ticket, there are some races that voters will need to choose more than one candidate for manually, like county council and school board races. Otherwise, no votes will be counted for those offices, she said.

Although she can’t easily compare the total to 2020, McLaughlin said she thinks Johnson County will have “a huge early voter turnout”and she thinks the county will “definitely be back to pre-pandemic numbers.” Looking at absentee ballot turnout as of Thursday, officials have mailed out 3,063 absentee ballots and have gotten 587 returned.

“A lot of voters like the idea of being able to vote early and then not having to wait in line so long on Election Day,” she said. “So I definitely think that we will have a huge voter turnout for early voting.”

Thinking back to 2016, McLaughlin said although she wasn’t the elected clerk at the time, she remembers “long, long lines here at the courthouse” and she wants to make sure voters aren’t waiting in line too long and are able to get in and get out quickly. With this year’s longer ballot and with the ballot questions, it may take a little bit of time, she said.

Voter turnout has been on the rise in Johnson County for the past two presidential general elections, according to historical data. In 2016, there were 107,546 registered voters with a 63% voter turnout. It rose in 2020 with 111,428 registered voters and a 70.31% voter turnout.

So far in 2024, there have been 122,401 registered voters. The deadline to register to vote is before 11:59 p.m. Monday online or 4:30 p.m. in the voter registration office.

One reason for an expected higher turnout could be that it’s a presidential election. More voters turn out when a presidential race is on the ballot, McLaughlin said.

“I think when voters vote, they typically don’t look at a county-wide election or even a municipal election as being that important,” McLaughlin said. “Voters think that definitely they have to get out and vote for president, so I hope that with this election and voters getting out to vote, not only for president and our governor and attorney general and state senators and so on that they continue to come out and vote in our elections for our local and county-wide races also.”

Voters should be prepared to have to stand in line, McLaughlin said. She said there tends to be more voters on the last day of early voting, so she encourages people to take advantage of the open centers to cast their ballot.

Although there may be some lines, she said one of the benefits of early voting is possibly not having to wait in line as long as a person would for Election Day, Nov. 5. It’s also a benefit to vote early in case a person unexpectedly goes out of state or is sick in the hospital, she said.

With six early voting locations open plus the courthouse, McLaughlin said it is taxpayer money being spent and in previous elections, she said some open vote centers would only get 10 voters at one location for a day, especially at the south locations.

“We don’t pay for the vote center locations but we do have to pay for the poll workers and all the staff here that’s working to get everything ready,” she said, “So definitely, I feel like as a taxpayer, I would like to see voters get out and vote so that their money is being used wisely.”

To vote, people need to be registered and bring a valid driver’s license or state-issued identification card. McLaughlin said it is a very easy check-in process.

If a person cannot vote early or on Election Day, they can request an absentee ballot by calling the voter registration office at 317-346-4467 or going online at IndianaVoters.com. The last day to receive absentee ballot applications is Oct. 24.

WHERE TO VOTE EARLY

Here is a look at when and where voters can cast their ballot early. Early voting runs starts Tuesday and runs until Nov. 4.

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

• 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Oct. 8-11, Oct. 14-18, Oct. 21-25, Oct. 28-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 2
• 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 4

Clark Pleasant Public Library, 350 Clearwater Boulevard, Whiteland

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

Franklin Parks and Recreation Center, 396 Branigan Blvd.

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

Greenwood Public Library (east door), 310 S. Meridian St.

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St.

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

White River Public Library, 1664 Library Blvd., Greenwood

• 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 21-Nov. 1
• 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 26, Nov. 2

Greenwood Village South Retirement Community, 295 Village Lane

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 28

Otterbein SeniorLife, 1070 W. Jefferson St., Franklin

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 29

Compass Park, 690 State St., Franklin

• 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 30

Source: Johnson County Voter Registration