Republican voters who want to pick their candidates for mayor, town and city councils can start casting a ballot on Monday.
Early voting kicks off at the Johnson County Courthouse. Voters will have dozens of opportunities in the two weeks before the May 7 election to cast a ballot.
Election officials are predicting a relatively low turnout of about 10 percent, which is part of the reason why the early voting period was shortened to two weeks, which is a change from the typical month-long early voting period, Johnson County Clerk Trena McLaughlin said.
“It would cost taxpayers so much money to be open for four weeks,” she said.
But in the most recent election, overall voter turnout was about 50 percent. Lines snaked around the courthouse as people waited in line for hours in the days before the election to cast a ballot. Some voters waited three hours or more to cast ballots on Election Day. County, state and national offices were on the ballot in that election.
And in the 2016 presidential election, 32 percent of voters voted early, breaking a record for Johnson County.
However, this election is a municipal election and includes races for local candidates. Historically, voter turn out for municipal elections is typically low, with the last municipal election having about 11 percent turn out, McLaughlin said.
“Hopefully the community will get out and vote,” she said.
Republicans have multiple races on their ballots, including contested races for town councils, some clerk-treasurers, some city judges and mayors. Democrats do not have a ballot for traditional races, but voters living in the Franklin school district can request a ballot to vote on a referendum for school safety improvements and teacher salaries.
The Johnson County Courthouse will be open weekdays for early voting starting Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will also be open the next two Saturdays, and other vote centers will open in the days before the election.
You can vote at any of the locations regardless of your address, as long as you live in Johnson County and are registered to vote. None of the votes will be counted until Election Day.
Voters who cast a ballot in this election will do so on new machines.
Johnson County hired MicroVote, an Indianapolis-based vendor, to provide equipment and run the elections this year.
Snafus with the previous vendor caused long waits for voters on Election Day and county officials made the decision to fire the vendor and hire MicroVote.
Pollworkers were trained on the equipment earlier this year. The new equipment features iPads as the electronic poll books, with special, certified software. Clerks will scan a voter’s driver’s license, have them confirm their information is correct and sign the tablet so the clerk can match that signature with the one on file. Next, the pollworker will print a ticket for the voter to give to a judge, who will walk them to a machine, insert a card and pull up the correct ballot.
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Here is a look at where and when you can cast your ballot early:
Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, starting Monday.
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 27 and May 4.
8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. May 6.
Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 27 and May 4.
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-3.
Vineyard Christian Church, 512 S. Madison Ave, Greenwood
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 27 and May 4.
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-3.
John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh.
8 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 27 and May 4.
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-3.
White River library, 1664 Library Blvd., Greenwood
8 a.m. -3 p.m. May 4.
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. May 1-3.
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