Local election officials spent Monday getting ready for one of the busiest and most unusual Election Days to date.
Election Day will look different this year, with thousands of mail-in ballots ready to be counted in Johnson County, the coronavirus pandemic still looming and the possibility of not knowing many of the results tonight.
More than 14,000 Johnson County residents applied to vote by mail in this election — a significant increase from the 3,000 that applied in 2016. The countdown is on as county election officials started counting those ballots at 6 a.m. today, hoping to finish before the first vote centers report in-person results tonight.
Counting the ballots
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Click here to purchase photos from this galleryIndiana law prohibits early ballots from being counted before Election Day, so absentee board members started opening the thousands of already-organized envelopes bright and early today, at 6 a.m.
Twenty-six counters are split into 13 teams, each covering different precincts and each with members from both parties, said Trena McLaughlin, county clerk. The teams will check each envelope again, open the ballots, and prepare each one to go through a machine that processes it.
Four additional teams will operate the four processing machines, an increase from the three that were used during the primary in June, when all mail-in ballots were counted just a few hours after the polls closed at 6 p.m.
Despite the county’s plan to count all 14,000 mail-in ballots by the end of today, residents may not know the results of several big races — especially those that overlap with other counties — for days or weeks. That includes races for President, Congress, governor and state legislature spots in districts that stretch into Marion County.
In Marion County, more than 90,000 people requested to vote by mail, and it is unlikely election workers will count all the ballots in one night. During the primary, Marion County finished counting absentee ballots about week after Election Day.
When asked about how long Indiana should have to count mail-in ballots during one of his weekly press conferences, Gov. Eric Holcomb said, “they’ll count all of them that qualify to be counted.”
Record-breaking voter turnout
Thousands in Johnson County have already cast their ballots. In addition to the 14,000 mail-in ballots, more than 48,250 voted early in-person this election — shattering the 2016 early voting turnout of about 38,000.
Lines stretched around the Johnson County courthouse for days after the first day of early voting started, with wait-times reaching up to an hour and a half. And the weekend early voting centers saw record-breaking numbers as well. Monday was no different, as last-minute early voters were in a race against the clock to get their vote in by noon.
This was a trend across the state, with more than 1.7 million Hoosiers already casting their ballots before today, and more than 500,000 of those voting by mail, according to data from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office. Just more than 2.8 million Hoosiers total voted in the 2016 election, and about 930,000 voted early.
Since this election is so unusual, McLaughlin cannot predict what local voter turnout will look like today, she said. But she is confident the county’s 63% total turnout in 2016 will be broken because 56% of registered voters have already cast their ballots.
“This year has been like no other. I think it’s going to be busy, but I don’t know what I can predict,” McLaughlin said.
The races
More than 20 vote centers are open today across the county.
Almost all the contested races are at the national and state levels. The only contested local partisan race is for three at-large seats on the Johnson County Council. Three Republican candidates — Ron Deer, Melinda Griesemer and John Myers — are running against Democrat Amanda Stevenson-Holmes for the spot. Stevenson-Holmes is the only Democrat running for a county office.
Voters are tasked with choosing who they want to lead the country for the next four years. Republican President Donald Trump will face Democrat Joe Biden and Libertarian Jo Jorgensen for the commander-in-chief position.
U.S. Rep. Trey Hollingsworth is on the ballot for a third term in the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Indiana’s Ninth District, which encompasses Johnson County, along with Bloomington and areas along the Kentucky border. He faces Democrat Andy Ruff and Libertarian Tonya Millis.
At the state level, Hoosiers will elect a new attorney general. Republican Todd Rokita was chosen by the state GOP to take Attorney General Curtis Hill’s spot on the ballot. Rokita faces Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel.
Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb is running for a second term against Democrat Dr. Woody Myers and Libertarian Donald Rainwater.
Six local Indiana Statehouse seats are up for grabs this year, and all are contested except for Republican Rep. John Young’s seat, which represents Franklin.
Four newcomers are going head-to-head for two open seats in the Indiana House. Republican Michelle Davis faces Democrat Cindy Reinert for retiring Rep. Woody Burton’s long-held District 58 seat to represent parts of Greenwood, Whiteland and New Whiteland. Republican John Jacob won his party’s ticket in a narrow primary race against incumbent Rep. Dollyne Sherman for the District 93 seat, which represents parts of White River Township and the southside of Indianapolis. Jacob faces Democrat Angela Elliott.
And 18 candidates are on the ballot for the county’s 14 non-partisan school board spots.
Seats on the ballot include: Center Grove School Board, two at-large; Clark-Pleasant School Board, one Pleasant Township and one at-large; Edinburgh School Board, two at-large; Franklin Community School Board, two city of Franklin, one Franklin Township; Greenwood Community School Board, district one and district three; Nineveh-Hensley-Jackson School Board, two at-large and one from Nineveh Township.
At the vote centers
The same cleaning and social distancing protocols followed during the primary in June will be in place today.
Voters must wear masks inside and are instructed to stand in lines at least six feet apart. Masks will also be provided at the polls for those who need one, but people cannot be stopped from voting if they choose not to wear one, McLaughlin said.
Inside the vote centers, all poll workers are wearing masks. Hand sanitizer stations are placed throughout the buildings and voting machines will be disinfected after each use. Some of the larger vote centers will have separate entrances and exits.
Plastic sneeze-guards are set up at the check-in tables, keeping voters and poll workers safe, and voters have to place their own IDs in the electronic pollbook holder when checking in so poll workers do not have to touch it.
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Here is a look at where you can cast your ballot in person from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. today:
Amity Volunteer Fire Department, 3247 S. 550 E., Franklin
Bargersville Fire Station #1, 3991 N. State Road 135, Bargersville
Bargersville Town Hall, 24 N. Main Street, Bargersville
Community Church of Greenwood (Main Entrance foyer), 1477 W. Main St., Greenwood
Franklin Community Center, 396 Branigin Blvd., Franklin
Grace Assembly of God, 6822 N. U.S. 31, New Whiteland
GracePoint Church, 330 Whiteland Road, New Whiteland
Grace United Methodist Church, 1300 E. Adams Drive, Franklin
Greenwood Christian Church, 2045 Averitt Road, Greenwood
Greenwood Public Library, 310 S. Meridian St., Greenwood
John R. Drybread Community Center, 100 E. Main Cross St., Edinburgh
Mt. Auburn Methodist Church, 3100 W. Stones Crossing Road, Greenwood
Mt. Pleasant Christian Church, 381 N. Bluff Road, Greenwood
Princes Lakes Town Hall, 14 E. Lakeview Drive, Nineveh
Rocklane Christian Church, 4430 Rocklane Road, Greenwood
Scott Hall – Johnson County Fairgrounds, 250 Fairground St., Franklin
The Nest, 100 Byrd Way, Greenwood
Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar
Vineyard Community Church, 512 S. Madison Ave., Greenwood
White River Public Library, 1664 Library Blvd., Greenwood
White River Township Trustee’s Office, 2929 S. Morgantown Road, Greenwood
Source: Johnson County Voter Registration
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