Bartholomew County election officials are confident in the safety measures in place to protect against spreading COVID-19 at polling sites as early in-person voting begins today for the Nov. 3 presidential election.
Starting at 8 a.m. today, voters can cast their ballots in person at the former Carson’s store at FairOaks Mall.
Early in-person voting will be held at the former Carson’s space weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from today to Oct. 30.
Additionally, early voting will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the former Carson’s store the two Saturdays prior to election day — Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 — and from 8 a.m. to noon on Nov. 2. No early voting will be held at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
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Currently, local election officials have set up six electronic voting machines and two check-in stations at the former Carson’s store and plan to have nine poll workers on hand wearing masks, including two who are entirely dedicated to wiping down voting machines, electronic poll books, tables and doors with sanitizer, said Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps.
Election staff also have placed social distancing markers in the interior of the former Carson’s space so voters can maintain 6 feet of physical distance while waiting to cast their ballots.
Voters who do not wish to touch the voting machines can use wooden queue tips that are available on site, Phelps said.
When voting ends at 5 p.m. each evening, the store space will be cleaned, Phelps said.
“As far as in the building itself, there’s not going to be more than seven to eight people at a time in line in the building,” Phelps said. “That way so we can maintain social distancing and not have a packed line where no one can be spread out. We do have social distancing markers laid out on the floor and we’re going to ask voters to wait at each marker until they’re up to the check-in station.”
Phelps said while “there were some eyebrows being raised” about the proximity of the vote center to one of the state’s COVID-19 testing sites at the former JC Penney store, he is not worried about any confusion about which site is for COVID-19 testing and which one is for voting.
Voters will only be able to access the former Carson’s store from the exterior of the mall, Phelps said. The doors that lead into the mall from Carson’s will remained sealed.
Additionally, the former Carson’s space uses a different air ventilation system than the former JC Penney’s store, Phelps said.
“We were in talks with the city about using the facility before the state came in (with the COVID-19 testing site),” Phelps said. “…I’m really not worried about it just because of the simple fact that voters will be paying attention to the signs that we have posted on the 25th Street side of the building and we will have some vote center signs up close as well to let people know that we’re voting here.”
Currently, Phelps is anticipating high turnout for early in-person voting due to people hoping to avoid long lines on Election Day and having one centralized early voting location.
Phelps said he plans to use the electronic sign in front of the mall on 25th Street and a banner on the Carson’s store to point people toward the voting location.
In the past, early in-person voting has been done at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, with some other locations opening up the week before the election.
“With having voting at one main location in the central part of town for the 28 days of in-person early voting, I think we could be looking at 10,000 voters voting at Fair Oaks before the election,” Phelps said.
In 2016, 14,348 voters voted early in person at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, Donner Center, German American Bank and Flintwood Wesleyan Church, Phelps said.
However, requests for absentee-by-mail ballots have been much higher this election than in previous presidential elections due to concerns about the coronavirus pandemic.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mailing in ballots as a way to vote without risking exposure to the virus at the polls.
Though local election officials sent out a record 3,661 absentee ballots to voters in a single day last month, requests for absentee-by-mail ballots have slowed down “a little bit” over the past couple of weeks, Phelps said.
As of Monday morning, 6,201 voters had requested absentee-by-mail ballots, or roughly 11.7% of registered voters and up 570 over roughly the past 10 days, though election officials are still processing registration requests.
A total of 3,535 absentee-by-mail ballots had been returned to county election officials as of Monday morning, Phelps said.
By comparison, a total of 1,333 absentee mail-in votes were cast during the 2016 presidential election and 1,346 were cast in the 2012 election.
On Sept. 25, the Indiana National Guard delivered “two large skids” of personal protective equipment to the Bartholomew County Courthouse for voters and poll workers during early voting and on Election Day.
The shipment included 15,250 masks for voters, 350 N-95 masks for poll workers, 26,900 disposable gloves for voters, 5,700 disposable gloves for poll workers, 20 half-gallon dispensers of hand sanitizer, an additional 288 gallons of sanitizer, 24 gallons of surface disinfectant, 128 8-ounce spray bottles with disinfectant and 1,250 microfiber towels and 40 rolls of blue masking tape to attach social distancing markers and PPE posters, according to a shipping list provided by Phelps.
Phelps said election officials have “ample PPE” for the election.
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Early in-person voting will be held at the former Carson’s space weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. from today to Oct. 30.
Additionally, early voting will be held 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the former Carson’s store the two Saturdays prior to election day — Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 — and from 8 a.m. to noon on Nov. 2. No voting will be held at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
Visit indianavoters.in.gov to check your registration status, request an absentee by mail ballot and see who is on the ballot.
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For more photos of the early voting site at Carson’s in the FairOaks Mall, visit therepublic.com.
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