COLUMBUS, Ind. — Early in-person voting at FairOaks Mall for the Nov. 3 presidential election continued to re-write the record books this week, with nearly half of registered voters in the county having already cast ballots with four days to go before Election Day.
On Friday, 1,349 people cast ballots at the former Carson’s space at the mall, the highest so far during the raising the weekly total to 5,652 votes, which is on pace to surpass the 5,738 ballots cast last week, said Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps.
About 40 voters were in line on Friday when the polls closed at 5 p.m. and the last vote was cast at around 5:20 p.m., Phelps said.
Overall, a total of 18,848 people have voted at FairOaks Mall since early in-person voting started on Oct. 6. Additionally, 6,543 absentee-by-mail ballots have been cast, raising the total turnout to 25,391, or 48% of registered voters.
By comparison, a total of 16,161 votes were cast before Election Day in 2016 — a record at the time. In 2012, 6,413 were cast before Election Day, and 6,357 in 2008, Phelps said. Total turnout was 33,198 in 2016.
Phelps said he is expecting an even higher turnout on Saturday.
“Between tomorrow and Monday, I think we’ll be at 50% before Election Day even gets here, which is just unbelievable, historic,” he said.
For more on this story, see Saturday’s Republic.
