NORTH VERNON — The story of the 100th anniversary of the 1920 presidential election, and Warren G. Harding’s successful campaign promise for “a return to normalcy,” may belie the claim that this year’s presidential election has been unprecedented.
During the Spanish Flu pandemic, Election Day for the hotly contested presidential race between Harding and James M. Cox was held On Nov. 2, 1920.
A hundred years later, the impact of a worldwide pandemic could be seen again at the polls, including in Jennings County.
At 5 a.m. on Tuesday, masked poll workers showed up ready to work at Jennings County’s 25 voting sites.
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By noon, a record 5,300 absentee-by-mail ballots had been received by the Jennings County Clerk’s Office. Each of the envelopes holding the absentees were manually opened, and the ballots were removed under the watchful eyes of both Democrat and Republican election workers. Each ballot was then processed and fed through an electronic voting machine to be properly recorded.
Jennings County Clerk Amy Thompson and Election Deputy Brenda King knew the increased numbers of absentee ballots would require extra attention, so they came up with a plan for Election Day. The two created a system to efficiently process the absentee ballots, setting up counting operations in the Jennings County Superior Courtroom near the elections office. On Election Day, they moved five electronic counting machines and five teams of poll workers into the small but stately courtroom.
One of the teams opening ballots were Democrat Linda Coad and Republican Chuck Waggoner. Like the other four teams, Coad and Waggoner had started work at 5 a.m. The two were still counting votes at 7 p.m.
“When you do something like this you really appreciate it when things are well organized and efficient,” Waggoner said. “Amy and Brenda really worked to set up a system and make it work. I think it is probably three times more efficient than it has ever been before all the COVID stuff came into play.”
While the absentee ballot teams continued working in the courtroom, ballots from the polling sites began pouring into the old courthouse.
Each team from the polling sites pulled a large red wagon behind them as they returned. Thompson had purchased each precinct a red wagon for the purpose of moving all the administrative paperwork required at each precinct voting site. However, this year the wagons were also filled with COVID-19 cleaning materials and hand sanitizers.
“There are many demands that must be met during every election; especially during a presidential election, but we also knew the 2020 pandemic would add many issues and we had to be ready,” Thompson said.
At one point, a line of people and red wagons snaked around the courthouse hallways. By 8 p.m., all 25 poll-site teams had their paperwork checked in.
Work with the absentee ballots continued until nearly 10 p.m.
In all, Jennings County set a record with 12,154 votes, a 65% turnout of all registered voters.
The machines that helped record the absentee ballots sat beneath an historic photo on the courtroom’s wall. Coincidentally, the vista photo was taken of the courthouse and Vernon town square in 1922, just a few years after World War I and the Spanish Flu had shaken the world.
The election machines have been since removed and normal business has resumed in Judge Gary L. Smith’s courtroom.
The antique photo remains on the courtroom wall where it has hung for generations — serving as a reminder that life can return to normalcy after a world war, a pandemic and a presidential election.
