Mike Wolanin | The Republic A Bartholomew County vote center banner is seen on the first day of early voting at the vote center inside NexusPark in Columbus, Ind., Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022.
Early voting for the Nov. 8 midterm election has continued to outpace turnout during the previous midterm election four years ago, local election officials said.
As of Monday, a total of 2,566 voters in Bartholomew County had cast ballots at NexusPark, according to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office. By comparison, 1,724 voters had voted early in-person at the same point during the early voting period for the 2018 midterm election.
An additional 134 people had voted at NexusPark by noon on Tuesday.
Demand for absentee-by-mail ballots also is up this year compared to 2018, local election officials said. As of Monday, the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office had mailed 1,771 absentee by mail ballots to local voters, up from 1,294 at this point during the 2018 midterm.
A total of 835 completed absentee-by-mail ballots had already been returned to the clerk’s office as of the end of the day Monday. In addition, local election officials received “a large amount” of completed absentee-by-mail ballots on Tuesday but had not processed them by press time.
In total, at least 3,535 Bartholomew County voters had already cast ballots either in-person or absentee by mail as of noon Tuesday, or roughly 6.6% of registered voters.
“We are averaging about 295 voters each day at NexusPark, and that’s very, very good turnout,” said Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz. “Yesterday, we had 317.”
The faster start to early voting comes after local election officials said they were anticipating a “nice” turnout for this year’s general election driven by numerous contested races.
This year, there are 18 contested races for federal, state and county offices, not including several contested township and Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. and Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corp. school board races.
In 2018, there were 10 contested races on the federal, state and county level and no contested BCSC or Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Board races.
In addition, the number of registered voters in Bartholomew County is at its highest since 2016, even though the county’s population has declined since 2018, according to local records and U.S. Census Bureau estimates.
As of Tuesday, there were 53,525 registered voters in Bartholomew County, though that number could increase in the coming days as 230 voter registration applications are still in pending status. That is slightly more than the 53,434 registered voters in the 2020 presidential election and up from 50,729 registered voters in the 2018 midterm and 52,402 in the 2014 midterm, though down from 55,491 for the 2016 presidential election.
In-person early voting will continue at the former Petals and Vine store in the interior of NexusPark, 2252 25th St., in Columbus weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Nov. 4. Early-voting will also take place at NexusPark on Nov. 7 from 8 a.m. to noon and from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. the two Saturdays prior to election day — Oct. 29 and Nov. 5.
Voters should “enter the door between Riviera Maya restaurant and Dunham’s Sports, which is different from last election because we’re in the interior of the mall instead of the old JC Penney store,” Lentz said.
There will be a banner at the door where voters should enter, as well as a greeter immediately inside to direct voters to the voting location, Lentz said. There also will be a wheelchair available for anyone who needs it.
Early-in person voting will also be held 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 29 and Nov. 5 in the Bartholomew County Council chambers in the Bartholomew County Governmental Office Building, 440 Third St., in downtown Columbus. No voting will be held at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
The deadline to request an absentee-by-mail ballot is Thursday, Lentz said. At this point, voters who wish to vote absentee-by-mail should request a ballot online at indianavoters.in.gov, as there is no longer enough time to apply for the ballots through the mail. Lentz said voters can call the Bartholomew County Voter Registration Office at 812-379-1604 if they have questions.
The deadline for the bipartisan Bartholomew County Election Board to receive an absentee-by-mail ballot is 6 p.m. on Election Day.
In the past, election officials have urged people who intend to return their ballots by mail to plan ahead in case of delays with the U.S. Postal Service. Absentee-by-mail ballots also can returned in person at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, 234 Washington St., election officials said.
Lentz said voters should keep in mind that straight-ticket votes will not capture votes for nonpartisan or at-large races, including several contested school board races on the ballot this year. That means that people who vote straight ticket will still have to manually select their choices for school board.
If a voter selects the option to vote straight ticket, they are still required to go through each page of the ballot before finalizing their votes, Lentz said. As they do this, they will eventually get to the school board races and can make their choices.
“We just want everyone to know that when you vote a straight-party vote, it will not capture a vote for any race that has more than one open seats, or any nonpartisan race, particularly the school board,” Lentz said. “So any at-large races or school board races will not be captured with a straight-party vote. …There’s a lot of interest in those races.”
