Rolls of “I Voted Today” stickers sit on a table during early voting at the vote center inside NexusPark recently. Early voting will continue at NexusPark, 2252 25th St., today from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 8 a.m. to noon Monday. Early voting also will be available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the Bartholomew County Council chambers in the Governmental Office Building, 440 Third St., in downtown Columbus.
Mike Wolanin | The Republic
With just days before Election Day, early voting for next week’s midterm election has fallen behind turnout during the previous midterm election four years ago, local election officials said.
As of Thursday, 6,792 people had cast ballots early at NexusPark, according to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office. By comparison, 7,328 people had voted early in-person at the same point during the early-voting period for the 2018 election.
However, voting absentee by mail has remained higher this year than in 2018, local election officials said. As of Thursday, 1,587 completed absentee-by-mail ballots had been returned to the clerk’s office, up from 1,297 at the same point during the 2018 midterm.
Overall, 8,379 voters had cast ballots in person or absentee by mail as of the end of the day Thursday, compared to 8,625 at the same point in 2018, according to local records.
“(Early voting) is going great,” said Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz. “It’s been very steady and keeps increasing.”
Lentz said early in-person voting spiked during the final week before the 2018 midterm election, with an average of 900 to 1,000 voters casting ballots each day.
A total of 633 people voted at NexusPark on Thursday, Lentz said. An additional 236 people had cast ballots by noon on Friday.
The update from local officials comes as voters have just two more chances to vote before Election Day on Tuesday.
In-person early voting will continue at the former Petals and Vine store in the interior of NexusPark, 2252 25th St., from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today and 8 a.m. to noon Monday.
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.
In-person early voting also will be held 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. today in the Bartholomew County Council chambers in the Governmental Office Building, 440 Third St., in downtown Columbus. No voting will be held at the Bartholomew County Courthouse.
The deadline for the bipartisan Bartholomew County Election Board to receive an absentee-by-mail ballot is 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
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 be 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.
