Mike Wolanin | The Republic Poll workers wait to assist voters on the first day of early voting at the vote center inside NexusPark in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Local election officials say early voting for the May 2 primary has slowed down, though turnout is still higher than it was at the same point during the previous municipal primary.
As of Thursday, a total of 868 voters had cast ballots in person at NexusPark, compared to 230 at the same point in 2019, according to figures from the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office.
At the same time, local election officials had received 159 completed absentee-by-mail ballots as of Thursday, up from 62 at the same point four years ago.
In total, 1,027 voters have cast ballots in person at NexusPark or absentee by mail as of Thursday, or roughly 3.4% of registered voters in Columbus. By comparison, total turnout in the 2019 municipal primary was 13.7%, local records show.
While early voting “started out strong” last week with 139 people casting ballots on Monday, turnout declined each of the following three days, including on Thursday, when 51 people voted, said Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz.
“(Voting) is going smoothly, but the numbers have dipped down this week, so I’m disappointed by that,” Lentz said. “We started out strong. …(It’s) not exactly going in the right direction, but hopefully, next week we’ll see a stronger turnout.”
This year’s municipal primary will be the first step for voters to choose the next mayor of Columbus. Current Columbus Mayor Jim Lienhoop is not seeking another term.
Mary Ferdon, the city’s director of administration and community development, and Milo Smith, a former Indiana state representative, are seeking the Republican nomination for mayor. While there is currently no Democratic candidate for mayor, the party could still select a candidate for the general election by July 3 at noon.
Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chair Ross Thomas said “it’s certainly a possibility” that the party will field a candidate for mayor in the general election, but said the party is more focused right now on maintaining and possibly expanding its majority on the city council.
On the Democratic side, there is a contested race for the party’s nomination for Columbus City Council District 3. Tony Hayden, Michael Kinder and current District 1 Councilman Jerone Wood are the candidates.
The winner of the Democratic nomination will face Republican Sue Norman-Chapple in the general election. Normal-Chapple is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
As of Thursday, 120 of the 868 ballots cast at NexusPark were on the Democratic ballot, while the remaining 748 were for the GOP ballot.
Because it is a primary, voters must select a Republican ballot or Democratic ballot. It is not possible to vote for candidates in both parties.
Only the 4,597 registered voters who live in Columbus City Council District 3 would be eligible to vote in the only competitive race on the Democratic ballot. By comparison, the mayoral contest on the GOP ballot is a citywide race and any of the 30,121 registered voters in Columbus who don’t participate in the Democratic primary would be eligible to cast ballots.
Thomas, for his part, said the turnout in the Democratic primary so far hasn’t been totally unexpected given that generally fewer voters participate in off-year municipal elections than in presidential or midterm elections.
In addition, Thomas said he suspects some voters who might otherwise participate in a Democratic primary might be opting to instead vote for one of the GOP candidates for mayor.
“I know our candidates in District 3 are working hard, canvassing, doing the things that you do to engage voters,” Thomas said. “We would expect that those numbers are going to get better before election day and on election day. …(Turnout is) probably about what you would expect given these circumstances.”
“I think whichever one of our candidates in District 3 prevails, that’s one of the districts that we’re going to be really competitive in,” Thomas added.
By comparison, 633 ballots were cast in the 2019 Republican primary for Columbus City Council District 3, and 245 ballots were cast in the GOP primary for Columbus City Council District 1, local records show.
The deadline to request an absentee-by-mail ballot has already passed. The deadline for the bipartisan Bartholomew County Election Board to receive a completed absentee-by-mail ballot is 6 p.m. on election day.
