Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the vote here sign outside the vote center inside NexusPark on the first day of early voting in Columbus, Ind., Tuesday, April 4, 2023.
Early voting for Columbus’s 2023 city elections begins next week.
According to the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office, in-person absentee voting will be offered at NexusPark, 2380 25th Street, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays, starting Monday and continuing through noon on Nov. 6.
Additionally, voting will be available at both NexusPark and the Bartholomew County Government Office Building, 440 Third St., on Oct. 28 and Nov. 4 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Election Day is Nov. 7.
Early voting at NexusPark will take place within the former Petals and Vine location, said Bartholomew County Election Administrator Taylor Seegraves. Voters can enter through the entrance between Riviera Maya and Dunham’s.
Only Columbus city residents are eligible to vote in the upcoming election. Offices on the ballot are Columbus mayor, city council races and the city clerk race.
According to the Indiana Voter Portal, voters must bring a government-issued photo ID.
“That can be a BMV-issued ID, their driver’s license,” Seegraves said. “They can even bring their passport.”
For those seeking absentee-by-mail ballots, the upcoming election is the first since state lawmakers expanded verification requirements.
The new rules require voters to provide one of several identification numbers when requesting an absentee-by-mail ballot, including the last four digits of their Social Security number, an Indiana driver’s license number, a non-driver identification card number or a unique identifier for individuals who registered to vote many years ago.
Alternatively, voters have the option to provide a photocopy of their driver’s license, non-driver card, or another valid form of identification such as a passport or an identification card issued by a state university.
The deadline for the Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office to receive a request for an absentee-by-mail ballot is Oct. 26. The bipartisan Bartholomew County Election Board must receive completed absentee-by-mail ballots by 6 p.m. on Election Day.
Applications for absentee-by-mail ballots are available through the clerk’s office or at indianavoters.in.gov, Seegraves said. The clerk’s office has sent out 231 absentee-by-mail ballots and received 51 back so far.
As of Monday, there were 30,484 registered voters in the city of Columbus. However, Seegraves noted that while Oct. 10 was the deadline for voter registration, there are some voters who are still pending and will go active in the next seven to 10 days.
In the 2019 general election, 7,306 out of 29,633 registered voters cast votes — just under 25%.
“Normally, we’ll get half of our voters that will vote absentee, cumulatively over the election,” Seegraves said. “And then we’ll get about the same number on election day. So we’re hoping to hit those numbers; it’s been a little bit slower of a go this time, but we hope to at least hit what we had in ‘19.”
Local voters may notice that in-person voting is off to a slightly later start than usual. While Indiana’s election calendar states that Oct. 11 is the first day a voter may vote early in the office of the circuit court clerk or a satellite office, local officials have opted to start on Oct. 16 instead.
According to Seegraves, the city of Columbus requested to delay the start date, with Mayor Jim Lienhoop writing that the change would decrease costs incurred by the city during the election process. The Bartholomew County Election Board chose to approve this request.
Another change with this year’s election is a pending lawsuit filed by Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chair Ross Thomas against Joseph Jay Foyst, the Republican candidate for Columbus City Council District 6.
Thomas’ lawsuit, which also includes Bartholomew County Election Board members as defendants, seeks to have Foyst removed from the ballot.
Foyst, 61, previously a salesman for 25 years and now a dump truck driver, was initially selected as the Bartholomew County Republican Party’s nominee during a party caucus in July. The caucus was convened after no Republican filed to run for the office in the party’s May primary, leaving a vacancy in the Nov. 7 general election.
Thomas filed a formal challenge against Foyst, arguing that his candidacy was invalid because the Bartholomew County Republican Party had failed to file its notice for a party caucus with the clerk’s office by the required deadline.
The election board upheld the challenge in August, but the Bartholomew County Republican Party decided to hold another caucus and selected Foyst once again to fill the vacancy, pointing to a section in the Indiana Code that allows parties to fill a vacancy within 30 days under certain circumstances.
Thomas attempted to challenge Foyst’s candidacy again, but his request was denied by Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz because the deadline had passed to file a challenge, prompting Thomas to file the lawsuit.
The outcome of the legal fight could determine which party wins the District 6 council seat. If Thomas wins the lawsuit, Democratic nominee Bryan Munoz would have no opponent in the general election. And depending on how long the case continues during early voting, people could wind up casting votes for a candidate who may later be ruled ineligible.
A pre-trial hearing for the lawsuit is scheduled for Monday afternoon.
Where to learn more
Anyone with questions about the voting process can contact the voter registration office at 812-379-1604.
