It’s primary day, but there has never been an election in Bartholomew County quite like today’s.
The spread of the coronavirus in Indiana, which has killed 1,967 Hoosiers — including 35 Bartholomew County residents — and sickened more than 34,500, has dramatically impacted the state’s presidential primary, which was pushed back earlier this year from May 5 to June 2 to ensure the safety of poll workers and voters.
The pandemic has left election officials scrambling to take unprecedented safety measures to avoid spreading the virus at polling places, including hurriedly expanding their vote-by-mail efforts and amassing stockpiles of personal protective equipment for poll workers and election staff.
In addition, Bartholomew County election officials reduced the number of vote centers from 16 to eight after concerns about COVID-19 led to nearly half of poll workers dropping out.
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Some voting locations, including Grace Lutheran Church, which has been the most popular vote center in recent elections, notified county election officials last month that it would not be a vote center during the primary, Phelps said.
Local election officials, however, feel confident that voting will go smoothly and safely today, Phelps said.
Safety measures
Voters who go to a vote center to cast their ballots in person today will notice that things do not look like they usually do at the county’s vote centers.
Poll workers and election staff will be wearing masks and gloves and are prepared to use more than 25 gallons of hand sanitizer and more than 23 gallons of surface disinfectant to try to keep surfaces clean over the course of the day.
Each voting location will have one or two additional poll workers whose only responsibility is to wipe down and disinfect any surface a voter touches, including poll pads, tables and voting machines, Phelps said.
The Bartholomew County Clerk’s Office has received a shipment of 24,000 wooden queue tips from Amazon that may use to select their choices without having to physically touch the voting machines.
In addition, markings will be placed on the floors of each polling location to keep at least 6 feet of distance between voters who are awaiting their turn to cast their ballots. Electronic voting machines will also be spaced at least 6 feet apart, Phelps said.
“The goal is that we don’t want a lot of people in the building at one time just for everybody’s safety,” Phelps said. “We don’t want people congregating. …We would still recommend that voters wear masks just for everybody’s safety. We certainly can’t tell anybody that they have to but we recognize that just to stay safe just because the numbers are steady with COVID-19.”
Phelps said he and his team have “more than ample” personal protective equipment to hold the election.
On May 14, the Indiana National Guard delivered two pallets of personal protective equipment to Bartholomew County election officials, including 2,450 masks, 1,500 pairs of gloves, 25 gallons of hand sanitizer, 90 smaller bottles of hand sanitizer, 23 gallons of surface cleaner, 47 smaller bottles of surface cleaner and 900 microfiber towels to wipe down surfaces.
Local election officials, however, said they will not have enough gloves or masks to distribute any to the public.
“We have all our gear,” Phelps said. “We have all the items we need to have plenty of sanitizing for every vote center. We’ll have more than ample amount for voters to vote safely.”
Turnout
Bartholomew County election officials expect a steady but lower-than-normal turnout today largely due to a record number of voters requesting mail-in ballots and higher-than-anticipated turn for early in-person voting over the past week.
As of Monday at noon, a total of 10,153 early votes had been cast, including 8,145 mail-in ballots and 2,008 in-person votes at Donner Center.
Around 750 mail-in ballots had yet to be returned to local election officials as of Monday at noon.
Democrats were roughly 9.5 times more likely to vote by mail than vote in-person during early voting as of the end of the day Saturday. Republicans were three times more likely to vote by mail than in person over the same period.
County election officials received a total of 4,260 GOP mail-in ballots as of Monday morning, and 3,439 Democratic ballots.
A total of 1,386 Republican ballots and 363 Democratic ballots were cast at Donner Center from Tuesday through Saturday.
“I think (primary turnout) will be steady, but I don’t think there’s going to be a lot of lines,” Phelps said. “Obviously, there are key times. A lot of voters love 6 to 7 a.m. in the morning, 11 to 1 p.m. for lunch and then right around 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the evening. Those are always the high times when there are a lot of voters.”
“It will be really interesting just to see how many do show up on election day because we’ve seen such a significant vote-by-mail effort,” he said.
Public question
One prominent item on the primary ballot is a referendum proposed by the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. that is projected to generate around $7.8 million per year in additional property tax revenue to fund teacher and support staff salary increases and student safety.
If approved by voters today, the referendum would increase BCSC’s property taxes by $0.156 per $100 of assessed value to roughly $1.01 starting in 2021.
According to a property tax calculator on BCSC’s website, a home with an assessed value $141,800 — the average home value in BCSC’s tax district — would see an estimated annual property tax increase of $93.48, or $7.79 per month, under the proposed rate increase.
A property assessed at a value of $300,000 could expect to see an increase of around $253.89 per year under the new proposed rate, or $21.16 per month.
Bartholomew County’s property tax rate in 2019 was $0.8512, lower than the state average of $1.07, according to figures provided by BCSC.
Visit www.bcscschools.org/domain/720 for more information about the referendum question.
How primaries work
Because it is a primary, voters must select the Republican ballot or Democratic ballot. It is not possible to vote for candidates in both parties.
However, all voters regardless of party will be able to vote on the BCSC referendum question.
In addition, voters who wish to vote on the referendum question without having to declare a political party for the primary may request a non-partisan ballot at polling stations, Phelps said.
The ballot will only include the referendum question, excluding candidates for local, state and national offices. In other words, if someone requests a non-partisan ballot, they would not be able to vote for any Republican or Democratic candidates, Phelps said.
As of Monday afternoon, at least 178 voters had decided to only vote on the referendum.
Results
Many Indiana counties have warned that it may take days to count the surge of ballots sent by mail out of concern for safety amid the pandemic.
Though mail-in ballots can take longer to count than votes cast on electronic voting machines, Phelps said he is optimistic that he and his staff will have the results tabulated on election night — but a few hours later than usual.
“Some counties have already thrown in the towel — quite a bit of counties, actually — and already told the (Indiana) Secretary of State’s Office that it’s going to be a day or two (to count the votes),” Phelps said. “…I think with the systems that we have in place and the preparations, it’s going to be easily attainable.”
Bartholomew County election officials are planning to start counting the mail-in ballots at 6 a.m. on election day, and expect that it will take around 12 to 14 hours to count all the mail-in votes with “only a few breaks.”
Phelps said he expects having all the mail-in ballots counted by 7 p.m.or 8 p.m. on election night, with the rest of results coming in by 10 p.m. The results will be posted on the Bartholomew County Clerk’s website: bartholomew.in.gov/clerk.
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Voters can vote in-person today from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. at any of the following voting center locations:
- Flintwood Wesleyan Church, 5300 25th St.
- Donner Center, 739 22nd St.
- Terrace Lake Church, 4260 W. County Road 200S
- Elizabethtown Fire Station, 10203 E. Legal Tender, Elizabethtown
- Ogilville United Methodist Church, 11910 S. State Road 58
- Hope Moravian Church, 202 Main St., Hope
- German Township Fire Station, 9428 Main St., Taylorsville
- St. Johns Masonic Lodge, 4131 Rocky Ford Rd.
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Bartholomew County election officials must receive mail-in ballots today by noon today in order for them to be counted.
Voters who have requested and received a mail-in ballot but have not yet mailed it back can drop off their completed ballot in person at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, 234 Washington St., by noon.
However, voters can only turn in their own ballots, not somebody else’s ballot, said Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps.
Ballots received after noon today will not be counted even if postmarked before the deadline.
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Visit indianavoters.in.gov to view your ballot in today’s primary.
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To follow The Republic’s coverage of the primary, visit therepublic.com.
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