Bartholomew County election officials mailed out 3,661 absentee ballots to voters on Monday for the Nov. 3 election in what officials believe is an all-time record.
On Monday, “multiple” election officials dropped off eight “large boxes” — each filled with hundreds of ballots — at the post office to be mailed to voters, said Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps.
Several more boxes of ballots were scheduled to go out on Tuesday, Phelps said.
“I think the post office was a little surprised, but I told them, ‘This is just round one,’” Phelps said.
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The number of ballots sent out on Monday, plus the additional 1,000 expected to be put in the mail on Tuesday, is more than the total of all absentee-by-mail votes cast in Bartholomew County during the previous three presidential elections combined.
From this point forward, absentee-by-mail ballot applications will be processed and mailed out the same day they are received, Phelps said. The deadline to request an absentee-by-mail ballot in Indiana is Oct. 22.
“That was definitely a historic and unprecedented day yesterday when we had that many go out in one day,” Phelps said. “I don’t think we’ve ever had that many (in one day), to my knowledge, in the history of our county.”
Local election officials said they are continuing to receive a “steady flow” of absentee-by-mail ballot requests, receiving an additional 851 applications over the past 12 days, raising the total to 4,688 as of Tuesday morning.
By comparison, a total of 1,333 absentee mail-in votes were cast during the 2016 presidential election and 1,346 were cast in the 2012 election.
The influx in absentee-by-mail ballot requests, officials said, is being driven by the coronavirus pandemic, which has led many Americans to consider voting absentee through the mail instead of heading to in-person polling places. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends mailing in ballots as a way to vote without risking exposure to the virus at the polls.
In June, a record 8,313 Bartholomew County voters cast ballots through the mail for the presidential primary after state election officials allowed no-excuse absentee-by-mail voting.
Currently, local election officials are preparing to potentially receive more than double that number in November depending on how the pandemic evolves over the coming weeks.
Phelps said about 80% to 90% of voters who requested to vote by mail in the primary actually returned their ballots, and he expects a similar rate of turnout in November.
“I look for that to be the case again with the pandemic still going on and the numbers are still kind of fluid,” Phelps said. “…We’re definitely getting closer to October, and I think as we do I think we’ll see a lot more requests come in to vote by mail.”
Earlier this month, state election officials said they do not plan to extend no-excuse mail-in balloting allowed for the primary election to the Nov. 3 general election.
That means Indiana voters will need to provide an excuse for why they cannot vote in person when they apply for an absentee-by-mail ballot.
There are 11 accepted excuses for voting by mail in Indiana, which range from being 65 years old or older to not being in the county of residence for the entire time polls are open on Election Day.
Though voters still have a little over a month to request an absentee-by-mail ballot, local election officials are advising voters not to wait until the last moment and return the completed ballots through the mail or in-person at the Bartholomew County Courthouse, 234 Washington St., as soon as possible.
Election officials must receive mail-in absentee ballots by noon on Election Day.
“It’s very fair to say now that people are voting, and they’ll probably be getting (their ballots) in their mailboxes today or tomorrow,” Phelps said. “The first votes are officially being cast for the 2020 presidential election.”
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Visit indianavoters.in.gov to register to vote, request an absentee-by-mail ballot or check your voting status.
The deadline to register to vote is Oct. 5
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