NORTH VERNON — Voters in Jennings County aren’t wasting any time in casting their ballots for the Nov. 3 presidential election.
A record 1,412 absentee mail-in ballots had been requested by noon Thursday, with 895 votes already returned, Jennings County Clerk Amy Thompson said. Additionally, a record 674 county residents had voted early in person at the courthouse by Thursday afternoon.
Thompson, who has been clerk since 2019, said that county records show that on Oct. 16, 2016, 117 people had voted early in person and that 333 mail-in ballots had been returned for the county.
A total of 11,421 (59.6%) registered Jennings County voters cast ballots in 2016. Combined, mail-in absentee and early in-person voting accounted for 2,670 votes, Thompson said.
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Since the deadline to apply for mail-in absentee ballot is Oct. 22, Thompson expects to continue sending out ballots this week. Election officials must receive absentee-by-mail ballots by noon on Election Day.
Early in-person voting for the Nov. 3 presidential election is being held at the Jennings County Courthouse from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays until Oct. 30 and from 8 a.m. to noon on Nov. 2. Voters are also able to cast early ballots the two Saturdays before the election from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the courthouse.
Thompson said that the state has supplied her office with ample personal protective equipment for both those working the polls and voting on Election Day. Those items include masks, gloves, hand sanitizer, sanitizing solution, and gloves, she said.
“Everything is going really well with the walk-ins,” Thompson said. “We have it set up where we have two to three teams working to hand out ballots when they come in. We have set up plexiglass shields and tables that are socially distanced. We go through and clean all of the pens, envelope sealers and tables between each voter. Nobody has had to wait very long at all. It’s been consistent, but not too much. I think everyone has been pleased with it. We have had a lot of compliments and no complaints to my knowledge.”
Voting locations for the general election will not mirror that of the primary. During the primary, with students on summer vacation, local schools were used as polling locations.
There will be 19 polling sites for Jennings County’s 25 precincts on Election Day. Thompson said the sites are in traditional places like fire houses and churches. She said that she has 125 workers ready to help at the polls, and that all of them are meeting today to go over the plan for Nov. 3. Additionally, 15 workers will be counting early votes at the courthouse that day.
She said that holding the primary election at the schools was helpful in preparing for the upcoming presidential election.
“In the primary we used the schools and we did more than one precinct in all of them,” Thompson said. “We divided it up between seven different schools. It gave us a good look at how to adjust for this election.”
Unlike some larger counties, which expect final results to take days or weeks, Thompson said that final counts will be done the night of the election in Jennings County.
“We’re feeling pretty good about it,” Thompson said. “We work together great as a team. We’re eager to get to election night and watch the process and see who wins.”
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Early in-person voting will be held at the Jennings County Courthouse weekdays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Oct. 30.
Additionally, early voting will be held 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. the two Saturdays prior to election day — Oct. 24 and Oct. 31 — and from 8 a.m. to noon on Nov. 2.
Visit indianavoters.in.gov to check your polling location, registration status, request an absentee by mail ballot and see who is on the ballot.
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