Jay Phelps is the Bartholomew County clerk, and he’s in charge of making sure the election runs smoothly. He’s giving us a behind-the-scenes look at how votes are counted.

Click here to watch the video. 

Vote totals are final in Bartholomew County. Click on the following link to see who won and lost:

http://www.therepublic.com/elections/

BREAKING: Young elected to U.S. Senate in Indiana. @AP race call at 8:30 p.m. EST. #Election2016 #APracecall pic.twitter.com/0QIIiQxsUW

— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) November 9, 2016

6:57 p.m. update. Democrats at Hotel Indigo

5:06 p.m. update. Bartholomew County has a new voter record

Bartholomew County has broken the record for the most votes for any election in the history of the county, at 31,702 people voting as of 5 p.m. today, Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps said. The previous record was the 2008 presidential election at 31,570 votes. In comparison, 29,755 Bartholomew County voters cast ballots in the November 2012 general election.

Here is the update of vote totals by voting center as of 5 p.m.:

4:35 p.m. update. Pence family in New York

Republican vice presidential nominee Mike Pence is in New York with GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump to learn tonight whether voters across the United States have chosen them to lead the country for the next four years.

Pence, a Columbus native, has plenty of family support in tow. About 16 members of his family — including his mother, siblings and nieces and nephews — are at the Hilton Midtown hotel in Manhattan, where Trump’s campaign is stationed for Election Night.

Sister-in-law Denise Pence said the scene is a lot of hustle and bustle. Streets are blocked off around the hotel, many TV news trucks parked nearby, a lot of people are hanging around outside the hotel and the Secret Service has a large presence.

Family members will watch election results in their rooms until about 7:30 p.m., and then head down to the ballroom to continue watching results, Denise Pence said.

3 p.m. update. Want to avoid a line? Vote now!

Bartholomew County officials were reporting no lines at any vote centers at 3 p.m.

Fifty two percent of registered voters in Bartholomew County had cast ballots as of 3 p.m., said Bartholomew County Clerk Jay Phelps.

Describing the 3 p.m. hour as the “calm before the storm,” Phelps predicted that the pace will pick up by about 4:30 p.m. — so now would be the time to head to the polls to avoid a line.

There have been a few minor issues with equipment at the voting centers which have been fixed by resetting the machine or the poll pads, Phelps said. Here are the statistics as of about 3 p.m.:

2:50 p.m. Where the heaviest levels of votes have been cast:

2:20 p.m. update. Students head to their own polls today

More than 250,000 Hoosier students, including students in Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., are casting their ballots today to elect their own president, governor and senator through Indiana Kids’ Election (IKE), an award-winning mock election program for grades K-12.

Schools in all 92 counties are participating in today’s election, which attempts to emulate the election process as closely as possible. Students participate in voting milestones such as registering to vote on or before Tuesday, Oct. 11 and casting a ballot on Tuesday, Nov. 8 – just like their parents.

Indiana Kids Election voting as of 2:30 p.m. shows Hoosier students are backing Democrat Hillary Clinton with 10,794 votes to 7,634 for Donald Trump.

While voting continues at several BCSC schools, CSA Lincoln in Columbus has tallied its vote which shows Trump with 40 percent of the student vote compared to 36 percent for Clinton. Voting continues at other BCSC schools in the mock election this afternoon.

For more on how the kids voted, see Wednesday’s Republic.

2:09 p.m. Video: Voters going to cast ballots at The Commons

1:22 p.m. update. Nearly 50 percent have voted

Nearly 50 percent of all registered voters in Bartholomew County have already voted.

A record 16,144 absentee ballots were cast by the noon Monday deadline. Today, as of 12:40 p.m., 10,491 people have gone to one of 18 vote centers around the county and voted. That means 26,635 votes already have been cast, representing 48 percent of registered voters, according to the Bartholomew County Voter Registration Office.

The top voting centers so far today are:

• Grace Lutheran Church, 977 voters
• St. Johns Masonic Lodge, 911
• Donner Center, 865
• German Township Fire Station, 853
• Flintwood Wesleyan Church, 802
• Hope Moravian Church, 706

12:50 p.m. When do polls close again?

It’s 6 p.m. local time in Indiana, depending on where you are. For 80 of Indiana’s counties, including Bartholomew, that 6 p.m. Eastern time. For the remaining 12, it’s 6 p.m. Central time — an hour later in real time.

More than 4.8 million Indiana residents are registered to vote in Tuesday’s election.

12:36 p.m. No lines, quick voting

Lunch hour voters stopping in at MainSource Bank on Jonathan Moore Pike were finding no lines and quick check-in. About 400 people had voted at the vote center at MainSource by about 12:15 p.m. today, and the maximum wait time for the morning was about five minutes, poll workers said.

Republican poll inspector Laree Fairbanks said early voting was definitely resulting in quicker voting on election day. Fairbanks said she’s expecting about 1,000 voters to stop in at the vote center before polls close at 6 p.m., anticipating a few more people to arrive after the schools get out this afternoon and when people leave work after 5 p.m.

Fairbanks said the smooth flow of voters through the vote center has also been helped by voters seemingly voting more quickly than they did during early voting, something that could be attributed to more familiarity with the ballot, she said.

12:28 p.m. Voting going strong

Between voters casting ballots today and those who already have voted early, more than 40 percent of registered voters have already cast a ballot.

According to the Bartholomew County Voter Registration Office, 7,254 people had voted by 10:30 a.m. today. Combined with 16,144 absentee votes, the 23,398 votes cast by 10:30 a.m. today represented 42 percent of eligible registered voters.

The busiest voting centers as of 10:30 today were:

Grace Lutheran Church, 670 voters
St Johns Masonic Lodge, 629
Donner Center, 601
German Township Fire Station, 575
Flintwood Wesleyan Church, 564
Hope Moravian Church, 516

Noon. The buzz from Bartholomew County political parties

Democratic and Republican party officials alike are out in the field today, working to get the vote out.

Bartholomew County Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Ann Brown said they have people making phone calls and knocking on doors, reminding registered voters to make their vote count. “You have to work to get people out to vote,” she said from the new party headquarters at 1417 Chestnut St. “Our candidates are all out.”

Bartholomew County Republican Party Chairwoman Barb Hackman was at the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center on Jonathan Moore Pike, decorating for tonight’s results-watching party with Luann Welmer. That event starts at 6 p.m. Hackman said a couple of party central committee members are out checking vote centers and they’re also fielding phone calls from voters.

Both Democrats and Republicans are offering rides to the polls. Here’s where to call for rides:

Democrats — 812-418-8594

Republicans — 812-350-5124

11:39 a.m. Columbus native Mike Pence and wife Karen this morning.

After their bike ride, vice presidential candidate Pence and his wife Karen voted soon at St. Thomas Aquinas in Indianapolis. They were expected to leave Indianapolis for New York City around 1:15 p.m.

Pence and running mate Donald Trump will be watching election results from the Hilton Midtown hotel in Manhattan, N.Y. The Clinton-Kaine camp will be at the Javits Center about a mile away.

Morning bike ride to kick off Election Day. Next stop -> the voting booth. pic.twitter.com/xODnBXppWZ

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) November 8, 2016

11:09 a.m. Election Day in photos.

Click here for our photo gallery.

10:10 a.m. Candidate spotting

State Rep. Milo Smith, the Republican from Columbus seeking a sixth term to represent most of Bartholomew County, was standing outside Donner Center on the city’s near north side, chatting with people supporting a variety of candidates. Smith is seeking a sixth term in the Indiana House of Representatives, running against Democratic challenger Bob Pitman.

Just outside the Donner Center polls, Brittany Turner said voting took about a half hour — “not long at all. I expected it to be longer,” the Petersville woman said. Turner said she loved the flexibility and convenience of being able to cast a ballot anywhere she chose. “It makes it easy for people.”

9:45 a.m. What you’re experiencing

A check at several Bartholomew County vote centers found voters pleasantly surprised that the  process of voting was going quickly.

Judith Meyer, who lives outside Hope, cast her ballot at Hope Moravian Church at about 9:30 a.m. after about a 15-minute wait. “The line is moving steadily,” she said. “Everyone seems to be on the ball in there.”

Tim and Tamara Woodring of Columbus voted at Flintwood Wesleyan Church on the north side of Columbus at about 9:50 a.m. and said voting took about 10 minutes. They brought their two young children.

9:33 a.m. A look back before a busy day. What will Wednesday’s headline be?

From The Republic archives: therepublic.com/archives

From The Republic archives: therepublic.com/archives

8:51 a.m. Columbus native and vice presidential candidate back home in Indiana

Landed in Indy in time for Election Day. Great to be Back Home Again! pic.twitter.com/iGExJ8OYlK

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) November 8, 2016

8:45 a.m. Are we headed for record turnout?

Clerk Jay Phelps reported Monday that 16,109 Bartholomew County residents had cast early ballots. That is 29 percent of Bartholomew County’s 55,450 registered voters.

The previous record was 6,413 ballots cast early for the 2012 presidential election.

6:05 a.m. Polls open.

Bartholomew County is voting. Polls opened at 6 a.m. You’ve got until 6 p.m. to cast your ballot.