GREENFIELD — For nearly three decades, when a Greenfield mayoral race has been on the ballot in the municipal election, the contest has drawn more than 3,000 voters. That could change this fall if current trends continue.
Early voting numbers are already low after nearly two weeks since polls opened at the Hancock County Courthouse. According to county election officials, 187 people had voted as of 10:15 a.m. Monday, Oct. 21. This week, three more vote centers are opening for the remainder of early voting: the Fortville Community Center and the Greenfield and Sugar Creek branches of the Hancock County Public Library.
Across all county municipalities, there are three contested races with eligible candidates on the Nov. 5 ballot. Greenfield’s election is the only municipal election that has a Democratic opponent.
Democrat Zachary LaFavers, a 22-year-old union apprentice, is facing off against Greenfield Mayor Chuck Fewell, a popular Republican who’s seeking his second full term as mayor. Republicans Tonya Drake Davis and Libby Wyatt and Independent Justin Crawford will challenge each other for two District 1 spots on the Fortville Town Council. And in New Palestine, three GOP candidates — Brandee Bastin, Jan Jarson and Bill Niemier — and Independent Angela Fahrnow are vying for the town’s three council spots.
Two Democrats who filed to run for Greenfield City Council — Chris Beushausen and Laura Latimer — have since moved out of the city, making them ineligible for the council races, county officials say.
Fewell, who’s been the Mayor of Greenfield since late 2013, hasn’t had a Democratic challenger. He first won a GOP caucus in 2013, and he ran against Judy Swift in the 2015 Republican primary.
Despite the city having the first contested mayoral race since 2011, there hasn’t been much buzz in the Fewell-LaFavers race. At a candidate forum last week, about 20 people attended, most of whom were Republican elected officials or prominent members of the party. The forum also revealed that LaFavers, who ran as a Democrat in a 2018 county commissioner race, mostly agreed with Fewell.
According to Daily Reporter archives and the county election office, in each municipal election since 1995 — excluding the 2015 election, when Fewell ran unopposed — the two Greenfield mayoral candidates have received more than 3,000 votes, combined. The last time turnout for the mayoral race dipped lower than 3,000 votes was in 1991, when Keith McClarnon won his fifth term in office. A total of 2,969 people voted for McClarnon or his opponent, Paul Baker; however, the city was a lot smaller then, with barely 12,000 residents.
The population is roughly twice that today.
This year’s May primary drew 2,062 voters in Hancock County’s municipal elections in Greenfield, Fortville, McCordsville and Cumberland. Fewell garnered 1,089 votes, and LaFavers got 116 votes. According to county data, that’s the fewest number of people to show up to a May primary since 2003.
County Clerk Lisa Lofgreen said she remains optimistic that the turnout will be better than that in the May primary. She estimates that more voters have come out to the courthouse during early voting for this election than at this point before the May election.
“I wish that we could have higher numbers,” Lofgreen said, “but this being a municipal election, I don’t think that you anticipate having large numbers.”
McCordsville doesn’t have any contested races on the ballot this fall — three races in May drew nearly 200 voters — but New Palestine residents can participate in the November election after not being able to in the spring due to the state limits on small town primaries. At a 90-minute GOP convention in August, 82 residents cast ballots in the first-ever nominating convention for the New Palestine Town Council.
Also on the fall ballot in New Palestine is a public question: “Shall the number of town council members be increased from three to five?” If the question passes, the three-person council in January will get to appoint two people to join the council in 2020. The two appointed members will serve for a year before they have to run for the spots the following year in a special election.
Low turnout is “bittersweet” for Lofgreen, she said. It does give her and her staff a chance to keep testing new election procedures in a quieter election season as they prepare for the 2020 presidential election. But as the election supervisor, she finds the prospect of lower turnout disappointing.
The election office in the spring rolled out new electronic poll books to make the check-in process faster, and they also bought new printers, a wireless router and scanners to prepare each voter’s paper ballot. If a voter doesn’t want a paper ballot, they can request to use a touchscreen machine, Lofgreen said.
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Voters can visit the polls early at these sites:
Hancock County Courthouse
Weekday hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 1
Saturday hours: 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 26 and Nov. 2
Last day of early voting: 8 a.m. to noon Nov. 4
Fortville Community Center
Weekday hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Nov. 1
Saturday hours: 8 a.m. to noon Oct. 26 and Nov. 2
Hancock County Public Library, Greenfield and Sugar Creek
Monday through Thursday hours: 2-7 p.m. through Oct. 31
Friday hours: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Oct. 25 and Nov. 1
Weekend hours: 1-4 p.m. Oct. 26-Oct. 27; Nov. 2-3
Source: Hancock County Election Office
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Past Hancock County municipal elections
2015 turnout: 1,132
2011 turnout: 4,187
2007 turnout: 4,518
2003 turnout: 3,859
1999 turnout: 4,938
Sources: Hancock County Election Office, Daily Reporter archives
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