GREENFIELD — Austin Jones had made it to the Hancock County Annex just in time. He was the last person in line to vote when polls formally closed at noon on Monday, Nov. 2. That didn’t mean he would be able to head home any time soon, however. The line he stood in stretched across the building’s parking lot.
“This is impressive. I was expecting it to be a little shorter,” Jones said. “I was hoping to avoid the line tomorrow, and if this is any indication of what tomorrow’s going to look like, I may have made the right decision.”
Jones said he was glad to see a high turnout.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“I thought 2016 was a very decisive election, but this one seems to be even more so,” he said.
Today is Election Day, but many of the votes have already been cast. On Monday — the last chance for people to vote in person before Election Day — the annex was the only polling place open. Election inspector Sharon McClarnon said 240 people had already voted by noon.
Jones was the last of more than 31,000 people in the county who voted early. The total is the most ever, a substantial increase over the previous record of 24,000 early votes cast in 2016, and approaches the total turnout for that election.
The COVID-19 pandemic motivated many people to vote early in hopes of avoiding Election Day crowds. It also motivated others who were eligible to avoid the in-person experience completely by using a mail-in ballot.
Brigitta Raven was surprised by the number of people who were in line to vote the day before Election Day. She and her husband, Peter, who uses a cane, waited in line for about 20 minutes before a poll worker helped them to the front of the line. (Voters who are disabled do not have to wait in line and may notify a poll worker when they arrive.)
“We waited inside a while, and then they worked us in. That was a blessing, that we didn’t have to be outside,” Brigitta Raven said.
The run-up to Election Day has been a long one for County Clerk Lisa Lofgreen and staffers in the county election office, with requests for mail-in ballots pouring in and the necessity of constantly adapting to new COVID-19 developments.
In the 2016 presidential election, just over 36,900 people cast a ballot, out of about 55,200 registered to vote.
With all but a tiny handful of local races decided in the June primary, tonight will not have the same local suspense as that election. But with races for president, governor, and attorney general on the ballot, among others, Hancock County residents have been motivated to get out and vote.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the variable timelines states have set for counting all ballots, combined with news coverage of long lines in some jurisdictions, have raised concerns that national election results may be a long time coming. However, Lofgreen said, Hancock County shouldn’t be waiting long tonight.
“I think we’ll be able to handle it just fine,” she said.
To help deal with the high turnout, the election office has organized 23 “slice teams,” the bipartisan pairs of one Democrat and one Republican who open and count ballots on Election Day.
It’s a decrease from 2016, when there were over 30 slice teams, but Lofgreen said the workers will be starting early. She and her deputy clerks will head to the county annex, where votes will be counted, at 6 a.m. They’ll be joined by the slice teams at 7 a.m.
Election Day votes will be counted after 6 p.m., when the polls close. Those votes are machine-counted, and a specialist from the company that manufactures Hancock County’s machines will be on hand to help with tabulation.
In Indiana, mail-in ballots were not an option for everyone; voters had to cite one of a number of state-approved excuses to receive one., However, many who qualified took advantage.
A few voters requested a mail-in ballot past the Oct. 22 deadline, Lofgreen said, but the election office was able to communicate with them and ask them to vote in person.
Those who voted by mail may check online at indianavoters.com to make sure it has been received. The deadline is noon today. If it did not arrive on time, you may call the election office at 317-477-1109, and you can be issued a new ballot to vote in person.
Today, slice teams will be checking to make sure the ballots submitted early are valid, including by checking that the voter signatures on ballot envelopes match the ones on file. If the signatures do not appear to match, they will be reviewed by the Hancock Election Board. If the board has the voter’s phone number on file, they will be contacted to verify the ballot.
Hancock County residents voting on Election Day have 10 polling places around the county to choose from; anyone registered to vote in the county can do so at any of the vote centers. Polls will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
If there are lines at a polling place, anyone with a disability who cannot wait in line is welcome to notify a poll worker, who will help them vote more efficiently.
Lofgreen said the Hancock County Annex, which is traditionally open on election nights as a location for candidates and the public to watch results roll in, will be open this year, as it was in the primary, with limited capacity for COVID-19 safety.
“We will likely mark some spots for the candidates, and we’ll be monitoring for social distancing and making sure not to go over the capacity,” she said.
Randy Johnson, chair of the Hancock County Democratic Party, isn’t planning anything special with local party leaders today because almost all of them are working at the polls or as slicers.
“I think they’re going to be exhausted,” Johnson said.
Johnson said he is optimistic about Democrats’ prospects in the election. “I don’t know what the numbers will be, but I know they’ve worked hard,” Johnson said of Democratic candidates.
Janice Silvey, chair of the local Republican Party, said she wished as many people would come out to vote in local elections as were motivated by the presidential race to vote in this one. But she is still pleasantly surprised by the high turnout.
“I think it’s great that we’ve had so many people come out to vote,” she said.
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Here is where you can vote today. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.:
Hancock County Annex, 111 American Legion Place, Greenfield
Hancock County Public Library, 900 W. McKenzie Road
Hancock County Public Library, 5731 U.S. 52, New Palestine
Fortville Community Center, 400 W. Church St., Fortville
Buck Creek Township Fire Department 5809 W. Airport Blvd., Mt. Comfort
NineStar Connect North, 2331 E. County Road 600N, Greenfield
Nameless Creek Camp and Event Center, 2675 S. County Road 600E, Greenfield
Wilkinson Church of Christ, 7293 State Road 109, Wilkinson
McCordsville Town Hall, 6280 W. County Road 800N, McCordsville
Cross of Grace Lutheran Church, 3519 S. County County Road 600W, New Palestine
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You can help fellow voters on Election Day by scouting wait times at the polls so everyone has the information they need to make their vote count. All you have to do is post on Facebook or Twitter with the hashtag #hancockINvotes, and tell us which vote center you visited and how long you waited in line. If you see long lines at the polls, tag us with a quick cellphone photo as well (@GreenfieldDR).
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Visit www.greenfieldreporter.com after the polls close tonight to keep up with election results in the contested races. We will post vote totals as they become available.
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