In the 2022 mid-term election, a total of 975 residents participated in early voting. In the 2020 pandemic general election, early voting in-person voters numbered 2,627.
Behny also reports her office has mailed 254 absentee ballots, and has received 169 back. The travel board will deploy next week to the three nursing homes, Peak Community Services, and to the other confined residents who have applied. Behny anticipates that should be close to 70 ballots.
In the spring primary, Pulaski County had 733 people vote early in-person. The highest day of early voting in the primary was 57. The lowest turnout so far this month for the general election is 60.
“We usually use two machines in early voting, but Wednesday we deployed a third machine at Winamac,” Behny said. For Saturday she sent the usual two, plus a third for use at Francesville, “because I have the feeling they’re gonna get whacked tomorrow.”
The clerk noted “these numbers are very high for Pulaski County, but in conversations with other clerks, this is the trend statewide.”
By Indiana Code, there is a four-minute limit for a voter to be in a booth, but Behny said voters are averaging around seven minutes.
“There is no way for clerks and poll workers to enforce this, and general consensus is that we don’t want to,” the clerk said. “I know I would never hurry a voter along to finish voting no matter how long the line is. Between the public question, the Supreme Court Judge retentions and the mandatory use of the Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails, people are taking their time and actually reading through everything.
“So far, the mood may be contentious, she continued, “but voters have been wonderful. They’ve been very understanding about wait times, (some) being told they’ve never registered or that they’re registered in other counties. We had one grumpy guy because we made him cover up his ‘presidential candidate’ t-shirt, but his wife reasoned with him and it was a non-issue. I can only hope this carries through.”