Voter enthusiasm leads to longer wait times at early voting sites • Indiana Capital Chronicle

Brad Klopfenstein hasn't voted yet, although he works in the same building as one of Indianapolis' nine early voting centers. This year, lines outside the MSD Lawrence Education & Community Center have stretched through the halls and into the parking lot – meaning voters have to wait hours to cast their ballot.

“Before, when I was ready to go home, I would go downstairs, go straight in and vote. And I haven’t voted yet because I don’t want to wait,” said Klopfenstein, the president of the Greater Lawrence Chamber. “I suspect at this rate everyone in Lawrence Township will have voted by this weekend and maybe the lines will be a little shorter on Election Day.”

At lunchtime Wednesday, voters stood in line in photos Klopfenstein shared with the Indiana Capital Chronicle, which he said was “unusual” compared to previous years.

“I’ve never seen more than maybe 20 or 25 people in line. This year there are hundreds every day,” said Klopfenstein.

Marion County is far from alone when it comes to long lines for early voters. Hoosiers in Hamilton and Allen counties have reported similar wait times, as well as anecdotal reports of high turnout, particularly among young voters and first-time voters.

Although it's too early to tell whether turnout this year will dwarf previous years, that's traditionally been the case in Indiana one of the worst voter turnout rates in the country. The 2020 general election peaked at 65%, buoyed by an unusual election year with added flexibility for postal voting, but fell to 40% in 2022. In 2016, another presidential year, 58% voted.

As of Oct. 31, more than 1 million voters, according to the most recent statewide data available had already cast their vote. That represents about 21% of registered voters.

Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell said local in-person voter turnout exceeded 2020 numbers. On Saturday, October 26, the first day all early voting sites opened, 10,560 voters showed up, compared to 4,430 in 2022 and 8,800 in 2020.

“I met a first-time voter who was in his 70s. He and his son, neither of them had ever voted in an election before,” Sweeney Bell said. “It gave me goosebumps.”

Calculate waiting times

In a few locations across the state, enthusiasm appears to be high. Presidential election years typically attract more voters than other cycles.

“I think there is a lot of interest. I can’t believe how many young people we had out there – we had many, many, many first-time voters,” said Beth Sheller, Hamilton County elections director. “I know you see that in the presidential election, but it just seems overwhelming how many young voters were out there.”

On Saturday, some locations in Hamilton County briefly experienced wait times of more than two hours, Sheller said.

Machines in Hamilton County have been reassigned and wait times have decreased, as confirmed by Indy voting times. Planning for early voting is easier because the county has used almost the same nine buildings in some election cycles and is adding a third location in Carmel this year, Sheller said. But Noblesville's two locations — the county fairgrounds and the justice center — are the busiest.

Westfield City Hall, the smallest center, has space for eight machines, while the other locations can accommodate between ten and a dozen. But the flexibility to move around machines or operate poll workers to manage long lines isn't really there.

“It takes a lot of planning to make sure they have the right supplies and enough workers,” Sheller said. “It’s a constant job of at least 12 hours over several months to make sure everything is there.”

Sweeney Bell said Marion County is encountering the same building size limitations, particularly at county sites within municipal buildings.

“If there was room, we would increase the number of kiosks, the number of nonpartisan teams and the number of check-in and check-out stations,” Sweeney Bell said. “We are hindered by the physical locations themselves.”

Sweeney Bell described a process in Marion County to get more accurate voting times by giving tickets to voters at the back of the line and measuring their progress. As of 3:30 p.m., she was able to determine estimated wait times throughout the community, including a 98-minute wait at MSD Lawrence compared to a 21-minute wait at the City County Building downtown.

Concerns about dissuading voters

But not all officials are convinced that the preparation for the election was sufficient.

Allen County Democratic Party Chairman Derek Camp has repeatedly admonished Republicans in press releases, blaming them for long voting lines.

He claims county election officials are using the same number of machines for early voting as they did in last year's much smaller local elections.

On Saturday, the first day of early voting, lines outside the downtown Rousseau Center, the city's precinct building, lasted more than two and a half hours. Such waits could have been prevented, Camp said, if members of the Republican Board of Elections had agreed to an emergency meeting earlier this month to extend voting hours.

“Even before that, we had to accept waiting times of up to an hour or an hour and a half during the day alone. During business hours,” Camp told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “So we tried to point out that this is going to be a problem.”

At the Rousseau Center, “it zigzagged its way through the first floor, out the doors, over the pedestrian bridge and into the parking garage,” Camp said.

Gubernatorial candidates debate for the last time before Election Day

Unlike most counties in Indiana, Allen County has a separate, nonpartisan Board of Elections that handles administrative duties related to voting. In order to extend early voting times, the board would need members of both parties to agree to such a move.

Allen County Clerk Christopher Nancarrow, a Republican board member, defended the group's actions, saying the schedule has been in place for months. He also disputed Camp's claim, saying there were fewer machines in the local election.

“As much as the Board of Elections would like to use all machines for early voting, you cannot use the same machines for early voting as you would for voting on Election Day due to Indiana tabulation restrictions laws,” Nancarrow said in an email response .

“Any last-minute change to the schedule without bipartisan agreement and adequate staffing, particularly in today’s contentious and contentious electoral environment, only undermines confidence in the system.”

Fifty of the county's 715 machines were in use, including 10 at each of the five early voting locations. The burden has been alleviated with the addition of more polling stations, poll workers and some additional machines, he continued.

Camp said resources were insufficient, frustrating voters who might decide not to cast their ballot. Additionally, he noted that Fort Wayne — the state's second-largest population center — could play a role in the intensifying gubernatorial race.

Fort Wayne voter Emeline Hawkins, ret naturalized citizen from France said the wait for the right to vote was worth it.

“I don’t understand why people don’t vote if they have that privilege and were born here,” Hawkins said. “Many immigrants I know vote because we understand that becoming a citizen is part of the obligation.”

Hawkins, a freelance journalist who has lived in the area for a decade, only had to wait about 40 minutes at the Rousseau Center on Tuesday night.

“Part of me is happy because that tells me people are voting,” Hawkins said of the long lines. “But part of me is worried because people will see that line and then not vote.”

After learning about the long wait Saturday, Hawkins and her husband planned ahead and set their expectations. But not everyone has the flexibility to do this – including older or disabled voters who cannot run for as long, or parents with small children.

“There are certain populations that can’t wait three hours,” Hawkins noted.

Sheller said state law doesn't allow disabled voters to jump ahead in line, but Hamilton County at least allows someone else to keep their spot in line. Certain voters may also qualify for an absentee ballot or travel tab for future elections to avoid lines.

“We will try to accommodate them as much as possible,” Sheller said.

This story has been updated with new turnout data.