Brad Klopfenstein hasn’t voted yet, despite working in the same building as one of nine early voting centers in Indianapolis. This year, lines at the MSD Lawrence Education & Community Center have stretched through the hallways and parking lot — meaning voters will have to wait hours to cast their ballots.
“In years past, when I was ready to go home, I would walk downstairs, walk right 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 think 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.”
Around lunchtime Wednesday, voters lined up 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 twenty to twenty-five people in line. This year there are hundreds per 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, along with anecdotal reports of high turnout, especially among young voters and first-time voters.
While it’s too early to know if this year’s turnout will surpass previous years, that’s traditionally the case in Indiana one of the worst attendance rates in the country. The 2020 general election peaked at 65%, buoyed by an unusual election year with added absentee voting flexibility, but dropped to 40% in 2022. In 2016, another presidential year, 58% turned out to vote .
As of Oct. 31, there were more than 1 million voters statewide, according to the most recent data had already cast their votes. That equates to about 21% of registered voters.
Marion County Clerk Kate Sweeney Bell said in-person turnout locally had exceeded 2020 numbers, with 10,560 voters showing up on Saturday, Oct. 26 — the first day all early voting locations opened — compared to 4,430 in 2022 and 8,800 in 2020.
“I met a first-time voter who was in his 70s. Neither he nor his son had ever voted in an election before,” Sweeney Bell said. “It gave me goosebumps.”
Calculate waiting times
Enthusiasm appears to be high at a handful of locations across the state. Presidential election years typically attract more voters than other cycles.
“I think there is a lot of interest in it. I can’t believe all the young people we’ve had – we have a lot of first-time voters,” said Hamilton County Elections Administrator Beth Sheller. “I know you see that in the presidential elections, but it just seems overwhelming how many young voters have dropped out.”
On Saturday, there were short lines of more than two hours at some locations in Hamilton County, Sheller said.
Machines in Hamilton County have been reallocated and wait times have decreased, as evidenced Indy Voting Times. Scheduling early voting is easier because the county has used nearly the same nine buildings for a few election cycles, adding a third Carmel location this year, Sheller said. But the two locations in Noblesville – at the county fairgrounds and the judicial center – are the busiest.
Westfield City Hall, the smallest center, has capacity for eight machines, while the other locations have between ten and a dozen. But there’s no real flexibility to move machines or question employees to accommodate long lines.
“There’s a lot of planning that goes into making sure they have the right supplies and enough labor,” Sheller said. “It’s a constant job of twelve hours or more over several months to make sure everything is in place.”
According to Sweeney Bell, Marion County faces the same restrictions on building size, especially on site locations within township buildings.
“If there was room, we would increase the number of machines, the number of dual 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 ticketing voters at the end of the line and timing their progress. At 3:30 p.m., she was able to get estimated wait times across the county, including a 98-minute wait at MSD Lawrence compared to the 21-minute wait at the City County Building downtown.
Concerns about deterring voters
But not all officials are convinced that election preparations have been sufficient.
Derek Camp, chairman of the Allen County Democratic Party, has repeatedly warned Republicans in press releases and blamed their actions for long voting lines.
He claims county election officials are using the same number of machines for early voting as in last year’s much smaller municipal elections.
On Saturday, the first day of early voting, the lines at the center of Rousseau, the city-province building, lasted more than two and a half hours. Such waits could have been avoided, Camp said, if Republican election board members had approved an emergency meeting earlier this month to expand voting hours.
“Even before that, we would have had to wait an hour to an hour and a half during the day. During business hours,” Camp told the Indiana Capital Chronicle. “So we tried to indicate that this is going to be a problem.”
At the Rousseau Center, “it zigzagged and snaked all the 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 Indiana counties, Allen County has a separate, bipartisan Board of Elections that handles administrative duties related to voting. To expand early voting hours, the board would have to get members of both parties to approve such a move.
Allen County Clerk Christopher Nancarrow, a Republican board member, defended the group’s actions and said the plan had been in place for months. He also disputed Camp’s claim, saying there were fewer machines during the municipal elections.
“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 do for Election Day voting due to Indiana law regarding tabulation restrictions,” Nancarrow said in an emailed response. mail.
“Any last-minute changes to the schedule without a bipartisan agreement and adequate staffing, especially in today’s contentious and litigious election environment, only undermine confidence in the system.”
Fifty of the county’s 715 machines were deployed, including 10 at each of the five early voting locations. The pressure had been relieved by adding more polling stations, polling places and a few extra machines, he continued.
Camp said the resources were not sufficient, frustrating voters who might decide not to cast their ballots. Additionally, he noted that Fort Wayne — the state’s second-largest population center — could play a role in the increasingly strict governor’s race.
Fort Wayne voter Emeline Hawkins, a naturalized citizen from France said waiting is worth it for voting rights.
“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 it is part of the obligation to become citizens.”
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 evening.
“Part of me is happy because that tells me people are voting,” Hawkins said of the long lines. “But part of me worries because people will see that line and then not vote.”
After hearing about the long wait times on Saturday, Hawkins and her husband made plans and set their expectations. But not everyone has the flexibility to do that – including elderly or disabled voters who can’t keep it up for very long, or parents with small children.
“There are certain populations that can’t wait three hours,” Hawkins noted.
Sheller said state law does not allow disabled voters to be at the front of the line, but Hamilton County at least allows someone else to keep their spot in line. Certain voters may also be eligible for an absentee ballot or travel board 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 attendance data.
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