Record number of Hoosiers voting by mail for Tuesday’s primary election
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More than a half-million registered Indiana voters plan to participate in Tuesday’s primary election using a mail-in ballot — the highest number in state history.
According to the Indiana secretary of state’s office, a total of 545,935 applications to vote by mail were submitted to election officials in all 92 counties prior to the May 21 deadline.
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That includes 31,866 mail-in ballots in Lake County, 14,576 in Porter County, 5,960 in LaPorte County, 775 in Newton County and 1,866 in Jasper County, data show.
In comparison, just 53,818 mail-in absentee ballots were cast statewide in the 2016 primary election when voters were required to have a valid excuse to qualify for a mail-in ballot.
The Indiana Election Commission agreed in March to suspend the excuse requirement — for the 2020 primary election only — opening mail-in balloting to all voters due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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Records show more voters participating in the Democratic primary are taking advantage of the expanded opportunity to vote by mail than Republican primary voters.
Through Tuesday, a total of 324,427 Democratic ballots have been requested statewide for mail-in and other means of early voting compared to 223,852 Republican primary ballots.
In Northwest Indiana, the rare open seat Democratic contest for U.S. House is contributing to an even more lopsided partisan distribution of primary ballots.
A whopping 88% of mail-in and early voters in Lake County have requested the Democratic ballot, 73% in Porter County and 77% in LaPorte County, according to the secretary of state’s office.
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Under Indiana law, mail-in ballots sent to voters must be returned to the county elections office by 12 p.m. on Election Day to be counted in the final tally.
In-person early voting for the primary election also is available through Monday and traditional polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.
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Hoosiers are not required at this election to have a specific reason for voting by mail due to the coronavirus pandemic.
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