HUGE THANKS TO MY REPORTERS IN THE PRECINCTS
LATEST NEWS is here at my Open Salon blog.
Indiana Election statistics and returns
Here’s a link to a particularly illuminating set of directions for precinct election officials, from the office of Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita.
12:50 p.m. New Albany, Ind. - Linda Moeller, Floyd County Clerk, is the chief election official, working with and under the authority of the elections board. She’s a Democrat. Yesterday she sat with me for an interview and projected a 70% turnout in Floyd County.
Just now, she called to report smooth sailing so far. At opening time, Moeller’s office received only 7 phone calls from the precinct workers. She said those were a combination of “machines acting goofy” and “nervous poll workers,” but confirmed that no one was prevented from voting by those brief delays.
She also answered a previous query about poll watchers, those people sent by parties or candidates to guard the integrity of the vote and to report anomalies to their campaigns. Moeller says the are not required to wear ID, but must present valid credentials to the judge of the polling place.
Comparing notes with me, Moeller stands by her projection of a 70% turnout in Floyd County (40,000 voters), a number that, again, no one living can recall.
Interestingly, things have been so calm today at the office that the office-bound Moeller was turning to local TV stations’ field reports to try to find out what was going on at the polls. In short, an amazingly smooth day, so far.
Moeller also defended the 3-booth setup at NA 18, saying that was perfectly normal. She could not assess how much time the average voter takes on this ballot, however.
Prepare for a lull over the next few hours. Things will begin to heat up after 3 p.m. as the final rush begins.
Reporters, please continue to feed me with your personal reports or anything regarding Indiana elections that you believe would be of interest to our readers. Thanks.
BY e-mail: I voted around 9:00 am at Geo[rgetown] 2. It only took five minutes. But as I left, the line was out the door as over 20 folks waited to vote. As I approached the poling place I was driving east on IN 62 from Georgetown and witnessed a young woman and young child taking down Obama and Roudenbush signs from the roadside and putting them in their trunk. I mentioned it to a couple of folks both inside and outside the poling place. No ones seemed interested. [Ed. Not necessarily malicious. Many candidates recover their signs on Election Day to place them at precincts themselves.]
The parking lot at the Tunnel Hill Church where I voted was completely full! In the thirty years I have voted there I have never seen half that many cars. There was a steady stream of cars coming and going.
Looking forward to an interesting few days.
Here’s a link to a particularly illuminating set of directions for precinct election officials, from the office of Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita. Did you know? Rokita is a Republican, reelected in 2006. But in Indiana, the reins of each county’s election machinery (i.e., the majority on the election board) go to the party of the SoS candidate who gets the most votes in that county. In Floyd County, the Democratic candidate won, so the Democrats control the elections, at the top, and at each precinct.
Interestingly, in 2006, the Republicans were in charge, but they were so unused to the role, they could not rustle up enough workers to man the precincts, and thus were forced to recruit experienced Democrats to work the polls.
Noon New Albany, Ind. - Floyd County’s Lafayette township is a high-growth part of our small county, having transitioned from extremely rural to somewhat of a subdivision and headed, seemingly, toward sprawltastic exurban. Accordingly, the county seat gave up three precincts in advance of this election to accommodate voting demand in the northwest part of the county. One site (Floyds Knobs Community Club) covers four precincts. This noon report is instructive. I assume a Republican bent to the electorate, based on past history.
Laf 3, 4, and 6 are reporting from 325 to 350 voters recorded as of noon. Laf 5 reports ~ 550. Active voters are as follows:
3 [696], so let’s say 50% turnout at noon.
4 [908], so let’s say 38% turnout.
6 [736], so let’s say 47%.
5 [1,397], so let’s say 40%.
Remember, I’m calculating turnout based on newly available “active voters,” a metric that is somewhat unique to Indiana. In these precincts, its about the same because so much of the population is younger and newer to their environs. County-wide, however, about 12% of registered voters are “inactive.”
BY e-mail: 9:50 a.m. at precinct [NA] 39 (Christ’s Community Church of the Nazarene), I cast the 211th vote – not a bad turn out so far - Traffic was bad getting in there, but the lines were moving. It only took me about 10 minutes to cast my ballot! [773 active voters]
11:45 a.m. New Albany, Ind. - A reporter from NA 18 (Head Start/Corydon Pike) says that in that location voters were surprised to discover only three voting booths available. For voters at 6 a.m., that resulted in a 30-minute wait. While this is nothing compared to some reports from around the country…If every voter were perfectly staged in line and took only 7 minutes to vote, that might be enough for the expected turnout [814 active voters]. And we know that voters don’t stage themselves that way.
Another caller expressed concern about a free-floating person wandering around the polling place without identification of any sort. We concluded it was probably a campaign poll-watcher, but when an official was asked “what’s she doing here?” he replied, “Oh, she’s an inspector.” Question: Are poll-watchers required to wear some form of identification badge while monitoring the voting? This took place in NA 20 (American Legion Lodge Hall/McDonald Lane). Obviously, a poll-watcher can’t wear candidate or party signs, but if voters are uneasy about lurkers (and this one wasn’t bothering anyone, per se), isn’t that a problem?
11 a.m. New Albany, Ind. - Here’s a first pass on turnout in Floyd County, Indiana, where about 65% of active voters (55% of all registrations) are forecasted to vote today, with 15% having already voted. Early and mail-ins have been recorded by now.
Some stunning numbers are being reported in the early hours, but no problems to speak of. The longest wait reported has been 25 minutes during the first hour (6 a.m.) of voting.
NA 36 (Prosser Vocational School) had 150 voters at 7:30. [1,256 active]
NA 32 (Prosser Vocational School) had 171 voters at 7:30. [1,414 active]
NA 5 (S. Ellen Jones School) had 92 voters at 8:45. [485 active]
NA 9 (Ekin Recreation Center) had 37 voters at 6:30. [630 active]
Laf 3 (Floyds Knobs Community Club) had 285 voters at 10:45. [696 active]
Laf 5 (Floyds Knobs Community Club) Some wraparound lines early. [1,397 active]
Laf 6 (Floyds Knobs Community Club) Very smooth early hours. [736 active]
NA 41 (Floyd County 4-H Fairgrounds) 75 waiting in line at 6, 25 minutes to vote them. [1,020]
NA 14 (Slate Run School) had 149 voters at 8 a.m. [824]
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Much to everyone’s surprise, the battle for Indiana’s 11 electoral votes has turned into a real contest for the first time since 1948. While I’ll cover our own local election during the day part, once the results are in I’ll go broader with races of national and statewide significance. There are better places to chase the numbers, but in our county, this is the place for the earliest online results for local numbers.
Thanks Roger (The New Albanian), for playing along…
News bites from Hoosier precincts
Walter Shapiro says the counties to watch in Indiana are Howard (Kokomo), a conservative rust-belt county hammered by the auto manufacturing slump, and Hamilton, which went 3 to 1 for Bush in 2004, but in which Obama has staged an aggressive outreach effort. If these counties show Obama strength, even cutting into the expected Republican majority, the counting is over.
Howard Dean’s pollster adds this early returns guide sheet.
Howey Politics Indiana: 6,300,000 early votes
Brian Howey, Indiana’s preeminent independent political reporter, predicts an unlikely Obama victory, citing “47 satellite offices, the more than $5 million spent on TV, the 49 visits to the state by the Illinois senator, the way the “change” narrative has obviously moved so many Hoosiers.” He compares the tightness of the race to the April Democratic Party primary, in which Hillary Clinton edged Obama by 1.14 percentage points.
Evansville closes early voting despite dozens in line
Following the letter, but perhaps not the spirit of Indiana law, Vanderburgh County election officials shut down early voting precisely at noon, despite the fact that what appears to be dozens of voters were waiting in line. VIDEO available. But another county office at least waived the parking fines for those stuck in line all morning.
Indianapolis triples early voting totals
Early voting in Indiana’s largest county is either a measure of enthusiasm or evidence that voters fear major problems and perhaps voter suppression on Election Day. Long lines are expected at polling places across the state.
Vigo County bellweather of U.S.voting
One Indiana county is known for the uncanny way its voters seem to track the national voting trend.
Tracking the candidates’ visits to Indiana
The Indianapolis Star tries to recount all the visits to Indiana by the major party candidates. They include breakout boxes for McCain, Palin, and Obama. Biden and Palin both made stops in Southeastern Indiana during the general election period.
McCain drops in to Indy airport on election eve; first visit since July 1
The GOP standard-bearer made his first stop in the Hoosier State since July 1 when he summoned supporters to an airport hangar while en route to points west.
Obama will visit Hoosier State on Election Day
It’s almost unheard of, but both Barack Obama and Joe Biden will continue to campaign outside their home states on Election Day. Obama’s visit to Indiana follows a Monday night airport stop by Republican presidential candidate John McCain.
Ballots challenged by GOP Tuesday won’t be counted in Nov. 4 reports
The Marion County GOP intends to challenge a raft of absentee ballots on Tuesday. A county judge ruled Monday that those challenged ballots will be set aside for review by the bipartisan election board and will not be counted in Tuesday’s returns.
Ball State-area registration forms delayed, threatening right to vote
200 applications for new registrations, most coming from the Ball State University Zip code in Muncie by mail and arriving on Oct. 9, three days after the deadline for registration, were ignored by Delaware County officials because they were “too busy.” None of those registrants will be eligible to vote today.
Previous table-setting posts:
Hoosier breakfast reading
Indiana: Four corners and a middle
Stay up late for Indiana results
I’m cross-posting at Open Salon as one of their swing-state reporters, so feed me with what ya got, you betcha!
