Andy East | The Republic
Nearly 1 in 4 registered voters in Bartholomew County have already cast ballots in the upcoming presidential election, according to county election officials.
As of around 11:15 a.m. Friday, a total of 12,383 people in Bartholomew County had already voted in the presidential election — including 10,739 people at Donner Center and 1,644 absentee-by-mail ballots, according to figures provided by Bartholomew County Clerk Shari Lentz.
That represents nearly 23% of the county’s 54,103 registered voters.
“We’re still seeing to some big numbers. They’re starting to creep up there at Donner,” Lentz said.
So far, the turnout has nearly kept pace with the 2020 presidential election.
When the polls closed Thursday, a total of 10,377 people had cast ballots early in-person for this year’s election. By comparison, 11,042 votes had been cast at the same point in the 2020 presidential election and 4,160 in the 2016 election.
Local election officials and party leaders have said that a high level of interest in the presidential race is likely fueling the high turnout so far, though local contests such as the BCSC school board races may also be driving people to go out and vote early.
In the previous two presidential elections, turnout during early in-person voting has increased significantly heading into the third week of the early voting period.
In the 2020 election, average daily turnout increased 35% during the final eight full days of early in-person voting compared to average during the first 13 days of early voting. In 2016, there was a 387% increase.
“We expect today and tomorrow to be busy and probably even bigger numbers next week as we head toward Nov. 5,” Lentz said. “There has been … increased activity today and people calling and wanting to know hours and that kind of thing.”
