Early voting underway, running smoothly
Apr. 8—Ready to vote in the spring Primary Election? This may be the right time.
Turnout as in-person early voting gets underway this week has been relatively light, and there's new equipment that's running smoothly.
Despite rain, 59 people ventured out to two vote centers open to cast in-person absentee ballots on Tuesday, the first day of early voting.
Additionally, the county received 312 mail-in ballots, for a total of 371 absentee ballots submitted on the first day.
Rain continued into Wednesday as Ruth and Jack Pruett cast a ballot at the Vigo County Annex, one of two sites open. The other is Terre Haute City Center mall.
"I wanted to beat the crowd. I don't wait well," Ruth Pruett said after voting.
She and her husband said the referendum for the Vigo County School Corp. was the main reason they wanted to vote.
"Our taxes are high enough. I just wanted to have my say," Ruth Pruett said.
Jack Pruett said he, like his wife, voted against the referendum.
"I don't have any kids in school, and the ones in school don't go half the time," he said.
Steve Barnhart, a retired Vigo County sheriff's lieutenant, also voted early Wednesday, adding he too wanted to cast a vote on the school referendum.
"I think $261 million is a lot of money to spend. I wanted to make sure I voted my opinion," Barnhart said.
The $261 million referendum proposed by VCSC would fund building new academic facilities and renovating non-academic facilities at North, South and West Vigo high schools, as well as West Vigo Middle School, which is adjacent to the high school. New academic spaces would be created and classrooms would be enlarged.
Money would come from an increase in property taxes, costing someone owning a home worth $100,000 an additional $7 a month. A calculator at the PAC's website voteyesforvigoschools.com allows homeowners to find how much they'd be set back.
Also this election, Vigo County voters will be casting their ballots on new voting equipment.
"It couldn't be smoother to use," said LeAnna Moore, chief deputy clerk at the Vigo County Clerk's Office.
"We purchased 170 of the new (OpenElect FreedomVote) units, which are the actual voting machines, and 45 of the electronic poll pads, which are used to check someone in to vote," Moore said.
The voting machines are through RBM Consulting, while the new e-poll pads are manufactured by KNOWiNK. MicroVote General Corp. maintains the poll pad's operating system and trains county personnel.
"We are hopeful we will get six to eight years out of them," Moore said of the new voting machines.
The clerk's office this year has a website — www.everyvotevigocounty.com — that is updated with the number of ballots cast in vote centers and total number of ballots on a daily basis.
As of Thursday evening, the site showed 568 early votes, 356 of those by mail-in and 212 made at vote centers.
Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.
