Voting continues through 6 p.m.

Nov. 7—GOSHEN — Polling centers weren't too busy during the early morning hours of Election Day.

At St. Mark's United Methodist Church voting center, supervisor Jacob Labounty said a mere 39 people had come to vote by 9:40 a.m.

"We try and make it easy for people to vote," Labounty said. "It's not super complicated."

The ballot box scanner and counting machine predicted 2,000 voters at his location.

"I don't think we'll get there at this rate," he said.

He expects traffic to increase after people are off work.

"That makes a huge difference," Indiana State Rep. Joanna King said.

King is one of the volunteers at the St. Mark's United Methodist Church voting center. It's her first time volunteering, despite several years of being involved in elections as a candidate.

"My whole thing is I wanted to be able to see this process first hand," she said. "With all the disinformation, misinformation, and people getting all their information off Facebook or whatever, I wanted to be able to sit here and say I witnessed this first hand."

King explained that since she's not on the ballot this cycle, or if she were running unopposed, she's allowed to volunteer. Next year, she won't be able to do it.

"I felt this would be a good learning experience," she said. "It's one thing to help with the laws, it's another thing to actually see how everything works."

For example, King said, voting machines aren't connected to the internet but many people believe they are.

"As long as that information is still out there, they become some people's truth, which is sad," she said.

As a state representative, King said she feels like people don't understand or appreciate how important local elections are.

"This is where you make a difference," she said. "Think about it in a presidential election where you have thousands of people voting. It's not that your vote doesn't count, but the percentage of your one vote among thousands is way different than when we have 50, 100 or 3,000 votes. Every vote is going to count. All of the decisions that get made locally in our schools, school board, and city council, all of that, those are local people that are right here affecting change and I personally would rather have someone skip the presidential election and come vote for these because this is where, I think, the bigger difference is being made."

Elkhart County Clerk Chris Anderson said voter turnout is expected to be low this election cycle. Municipal elections always bring fewer voters.

As of 9:45 a.m., 1,914 people had come out to vote on Election Day. In-person early voting was at 2,964, 41 less than the last municipal election in 2019.

"If you don't have the top of the bottom, the lower part of the ballot is not going to pull in the votes," he said, adding that Elkhart's mayor Rod Roberson running unopposed this election cycle is particularly unusual.

Across the rest of the county's municipal races, though, there's a full ballot and Anderson believes turnout will still be pretty decent.

"You've got races here in Goshen that are driving the entire county because you've got contested races up and down the ballot here in Goshen," he said. "People are hearing from those candidates, they're seeing them. They're very active. They're killing it. I think even those voters that are in the city of Elkhart are going to see that and then say, 'Hey, let's vote.'

He doesn't anticipate a dramatic turnout, but said in both major cities door-to-door knocking has been a daily occurrence that's bound to deliver results.

"There's a lot of coordination," he said. "I think we've seen cooperation between candidates at just about every level, particularly at the local level."

For example, candidates in both Elkhart and Goshen, Anderson said, divide labor by gathering at one meeting location splitting up yard signs, and designating drop-off locations, so that each candidate or volunteer has fewer drop-offs to make.

Polls are open until 6 p.m. Tuesday.

POLLING LOCATIONS

Elkhart County Public Services Building, 4230 Elkhart Road, Goshen

Sugar Grove Church, 58512 Old C. R. 17, Goshen

Grace Community Church, 20076 C. R. 36, Goshen

Greencroft Goshen Community Center, 1820 Greencroft Blvd., Goshen

Maple City Chapel, 2015 Lincolnway East, Goshen

Pleasant View Church, 58529 C.R. 23, Goshen

First Presbyterian Church — North Fifth St. Public Parking, 215 E. Lincoln Ave., Goshen

St. Mark's United Methodist Church, 502 N. Main St., Goshen

Greene Road Church, 518 N. Greene Road, Goshen

Anabaptist Mennonite Biblical Seminary — Lambright Center, 3003 Benham Ave., Elkhart

Calvary United Methodist Church, 2222 W. Indiana Ave., Elkhart

Jimtown High School, 59021 C.R. 3, Elkhart

New Hope United Methodist Church, 28765 C.R. 4, Elkhart

North Side Gym, 300 Lawrence St., Elkhart

FOP No. 52, 1003 Industrial Parkway, Elkhart

River of Life Community Church, 2626 Prairie St., Elkhart

St. James African Methodist Episcopal Church, 122 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Elkhart

Trinity Church on Jackson, 2715 E. Jackson Blvd., Elkhart

Osolo Township Fire Station, 24936 Buddy St., Elkhart

Granger Community Church, Elkhart Campus, 2701 E. Bristol St., Elkhart

Elkhart County Health Department — Lincoln Center, 608 Oakland Ave., Elkhart

Bristol United Methodist Church, 201 S. Division St., Bristol

First Baptist Church, 53953 C.R. 17, Bristol

Middlebury Church of the Brethren, 507 Bristol Ave., Middlebury

Millersburg Town Hall, 201 W. Washington St., Millersburg

First Brethren Church, 1600 N. Main St., Nappanee

New Paris Sunnyside Park Pavilion, 68546 Clinton St., New Paris

Bible Baptist Church, 205 E. Waterford St., Wakarusa