Hamilton County Clerk
There have been many questions on what Primary Election Day will look like this year, and much of that has now been determined by an order issued by the Indiana Election Commission on Friday.
Here in Indiana you will have many choices when determining how you wish to vote for the candidates of your choice. By mail, in-person on Primary Election Day, or early voting at eight locations, the week prior gives you an opportunity to pick the best way for individually to cast your ballots.
After the President declared a national emergency on March 13 due to the coronavirus, the Governor announced that the May 5 primary would be postponed until June 2. At the same time, it was determined by the Indiana Election Commission that absentee voting would be opened to all registered voters without a reason, and all who wished to apply for a ballot could all vote by mail.
We continue to encourage voting by mail as the best and safest way for many voters during this time of crisis. An application can be found on the Hamilton County website as well at Indianavoters.com.
Voting by mail began on March 17 and continues every day until 11:59 p.m. on May 21. The Election Office staff and the Absentee Board has mailed out 9,279 ballots and there have been 2,952 returned as Friday, April 17. Compare this to the 2016 primary where a total of 3,358 ballots were returned. With five weeks to go, nearly three times the number of total ballots have been processed as in 2016.
In addition to the ability to vote by mail, voters will be able to vote at their regular polling locations across Hamilton County on June 2. We have 124 of our 133 polling locations confirmed. Eight locations could no longer host a polling place due to previous commitments, so we are in the process of finding new locations for those locations and believe we will have them confirmed by early next week. If your polling location has changed since the last election, you will receive a notice in the mail to identify your new polling place.
In addition, there will be eight satellite locations that will be open for early voters from May 26 to May 30 each day from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those locations include:
- Hamilton County Government and Judicial Center and the Hamilton County Fairgrounds in Noblesville
- Coxhall Mansion and Mercy Road Church in Carmel
- Billericay Park and Fishers City Hall in Fishers
- Westfield City Hall and Westfield Public Safety Building in Westfield
With all the preparations for this election cycle, the health of our voters and staff is directly in the forefront of all our planning. The Secretary of State is procuring safety supplies for all poll workers statewide. Masks, gloves, cleaning supplies will be used at the early voting and Election Day locations for poll workers. We are finalizing and will announce later some other procedures we will be using for in-person voting.
If you are not registered to vote, midnight on May 4 is the deadline to register for the June 2 Primary Election. You can register online if you have an Indiana driver’s license.
For more information you can go to hamiltoncounty.in.gov or contact the Election Office at (317) 776-8476. Also, emails can be sent to elections@hamiltoncounty.in.gov.