Election Day: Here’s what happening in Jackson County

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The Tribune has reporters and photographers out and about today, capturing what is going on at polling places throughout the county. Visit our website throughout the day for updates and make sure to check in after 6 p.m. to find out how Jackson County voted.

Share your election day experiences? Long lines? Quick ones? What’s happening? Send us a note by email at [email protected]

Voting today? Click here to find out where to vote and everything else you need to know about casting a ballot.

 

Noon

At least one Hamilton Township voter was so eager to vote Tuesday morning that they tried to open the door to the polling site at 10 minutes to 6.

“We said “nope,” 10 more minutes,” Judge Jodi Mellencamp said later in the morning from the polling site at Hamilton Township Fire Station.

“When they came in, the shoot was full at 6 o’clock,” she said. That was about 50 people, said Mellencamp, who has been a poll worker for more than 20 years. Voting remained steady throughout the morning, and by 11:30 a.m., 397 voters or 31 percent of 1,273 in the precinct had cast ballots.

Mellencamp said that’s the heaviest turnout she could recall over the years.

“Definitely, a unique election here,” she said.

Mellencamp said that a little before 6 p.m., poll workers would make sure anyone just arriving could get inside the building so they could vote because she didn’t want anyone to not have that chance.

“You have to be inside before 6 p.m.,” she said.

Betty McCleary, the judge at Redding West precinct at Peter’s Switch Church of the Nazarene, said turnout was as heavy as she could remember. At 11 a.m., 317 or 33 percent of the precinct’s 1,001 registered voters had cast ballots.

11:28 a.m. The day in photos

Photo gallery: Jackson County votes

10 a.m. Turnout heavy at some polling places

Voter turnout appears to be heavy at some polling sites in Jackson County and others are reporting a steady stream of people coming in to cast their ballots.

Through 9 a.m., turnout at Jackson 2 East and Jackson 2 West and Jackson 6 precincts was 299 voters at The Point Family Center on Seymour’s east side, according to poll worker Matt Nicholson.

Jackson County Clerk Amanda Lowery reported there were about 20 people in line at the Jackson County Courthouse at 6 a.m., when voting began. The courthouse serves voters in Brownstown 1, Brownstown 2 and Brownstown 4 precincts.

“There have been steady lines here with an occasional break, so poll workers can take a quick break,” she said.

Lowery said there was a problem with a voting machine at Peter’s Switch Church of the Nazarene, where Redding West precinct votes.

“The mechanic went up and got it rolling,” she said.

Lowery said she’s heard reports of heavy voter turnout at First Baptist Church in Crothersville, which serves Vernon Crothersville and Vernon South precincts.

Rick Godsey of Seymour said when he went to vote at the American Legion polling site there were 12 people ahead of him.

That was at 10 minutes to six, he said.

Godsey said another 40 or so came after him, but voting only took about 30 minutes.

The biggest issue today has been dealing with first-time voters or those who have not voted in a long time and don’t know where they are supposed to vote, Lowery said, and those who submitted voter registration applications online after the Oct. 11 deadline.

Those people are not eligible to vote until their applications are processed when voter registration opens again on Dec. 1, she said.

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