WTHR |Voter interest high in Marion County Special Election

Voter interest high in Marion County Special Election

Indianapolis - Marion County polls are open Tuesday for voters to cast ballots on several key issues. (See the questions on the ballot here.)

Turnout was light Tuesday morning.

Marion County Clerk Beth White told Eyewitness News that her office was dealing with the usual Election Day problems, but nothing unusual.

"We had a pastor at a church where he lives - at a parsonage in the church - overslept, so we couldn't get into the location. These are the kinds of things we expect to have happen, but everything has been very smooth. The voting has gone very well today," said White. "We are hoping for a good turnout."

The clerk's office is counting about 8,000 ballots which were cast before Election Day in early voting. The 100 ballots received in the mail Tuesday morning are also being tallied into the final results.

White says she expects the counting to be a quick turnaround, which final results by around 8:30 pm.

5,165 Marion County residents have already cast ballots during early voting and 2,472 absentee ballots have been received.  There are still more than 1,000 absentee ballots out that could be returned by Tuesday.

Three different voting centers were opened over the past two weekends to give people multiple opportunities to vote.

The only county-wide issue is the referendum on Wishard Hospital. The referendum asks taxpayers to secure $600 million in bonds so a new hospital can be built. This issue could be the reason for the increase in early voting.

"I think it signals an interest in this election. It signals that people, the community is engaged in this debate, in this question, and that I believe it's going to signal pretty good turnout on election day," White said.

There are also several school district issues for the City of Beech Grove, Perry Township and Franklin Township.

The polls are open from 6am-6pm Tuesday.

It is now too late to mail in absentee ballots. Those ballots must be received by the clerk's office by Tuesday, no matter what day it was post-marked.