The Brown County Democrat requested credentials for 13 people to act as media watchers for the 2020 election today (Nov. 3). Most will be our runners tonight, gathering election results as they are printed from the ballot-scanning machines and driving them back to the newspaper office so we can report totals as they come in.
A few of us — mostly, the journalists who work in the newsroom — are also gathering information today as voting is taking place. We have rules to follow about who we can talk to and when when we are acting as watchers, though, so, voters, we could use your help in reporting what you’re experiencing as you vote. Email [email protected] or call us at 812-988-2221.
We’ll be posting running vote totals on bcdemocrat.com and on our Facebook page tonight sometime after polls close at 6 p.m.
— Sara Clifford, editor
11:30 a.m.
In-person voting has been going smoothly today in Brown County according to voters’ comments submitted on our Facebook page. With record numbers of people voting early, there aren’t as many left to stand in line.
As of a little before 11:30, 1,903 people had voted in person today at Brown County’s 12 polling locations, said Amy Kelso, Democrat member of the Brown County Election Board.
“I think, given everything we’ve been dealing with … things are going well,” she said, mentioning concerns like COVID and not having enough people to work polls, which hasn’t been as much of a problem. “Anything that has come up has been addressed and dealt with.”
Brown County polls are open until 6 p.m. After that time, poll workers close down the voting process at their location, print uncertified vote totals, and give those to the watchers who’ve been waiting for them, such as media representatives and runners from the Republican and Democrat parties.
Each voting location’s vote totals are stored on a thumb drive. After polls close, poll workers return that equipment to the election board office at the lower level of Veterans Hall at Deer Run Park so that vote totals can be transferred to a computer and reports can be run.
That office at Deer Run Park is probably the busiest vote location today. Shortly before 11 a.m., four teams of two people each were opening all the ballots that were cast early.
Early votes in Brown County, including walk-ins and mail-ins, totaled 5,745, said absentee voting worker Julie Cauble. That’s close to half of registered voters here.
Absentee voting workers could not open the envelopes to retrieve any actual ballots until today. They started shortly after 6 a.m., and by 11, they still hadn’t touched the mailed votes yet. They were still working their way through the stacks and stacks of in-person absentee votes that had been building for weeks.
Mark Williams, the Republican member of the election board, was one of two people feeding ballots into the ballot scanner in a back office. This is the machine that reads the votes. He and Troy Buchanan, a technician from the voting machine company, said they might not get absentee results early in the evening, as it’s taking quite a while to physically get through all the ballots.
A media watcher will pick up the absentee report as soon as it’s ready tonight; those totals will be significant for every race.
2 p.m.
“Quiet” has been pretty much the theme of the day today at Brown County polls.
Two precincts are voting at Jackson Township fire station in Helmsburg — Jackson 3 and Jackson 4 — and the most people they’d seen in line at one time at Jackson 4 was about six or seven when the poll opened.
Right before 1:30 p.m. Jackson 3 reported 126 voters had come through and Jackson 4 had 132.
Jackson 3 inspector Pearletta Banks said that the day had been going great. “Things have been moving along perfectly. We’ve had no issues with any of our machines,” she said.
Banks said voters had been coming in at a steady pace.
“We’ve not really had any lines so to speak of. I think the most we’ve ever had, if you want to call it a line, was probably four people,” she said.
In speaking with other Jackson 3 poll workers, Banks said that this election’s turnout with a steady flow of voters has been similar to other years.
Jackson 3 Judge Karen Schroeder said that the last presidential election was busier, but that there were not nearly as many early voters as there has been this time around.
Over at Jackson 4, Inspector Kenny Holsclaw said that the day had been “perfect” so far.
“I have a good team. They help me out when I get in a bind,” he said.
Holsclaw said that he expected more voters to show up as they came home from work. “We still have 4 1/2 hours,” he said.
Neither precinct reported any trouble with voting equipment.
Mariah Allender and her son, Trever, showed up to cast their vote at Jackson 3. Trever just turned 18 and it was his first time voting.
“It was a little nervewracking, but other than that it was fine,” he said.
Mariah said the two were able to go straight in to vote without any issues.
She said she waited to cast her vote on Election Day because “that’s the main day to vote” and she was able to get off work early to do so.
In the primary, Mariah said she had to wait in line to vote at one of the schools, but this time was fairly easy. “Plus, it’s closer to home,” she said.
Not long after the Allenders left, Barbara Perkins and her 18-year-old daughter, Samy, exited the Jackson 3 precinct.
“It was good and easy. Except for they didn’t offer us any hand sanitizer. I didn’t like that. But I have some in my car,” Barbara said.
“We weren’t in there very long. We knew who we were voting for.”
Barbara and Sammy came out to cast their votes to re-elect President Donald Trump.
“We both wanted Trump because we’re pro-life. It’s very important. We have Christian values, so that was the biggest thing, I think,” Barbara said.
This was Samy’s first time voting, too.
She said it was easier than she expected it to be.
“It was a little nervewracking,” she said.
Barbara said she was excited to bring her daughter out to vote for her first time, which is why she wanted to wait for Election Day instead of voting early.
“I think I’m more excited than her because we’re doing it together. My son didn’t want me to go with him when he turned 18 and could vote, which makes me sad. But with her she wanted to, and it’s like, ‘Yes!’” Barbara said.
3:30 p.m.
Only 200 of the 1,400 voters in the Hamblen 1 precinct had turned out to Sprunica Baptist Church to cast their vote today as of 3:20 p.m. Seven hundred more had already voted early absentee, according to poll worker Sharlene Jones-Walls.
One poll-worker, soon-to-be 19-year-old Jordyn Hayes, cast her ballot early this year as a first-time voter. She wasn’t confused by the process, she said, having worked the primary election in the spring as well.
“I was excited to vote in the presidential, because I know exactly what I’m wanting (in a candidate),” she said.
Hamblen voters lined up this morning as early as 5:40 a.m., and they were excited to be there, Jones-Walls said. They couldn’t enter into the polling place until 6:15 due to some technical difficulties with the machines.
The flow was steady all day, poll worker Michael Snyder said. Snyder recently retired from the Navy and this was his first year working the polls.
“It’s very professional,” he said about the voting procedures. “I’m amazed — it’d be real hard to cheat if you wanted to.”
Voters were in and out quickly throughout the day.
Voter Josh Stanley said it’s the least amount of time he’s had to wait.
When asked why he didn’t choose to early vote, he said that his schedule couldn’t allow it. Also, “It’s closer to me today.”
“I vote every election,” he said when asked if there were any particular issues or candidates that brought him out this year.
“I’m concerned about who wins,” voter Linsey Stone said.
4:30 p.m.
As 4 p.m. rolled around, poll workers outnumbered voters about 10 to 1 in the combined Washington 2/Washington 4 polling place at Parkview Church of the Nazarene.
Mike Magner, inspector for Washington 2, said they’d had a line of about 40 people for both polls when they opened this morning, they had a bit of a rush at lunchtime, and they were expecting one closer to 6, but otherwise, there wasn’t really a lot of waiting.
Maddison Miller, working at Washington 4, said they’d gone through only about half of the 300 paper ballots they’d been given as as 4 p.m.
Magner said one unusual thing he noticed today was very few people outside stumping for their candidates. Noah Cochran was the only one standing outside Parkview Church of the Nazarene. He had just finished with his school day and was outside wearing a red Amy Oliver for School Board shirt.
Cochran offered a theory for why so few candidates or supporters were at the polls this year: They knew that many people had already voted early.
Asked if he thought that efforts such as this help, he said it’s similar to campaign signs: It shows this candidate has support. And, if a voter has any questions, he could help answer them, he said.
Abram Carman was one of the few voters at Washington 4 around 4:30 p.m. He’d gotten off work early because his employer had given people an hour to vote, but he wasn’t inside for more than 10 minutes.
Carman said he’d probably only missed one election since he’s been eligible to vote, and he thought it was important to show up this time because “My candidate isn’t in there now, and I wanted my voice to count.”
6 p.m.
Shari Frank of the League of Women Voters helped gather some scenes from voting in Van Buren Township today.
Jessica Pittman, a lifetime Brown County resident, voted with her second-grade daughter, Angela McQueen. Voting went well, she said. It only took a few minutes. Angela said she plans to be a voter when she grows up.
Rowena Teague was very excited to vote for the first time. She got citizenship last year and said it feels great to be able to vote. Originally from the Phillippines, she’s been in Brown County for 15 years. She voted with her husband (who says he’s shy so he didn’t want to be in the picture). She has worked as a CNA with Brown County Health and Living for more than seven years and their fourth-grade son attends Van Buren elementary school.
Abby Miller was the last voter of the day at Van Buren. She was very nervous about arriving on time and got in the door about 5:56 p.m. She works in Seymour, and had made plans to leave on time, but then had to pick up her husband (who already voted) so she got a little nervous about the time. She said this is a monumental year and every vote counts, and she feels her vote matters. Miller said she and her family had been texting all day, each sharing pictures of their vote. All the poll workers applauded and Miller put her arms up for victory when her ballot went through the scanner and the green light said it was accepted. Most voters accepted gleefully their “I VOTED” sticker, and Miller definitely wanted hers for proof to send the picture to her family.
7:30 p.m.
All the media watchers for the Brown County Democrat are back in the office with election day vote totals. You can see those here (county level) and here (state and federal levels).
However, absentee ballot counting is still going on in the election office at Deer Run Park. “We’ll be lucky to get out of here by midnight” is what BCD employee Larry Hanson is hearing over there.
Usually, the count is done well before this point in the night, but absentee voting far outpaced anything this county had seen before. Nearly half of all Brown County-registered voters chose some form of absentee voting, whether in-person early or by mail.
That large chunk of votes — 5,745, plus any that arrived before noon today — could be a determining factor in many races.
9 p.m.
An estimated 900 absentee ballots remain to be counted at Deer Run Park. The remaining poll workers there have just taken their dinner break and will resume work soon.
11:15 p.m.
We finally have totals.
Brown County is remaining a red county, with no Democrat winning any office except for one, David Harden, who was unopposed for surveyor.
Two nonpartisan candidates also were elected, as school board at-large members: Stephanie Porter Kritzer (incumbent) and newcomer Amy Huffman Oliver.
The total number of absentee votes cast in Brown County ended up being even higher than the count taken early this morning: 5,837. That’s a little over 46 percent of all registered voters here.
In total, turnout was 71.23 percent in Brown County — far above any turnout total we’ve seen in more than a decade.
All vote totals are considered to be unofficial until the election board meets next week to review provisional ballots (offered to voters when there’s some question of their eligibility to vote at the precinct where they appeared). There are around 75 of those, Brown County Clerk Kathy Smith said.
11 a.m. Wednesday
See a precinct-by-precinct chart of Brown County election results below.
[embeddoc url=”http://www.bcdemocrat.com/wp-content/files/sites/3/2020/11/General-election-tab-sheets-2020.pdf” download=”all”]
