ELECTION GUIDE: Everything you need to know about this spring’s primary election

March 22, 2022

The new voter precinct map for Brown County was formally approved by the county commissioners during a special meeting last winter. This new precinct map will take effect with this year’s primary and general elections. There is no longer a Washington 4 precinct. Beginning with this year’s election, the four voting precincts in Washington Township will be condensed to three with the current Washington 4 being renamed Washington 3. All in-town Nashville voters will cast their vote at the Washington 2 precinct now. Voters should have received notice from the clerk if their poll location changed and where they will vote this primary.

Primary Election Day in Indiana is Tuesday, May 3. Here is everything you need to know about casting your vote this primary election.

Registration deadline

In order to vote in the May 3 primary, voters must register by Monday, April 4 in one of the following ways:

Text “Indiana” to 28683. You will receive a link to the Indiana Voter Portal.

Check your status

Visit this website: indianavoters.in.gov.

If you do not find your name, this means that your voter registration is not active. Contact the Brown County clerk’s office between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at 812-988-5510. You can also register at indianavoters.gov before 11:59 p.m. April 4.

Call or visit the Brown County clerk’s office at 812-988-5510 or in the courthouse at 20 E. Main St. to register in person, update your address or name or make any other change by the deadline April 4 by 4 p.m. (before the office closes).

Where to vote

Take note: Some polling places have changed since the last election.

Hamblen 1: Sprunica Baptist Church, 3902 Sprunica Road

Hamblen 2: Hickory Ridge Community Center, 2314 Hickory Ridge Lane

Hamblen 3: Church of the Lakes, 8844 Nineveh Road

Jackson 1 and 2: Fruitdale Volunteer Fire Department, 5200 State Road 135 (Bean Blossom)

Jackson 3 and 4: Jackson Township Volunteer Fire Department, 4831 Helmsburg Road

Van Buren: Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department, 4040 State Road 135 South

Washington 1: The Pentecostals, 60 Mt. Liberty Road (corner of Mt. Liberty and State Road 46 East)

Washington 2: New Life Community Church, 1450 State Road 135 North

Washington 3: Parkview Church of the Nazarene, 1750 State Road 46 East (inside the church, not the Family Life Building)

NOTE: There is no longer a Washington 4 precinct. Beginning with this year’s election, the four voting precincts in Washington Township will be condensed to three with the current Washington 4 being renamed Washington 3. All in-town Nashville voters will cast their vote at the Washington 2 precinct now. Voters should have received notice from the clerk if their poll location changed and where they will vote this primary.

Not sure?

To check which precinct you live in and where you should go to vote, visit www.indianavoters.in.gov or call the Brown County clerk’s office at 812-988-5510.

Election day voting

Polling places will be open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. To vote in person on election day, you must visit the polling place for the precinct in which you live to vote.

Absentee & early voting

Anyone who will be out of the area for work on election day, has a disability, is 65 or older, can’t get to the polls, or meets other specific requirements can apply for a mail in ballot. For details, visit vote.org/absentee-ballot/indiana or contact the Brown County clerk’s office.

The deadline for the vote by mail application is April 21 at 11:59 p.m. online at indianavoters.in.gov or at 4 p.m. in the Salmon Room. If you request an application you will need to mail it back or drop it off in person. Postage and envelopes will not be provided. Return the completed application for mail in ballot to the Brown County Clerk’s PO Box 85 Nashville, Indiana 47448 to be received by April 21.

Completed mail-in absentee ballots must be RECEIVED (dropped off in person to the Absentee Voter Board in the Salmon Room at the County Office building before early in-person voting, during early in person voting hours or dropped off on Election Day). Whether mailed or dropped off in person, all completed ballots must be RECEIVED in the Salmon Room by 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3 or they will not count in the election. Ballots can be mailed and the ballot must be received by May 3 regardless of the postmark date.

Questions? The Absentee Voter Board can be reached at 812-988-5757 or by emailing [email protected].

Early voting

The location for in-person absentee voting has changed since the last election. It will now take place in the Salmon Room at the County Office Building, 201 Locust Lane in Nashville.

Starting April 5, any Brown County voter can vote in-person absentee during the following dates and times:

Weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Tuesday, April 7 to Monday, May 2 (closing at noon May 4)

Saturdays between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., April 23 and 30

ID requirements

All in-person, walk-in early voting absentee and election day voters need to present a government-issued photo identification prior to voting.

Photo ID must meet four criteria to be acceptable for voting purposes: https://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voter-information/photo-id-law/

The photo ID must:

Display the voter’s photo

Display the voter’s name, and the name must conform with the voter registration record

Display an expiration date and either be current or have expired sometime after the date of the last General Election (Nov. 3, 2020)

Be issued by the State of Indiana or the U.S. government (including Indiana State schools ID that meet ID requirements)

The traveling board

A bipartisan team will take a ballot to a person in a few circumstances:

the voter expects to be confined, due to illness or injury, or the voter expects to be caring for a confined person at a private residence, on election day; or

the voter has disabilities and believes their polling place is not accessible to them; or

the voter is physically unable to complete the ballot and sign the affidavit on their own.

The absentee voter board can visit people in one of those situations and help them with their ballot.

Voters voting by traveling board are not required to show photo ID.

For more information about absentee voting options, and the deadline to apply, visit in.gov/sos/elections/2402.htm.

Important dates

Saturday, March 19

Deadline for the county absentee voter board to mail absentee ballots to voters who had already applied for them.

Tuesday, March 29

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.: Required public test of voting machines in the Salmon Room at the County Office Building, 201 Locust Lane. The public and poll workers are invited to try the new machines to see how they work.

Monday, April 4

4 p.m.: Deadline to fix a problem with your voter registration or to transfer it to your current address. Type your name, birth date and county at indianavoters.in.gov. If you don’t find yourself on it and you think you should be or if your address is wrong, contact the county clerk’s office at 812-988-5510.

Midnight: Deadline to register to vote. Visit indianavoters.in.gov.

Tuesday, April 5

8 a.m. to 4 p.m.: In-person absentee voting starts in the Salmon Room at the County Office Building, 201 Locust Lane.(Take note, it has moved from its previous location in the Veterans Hall at Deer Run Park.)

Wednesday, April 6