By Shari Frank
For The Brown County Democrat
Jeff and Laurie Tatham made it inside the early voting poll just before the polls closed at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 8, the first day of early in-person voting at Eagle Park.
Jeff was really pleased with the process and remarked: “Indiana has a safe and beautiful voting system.”
I asked Jeff to explain what he meant when he said the voting process made him feel it’s safe. “First of all”, he chuckled, “the poll workers know us. … But regardless, they check voter ID and double check with the voter rolls to make sure they have the right address. You feel secure and like your vote counts.”
“We hope other states are just as secure as Indiana. And we just want to say to everyone: Get out and vote!” Laurie said “Yes!”, smiling and nodding enthusiastically.
When asked what got them to come out to vote on the first day of early voting, Laurie said: “We always do. … We want to get it done when we have the time available. You never know what’s going to come up later that might prevent you from voting, so we do it when we can.”
All day, the voting pace was steady from before polls opened at 9 a.m. to closing at 4 p.m. Lines formed, but wait times were typically short at only five to 10 minutes, with the longest wait observed still less than 15 minutes, and that was just when poll workers had to pause briefly to change a paper roll in the electronic poll book.
Poll workers were friendly and efficient and focused on every important detail all day long.
First thing, each voter, when they get to the front, provides ID, typically just a driver’s license. When their name is located in the poll book, the voter signs in on the poll book screen. Then a clerk pulls the ballot for the precinct where they live, such as Washington 2, or Jackson 4. On Election Day, a voter has to go vote in their own precinct, one of 11 in Brown County. But during early voting, ballots for all the precincts are available at the Eagle Creek voting site.
Each ballot must be initialed by both clerks on the back of the ballot. The poll clerks were diligent to make sure every ballot received both sets of initials before handing it to a voter.
Voters should also check their ballot to make sure both initials are present. If one or both sets of initials is missing, a voter should return the ballot to the check in clerk for correction. After votes are tallied, if a race is really close, a recount could be demanded to verify the winner. In a recount, every ballot is inspected. A missing clerk’s initial could invalidate the ballot and it will not be counted in the recount. This did happen in the 2022 Indiana State District 62 election recount and some ballots missing a clerk’s initials were rejected. This changed vote totals, but not the outcome of the race.
When the voter receives their precinct ballot, they also get an envelope — a privacy envelope, because how someone votes is private! The clerk explains how to fold the ballot to fit in the envelope after voting and instructs the voter to go into a separate room, vote for each candidate they want by filling in the oval next to each selection. Then, the voter puts the ballot in the privacy envelope, signs and dates the envelope. Next, they return it to the election poll worker. The poll worker checks to be sure the voter signature and date are on the envelope. Then they attach the voter identification label to each envelope.
After everything is checked, voter signature is confirmed, the voter inserts their sealed envelope into the ballot box. We don’t know the results of early voting until Election Day.
On Election Day, all envelopes will be checked again, by bipartisan teams. Inspection includes review of the voter identification label from the Electronic Poll book and voter signature. When approved, envelopes are opened and the ballots will be run through the tabulator. It’s a methodical process with lots of checks and balances for security.
Shari Frank is president of the Brown County League of Women Voters and a credentialed media watcher for The Brown County Democrat. Learn more about the Brown County League of Women Voters at lwv.org/local-leagues/lwv-brown-county.
