It’s been three weeks since the start of early voting, which for St. Joseph County Clerk Rita Glenn and her employees has meant 12+ hour days.
“It’s been challenging, and in the same respect, it’s been rewarding to see our numbers up,” Glenn said.
As of Monday night, based on figures provided by Glenn’s office, the county has seen approximately just under a 70% increase in early voting overall as compared to 2016 — and there’s still another week of early voting before Election Day.
Looking specifically at absentee-by-mail numbers, 22,000 voters in the county have returned ballots so far. That’s compared to just 6,000 in 2016, an increase of almost 267%.
Glenn said she’s still waiting for about 5,000 mail-in ballots to be returned. The U.S. Postal Service recommends getting ballots in the mail at least a week before Election Day, but Glenn recommended returning them in person.
“I don’t want to put any blame on anybody else, but if I was a voter, I would feel safer walking in a ballot,” Glenn said.
For those who still want to mail a ballot, Glenn stressed that the outside envelope must be signed and dated for the ballot to count. All ballots must be received in the County Clerk’s office, either in South Bend or Mishawaka, by noon on Election Day.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo
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