Elkhart County Clerk Christopher Anderson said that, like so many things in the year 2020, the county’s early voter turnout has been unprecedented.
“Two thousand twenty is a complete and utter anomaly when it comes to making any type of comparisons,” he said.
As of 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 28, over 23,500 people had voted early in-person in Elkhart County. Anderson said that represents almost 19 percent of the county’s registered voters.
“Our previous high in any election was 13,000 or 14,000," he said. "So, we’re seeing almost double the in-person turnout.”
And that’s not counting absentee mail-in votes — Anderson said his staff is still working through four or five tubs of mail, but so far, he’s seen between 8,000 and 9,000 ballots returned by mail.
For comparison, based on figures Anderson provided, just under 4,000 mail-in ballots were counted in the 2016 election. That’s over a 110 percent increase, and there’s still just under a week of early voting left to go.
At this point, Anderson says mail-in ballots should be returned in person.
“Do not put it in the mail at this point in time. Bring it to the courthouse in Goshen," he said. "We have a dropbox just inside the main doors with the security officers.”
All absentee ballots must be received by noon on Election Day, Nov. 3.
Contact Gemma atgdicarlo@wvpe.orgor follow her on Twitter at@gemma_dicarlo
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