With the start of Election Day voting just over 24 hours away, early voting ended at noon Monday. Likely to no one’s surprise, the numbers show heavy interest in this election.
In South Bend the early voting season’s longest lines were seen Monday morning outside the County-City Building downtown.
With polls showing a dead heat between Republican Donand Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris, Republicans this election made an effort to get voters out earlier, a trend that more Democrats had been adopting in recent elections. To reduce wait times during early voting, St. Joseph County this election offered a third early voting site at the Centre Township library.
The county clerk’s office says the final in-person early vote tally was 48,974 people. That's nearly a fourth of the county's 205,991 registered voters. It’s hard to compare that figure to 2020 because so many people voted early during the pandemic to avoid others on Election Day.
But as the first Tuesday in November, Tuesday is Election Day. If you haven’t voted yet, maybe you’re a traditionalist who feels more patriotic voting on the actual day, or you’re just one who likes to live life on the edge, you’ll be able to vote Tuesday from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Even Election Day voting is a bit easier these days than in the past. In the WVPE listening area, all Indiana counties except LaGrange now have switched to vote centers. That means instead of your polling place depending on the precinct where you live, you can vote at any approved vote center in the county. County clerks list vote center locations on their websites.
