People are already voting in Vanderburgh County — kind of

EVANSVILLE — People are already voting in Vanderburgh County — kind of — in what is expected to be a wild, high-turnout election year.

It's been a month now since county election offices in Indiana could begin receiving applications for absentee ballots for the Nov. 5 general election. As of Friday, 139 applications from Vanderburgh County voters had come in.

"It’s a little trickle right now, but I would assume as we get within a month or so or two of the election, it will start picking up pretty heavily," said Kenneth Grant, first deputy in the Vanderburgh County elections division.

It's a slow build for an election that will be headlined by the presidential contest pitting Republican former President Donald Trump against Democratic President Joe Biden.

Sept. 21, a Saturday, is the state's deadline for elections officials to mail absentee ballots to voters who have applications processed and on file. Grant said his office typically waits until the day before to mail them to allow full processing for any corrections and adjustments.

By then, there should be thousands of them.

• In 2018, an off-year election, 4,765 votes were cast by mail in Vanderburgh County. Roughly 2,000 applications were sent out locally for this year's May 7 party primary elections.

The most recent presidential election was held in 2020 — but 2020 was different.

• The county's total voter roll skyrocketed from 115,553 in 2018 to 131,012 for the 2020 general election, a wild affair marked by a polarizing presidential contest and record numbers of in-person early votes and mail-in absentee ballots due to COVID-19 concerns.

• The end results brushed up against history. Total turnout in 2020 — 78,718 people, 60% of registered voters — missed being the highest in Vanderburgh County in modern times by just a few hundred votes.

No one knows how many Vanderburgh County voters will be eligible for this year's contests. They may register in time to vote anytime through the end of the day October 7.

As of Friday, Vanderburgh County had about 1,000 more registered voters — the county total now stands at 131,977, to be exact — than it did in 2020.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: People are already voting in Vanderburgh County — kind of