Early voting at Election Central in Bloomington’s municipal elections ended Monday at noon.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 5. Polls are open for twelve hours, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Based on early voting totals, the lack of competition in citywide races and four of the six council districts looks like it could be having the kind of negative impact on turnout that was predicted, especially in District 3.
Compared to 2015’s numerical count of early vote totals, District 2 is down this year by 14 percent. District 3 is down 58 percent.
Elections are being held in just District 2 and District 3 this year, because those are the only places where any races are contested. The citywide offices—mayor, clerk, and city council at-large seats—are all contested. City council races in the other four districts are also uncontested.
In District 2 and District 3, only the contested races appear on the ballot.
In 2015, the last time municipal elections were held in Bloomington, 202 early votes were cast in the District 2 city council race, out of 551 total votes. That year, Dorothy Granger’s District 2 city council race was uncontested.
This year, District 2 had 174 early voters. That’s 14 percent fewer early voters than in 2015.
In 2015 District 3 voters cast 440 early votes in the District 3 city council race, out of 1,539 total votes. Allison Chopra won that race against Nelson Shaffer.
This year, District 3 had 183 early voters. That’s about 58 percent fewer than in 2015.
Candidates are:
District 2
District 3