Primary Election Day: Polls are open until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 7 in Monroe County
The polls at Monroe County’s election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets opened Tuesday morning, when election site inspector Maqubè Reese gave the official announcement: “The polls are open!”
Audio: “The polls are open!”
The announcement is not just for fun. It’s a requirement of state election law, which says the announcement about the start of voting must be made “in a loud tone of voice” to “the people outside the polls.”
A technical glitch prevented opening of the polls at 6 a.m. sharp. The code that was supposed to open the scanner for processing ballots did not work, and it took several minutes for that issue to get sorted out.
Even though the announcement from Reese came at 6:15 a.m., there were no voters queued up waiting—the first voter did not arrive until a few minutes after Reese gave the announcement.
The only “people outside the polls” when Reese gave the official opening announcement were The B Square and Monroe County Democratic Party chair David Henry, who is running for one of the three at-large county council seats. He’s competing with Matt Caldie, Trent Deckard, and Cheryl Munson for one of the three nominations from the Democratic Party.
The B Square will try to provide some updates through rest of the day.
6:20 a.m. Monroe County election operations building (aka the old NAPA Auto Parts Store)
Monroe County election supervisor Kylie Moreland is here, and tells The B Square that the other polling sites have reported a successful opening of the polls. They’ve also reported that turnout is very light so far, just like at election operations.
Matt Fyfe arrives as maybe the fourth or fifth voter. He was the Democratic Party’s nominee in the 2022 9th District race for the U.S. House of Representatives. Fyfe re-emerges from the building just a minute after he went inside—it does seem like it was long enough for him to fill out a ballot. And in fact, it was not. He reported that he had arrived at the wrong polling location. He is supposed to vote at Meadowood, a senior living community on the north side of town.
Meadowood was previously a polling site, but dropped out during the pandemic years, and Bloomington 22 precinct, where Fyfe lives, had been assigned to the election operations building. Fyfe said he’d become accustomed to voting at the election operations building.
Voters can check the location where they are supposed to vote at the Indiana Voter Portal.
7:05 a.m. Election Central (aka the old Johnson’s Hardware building)
The members of Monroe County election board are here to monitor the election through the day: Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne; Judith Benckart; and John Fernandez.
The room is set up with a couple of dozen people working in teams at tables equipped with envelope openers and hand sanitizer. This is the crew that is processing mailed-in absentee ballots, as well as the ballots that were cast during the four weeks of in-person early voting.
9 a.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
Here’s the latest update from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne:
As of 9:00 this morning, 1,685 people have cast a ballot since the polls opened. Between Absentee/Election Day voting, we’ve had a 7 percent turnout.
The Monroe County Election Board has been made aware of an issue regarding the location of the polling site for the Bloomington 12 precinct. After looking into the issue, we learned that the published polling location for the Bloomington 12 precinct is accurate. The information on the Monroe County Clerk’s website is accurate and the information published on the State’s website is accurate.
The error appears to be with the map on the GIS website and that website is not maintained by the Monroe County Clerk’s Office. My team was able to successfully remove both maps from the Monroe County Voter Registration page. We’ve replaced the maps with a link for the State’s website which, as mentioned above, is accurate. We appreciate the voter who brought this information to our attention.
9:07 a.m. Bloomington High School South
The folks representing campaigns standing outside this polling location told The B Square that turnout is light. They achieved an easy consensus that the number of voters here so far was less than 100. Inside the polling place, The B Square confirmed with the election inspector that 80 people had voted, with 5 people still filling out their ballots.
There are three people here in support of a candidate in the Democratic Party’s primary.
Here on behalf of Democrat Jody Madeira, who is running for the District 3 county commissioner seat, is Tanner Branham. Madeira is challenging incumbent Penny Githens. Also in the District 3 Democratic Party primary race for District 3 county commission is Steve Volan.
Here on behalf of Democrat David Henry, who is one of four candidates running for three nominations for at-large county council, is Daniel Jenkins. Other candidates for the three Democratic Party nominations are Matt Caldie, Trent Deckard, and Cheryl Munson.
Here on behalf of Democrat Peter Iverson, who is challenging incumbent District 2 county commissioner Julie Thomas, is Josh Montagne.
Mary Van Deventer is here to support her brother-in-law, Republican Joe Van Deventer, who is running for the District 3 county commissioner seat. Also competing for the Republican Party’s nomination in that race is Paul White, Sr.
9:48 a.m. Jackson Creek Middle School
There are zero people here standing outside supporting any candidate, but lots of signs. Inside, the count of voters so far is 90.
10:00 a.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update.
Here’s the latest from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne:
As of 10:00, we’ve had an 8 percent turnout rate between Early Voting and Election Day voting, with 2,565 voters turning out since the polls opened.
Eastview Church of the Nazarene is ahead of the other sites, having 192 voters check in since the polls opened. They are followed by St. John’s Catholic Church reporting 168 voters since the polls opened.
IMU has had 3 voters.
10:14 a.m. Sherwood Oaks Christian Church
So far, 114 people have voted at this location. Thomas Horrocks is the first candidate The B Square has encountered at a polling site. Horrocks is running for the Democratic Party’s nomination for the 9th District seat for the U.S. House of Representatives. He’s here with his kiddos, Madison (8) and Luke (6).
Ryan Still is here in support of Jody Madeira’s candidacy, for the District 3 county commissioner nomination from the Democratic Party.
Mary Van Deventer has relocated here from Jackson Creek Middle School, where The B Square met her earlier. She’s supporting brother-in-law Joe Van Deventer’s District 3 county commissioner campaign for the Republican Party nomination.
Now relocated here from Bloomington High School South, where The B Square met them earlier in the day, are Josh Montagne and Daniel Jenkins. Montagne is supporting Peter Iversen for county commissioner. Jenkins is supporting Democrat David Henry for a county council at-large nomination.
The B Square collects a wave from former Bloomington fire chief Jason Moore, who was here to vote.
11:00 a.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
The latest update from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne puts total voters in the election so far, including Election Day and early voters, at 8,100. She also reports that the word on the street is that a 102-year-old balot has cast a ballot today.
11:02 a.m. Eastview Church
Downpour!! The heavens open up just as The B Square pulls in. This reporter seeks refuge under the overhang above the door that has a sign that reads: “Please use other door.” The entrance for voters is about 50 feet to the end of the building and then maybe another 30 feet to the doorway. The sprint leaves The B Square soggy, but not exactly soaking wet.
The B Square is greeted by poll worker Joe Varga, who is an Indiana University professor of labor. The count so far at this polling site is 248.
One voter who cast a ballot after being drenched, wound up transferring enough dampness to his ballot that the scanner refused to accept it. The procedure for that was to “spoil” the wet ballot and have the voter fill out a dry one.
Here in support of Democrat Penny Githens re-election to the District 3 county commissioner seat is Margaret Clements. She’s holding an umbrella against the heavy downpour.
Paul White, Sr. is here in support of his own candidacy for the Republican Party’s nomination for the District 3 county commissioner seat. He is wearing a bright yellow rain jacket.
Neil Goswami is here is support of Democrat Peter Iversen’s campaign for the District 2 county commissioner nomination.
Democrat Jody Madeira, who is running for the District 3 county commissioner nomination, also has a supporter here with a sign.
11:52 a.m. University Elementary School
There are no supporters for any candidates here in person, but lots of signs. The tally of people who have voted here so far is 200.
12:00 Monroe County clerk’s emailed update.
Here’s the the latest from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne:
As of the noon hour, we’ve had 8,724 check-ins. This reflects the 4,713 voters who took advantage of Absentee/Early Voting and 4,011 people who have voted today.
Eastview Church of the Nazarene is still ahead with 311 voters having checked in today. St. John’s Catholic Church (someone christened them Baptist, in one of the updates, but it is the St. John’s Catholic Church) has had 255 voters today.
IMU has had 8 voters today and Burgoon Baptist Church has had 20 voters as of the noon hour.
12:15 Arlington Elementary School
The B Square discovers that Arlington Elementary School is not a poll site this year at the same time as a couple who show up to vote and say they’ve always voted here. The tip off was the lack of any campaign signs. But the sign taped to the door left no doubt. There’s a number to call: 812-349-2690 to find out where to vote. In this couple’s case, the correct location is Tri-North Middle School.
12:35 p.m. Bloomington High School North
The sun is out and the temperature is 70 F degrees. The tally for this location so far is 119 voters. The B Square invites pollworkers to guess the tally of the votes so far at the Indiana Memorial Union. They guess around 200. That’s way more than the 8 that the county clerk reported in her most recent update.
1 p.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
Here’s the latest from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne:
We’ve come to the point of Election Day voting that I love…when the number of Election Day voters has exceeded the number of Absentee/Early Voting voters
We’re at 10.5 percent turnout…with 4,917 Election Day voters and 4,713 Absentee/Early Voting voters.
1:15 p.m Election operations building at 3rd and Walnut streets
There’s more activity nwo than at the start of the day. Former Bloomington city councilmember Jeff Richardson is here supporting Peter Iversen and Jody Madeira in their respective races for county commissioner.
Iversen and Madeira are also here in person working the driveway entrance. They’re working together on their campaigns. To highlight their collaboration, they swap signs for the B Square’s photo. They told The B Square that the spots that are being displayed on the digital billboard at Kinser Pike and the SR 45/46 were purchased by each individual campaign.
Iversen said the cost was $1,800 for two weeks of display in the rotation on the digital billboard, running 24/7. Iversen and Madeira joined forces on a mailing—as have incumbent commissioners Julie Thomas and Penny Githens.
Here at the election operations building supporting both Thomas and Githens is Sarah Ryterband, who serves on the Monroe County board of health, the city of Bloomington’s traffic commission, and the policy committee of the Bloomington-Monroe County Metropolitan Planning Organization. Ryterband said, she’d been there since 7 a.m. and mostly the stream of voters had been steady.
2 p.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
The latest word from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne is that 5,726 have cast a ballot today. According to the clerk that works out to 11.4 percent of registered voters who have have cast a ballot.
3 p.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
The latest word from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne is: 11,444 total voters with 6,731 voters casting a ballot today. That works out to 12.5 percent turnout.
4 p.m. Monroe County clerk’s emailed update
The latest word from Monroe County clerk Nicole Browne is:12,284 total voters with 7,571 casting a ballot today.
4:25 p.m. Fairview Elementary School
With an hour and a half left in the voting day, 128 people have cast a ballot here.
The animal in the photo is not eligible to vote, because it does not meet the minimum age requirement of 18 years, and the state Indiana does not recognize ages calculated in dog years. The woman in the photo is Chaz Mottinger, who is serving as the election inspector for this site today. Mottinger is special projects manager for the city of Bloomington’s economic and sustainable development deparment. The photo was taken during a lull in voter activity.
That’s a wrap for updates from the field today. The B Square is heading to Election Central, at Madison and 7th Streets, where ballots from all 29 polling sites will be turned in.
