2023 election notebook: Early voting for May 2 Bloomington primary light so far

At Thursday’s meeting of the Monroe County election board, county clerk Nicole Browne delivered an update on early in-person voting for the May 2 primary election, which started on Tuesday.

Election operations center with banner that says "Vote here today!" — Early voting at Monroe County election operations at 4th and Walnut Streets. (April 4, 2023)

As of 11:45 a.m. on Thursday (April 6), 134 voters had cast a ballot in person at the election operations center at 3rd and Walnut streets across, Browne said.

Browne also reported that 197 absentee ballots had been requested by mail and sent to voters. Of those 197 ballots, 25 had been returned, Browne said.

Bloomington voters will be electing party nominees for mayor, clerk, and nine city council seats. Ellettsville voters will elect party nominees for clerk/treasurer and town council.

In 2019, about 5,400 people showed up to the polls to cast a ballot in Bloomington’s Democratic Party city primary. Of those, about 2,000 cast their ballot early in person or absentee by mail.

The total number participating in the 2019 Bloomington primaries amounted to just 10 percent of registered voters. Continue reading “2023 election notebook: Early voting for May 2 Bloomington primary light so far” →

Column: Bloomington’s next mayor should routinely field questions in public from residents, press

Bar chart of poll question: Q10 When thinking about your own opportunity to have a meaningful impact on local policy choices in Bloomington, would you say you currently have a lot of opportunities, some opportunities, not many opportunities, or hardly any opportunities? Responses respectively: 7, 38, 26, 17, 12 precent

Bar chart showing John Hamilton approval rating: 27 percent approve compared to 39 percent disapprove.

Bar chart of poll question: Q9 When thinking about the Mayor of Bloomington’s accessibility, how important do you think it is for the Mayor to hold a monthly public news conference, where both members of the public and journalists can ask questions on any topic: very important, somewhat important, not that important, or not important at all? Results respectively: 57, 3, 3, 1, 4 percent.

Should the mayor of Bloomington hold a monthly news conference, where any resident or member of the press can ask a question on any topic?

Incumbent mayor John Hamilton does not appear to think it’s very important to make himself available like that.

No such news conference has been held in the last three and a half years, which is the time The B Square has been in publication.

Hamilton is not seeking reelection. But I hope the next mayor of Bloomington thinks it’s important to hold a regular public event where anyone can ask a question.

Most Bloomington voters seem to think so, too. Continue reading “Column: Bloomington’s next mayor should routinely field questions in public from residents, press” →

Poll: Wide-open race for Bloomington mayor with a month to go until early voting starts

With just a month to go before early voting starts for the May 2 Democratic Party primary, a poll conducted from Wednesday through Friday of this week shows that any of the three candidates could easily wind up being the Democratic Party’s nominee.

No Republican candidate is running for mayor.

Among the survey respondents who chose one of the three candidates, here’s how they sorted out: Kerry Thomson (18 percent); Sandberg (15 percent); and Griffin (9 percent).

The margin of error of the poll was +/- 4 percent.

But well over half (58 percent) of those who completed the survey said they’re still not sure who they’ll vote for.

The large percentage of undecided voters, together with the small pointwise differences between candidates, indicates that, right now at least, any of the three candidates could prevail in the Democratic Party’s primary election.

The poll results summarize the completed survey responses from 594 people, who were drawn from a list of registered voters in the city of Bloomington, and who indicated that they plan to vote in the Democratic Party’s primary election. The poll used a text-to-web methodology

The poll was conducted for The B Square by Public Policy Polling, a company based in North Carolina. Continue reading “Poll: Wide-open race for Bloomington mayor with a month to go until early voting starts” →