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I've kind of been dreading going because the lines have been pretty long by all accounts, but I got there shortly after it opened and was home in an hour, maybe a little over, so not bad at all. (A good 40 minutes of that was driving time.)
Indiana doesn't make it easy to vote absentee or vote early. It's one of the handful of states left that demands a specific reason - you have to choose from a limited number of reasons when applying - for voting by mail and concern about exposure to COVID-19 isn't considered a valid reason. Also, they apparently are very strict about signature comparisons - if your signature on your mail-in ballot doesn't exactly match the signature on your voter registration card, they can - and do - invalidate your ballot. From what I've read, they won't necessarily notify you of that, either. I registered to vote over 10 years ago - I don't imagine my signature today is identical. Irish registered online, not by mail, and didn't sign a card. I don't even know what they'd compare his signature to.
Early voting began on October 6. In my county there's one place that people can vote early on weekdays, which is the Clerk's office in the county seat (20 minutes from me and I'm closer than a lot of other people in the county), and that's only 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. On October 24 and 31 (Saturdays), there will be three places people can vote early, in the three larger towns*, and they're open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. There'll be plenty more polling places open on election day and they'll be open 6-6 but I don't even want to think about the lines.
I don't think the various levels of Indiana government are all that interested in getting people out to vote. I think if they were, they'd make it easier for people - more access to mail-in voting, more early polling places - more polling places in general - and longer hours on early voting days. Still, we're better off than places like Texas with its one early voting ballot box per county no matter how big the county is (I've lived in Texas and have to say that doesn't surprise me at all) or California, where the Republican party installed unauthorize drop-off ballot boxes disguised as official ones and refuses to comply with a cease and desist order to remove them. I still don't understand how people weren't arrested for that one.
*"Large" is a relative term: they county seat has a population of just under 10,000; my town is just under 5,000; and the other town with Saturday voting is just under 2,000. We're a fairly rural county. (But we're just 20 minutes from the 4th largest city in Indiana.)
Indiana doesn't make it easy to vote absentee or vote early. It's one of the handful of states left that demands a specific reason - you have to choose from a limited number of reasons when applying - for voting by mail and concern about exposure to COVID-19 isn't considered a valid reason. Also, they apparently are very strict about signature comparisons - if your signature on your mail-in ballot doesn't exactly match the signature on your voter registration card, they can - and do - invalidate your ballot. From what I've read, they won't necessarily notify you of that, either. I registered to vote over 10 years ago - I don't imagine my signature today is identical. Irish registered online, not by mail, and didn't sign a card. I don't even know what they'd compare his signature to.
Early voting began on October 6. In my county there's one place that people can vote early on weekdays, which is the Clerk's office in the county seat (20 minutes from me and I'm closer than a lot of other people in the county), and that's only 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. On October 24 and 31 (Saturdays), there will be three places people can vote early, in the three larger towns*, and they're open 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. There'll be plenty more polling places open on election day and they'll be open 6-6 but I don't even want to think about the lines.
I don't think the various levels of Indiana government are all that interested in getting people out to vote. I think if they were, they'd make it easier for people - more access to mail-in voting, more early polling places - more polling places in general - and longer hours on early voting days. Still, we're better off than places like Texas with its one early voting ballot box per county no matter how big the county is (I've lived in Texas and have to say that doesn't surprise me at all) or California, where the Republican party installed unauthorize drop-off ballot boxes disguised as official ones and refuses to comply with a cease and desist order to remove them. I still don't understand how people weren't arrested for that one.
*"Large" is a relative term: they county seat has a population of just under 10,000; my town is just under 5,000; and the other town with Saturday voting is just under 2,000. We're a fairly rural county. (But we're just 20 minutes from the 4th largest city in Indiana.)
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