LAKE COUNTY, Ind. (WBBM Newsradio) — Early voting in Indiana starts tomorrow.
Elections analysts said a high level of interest in the presidential race between Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden could lead to record-breaking turnout come election day.
There are 11 early voting locations in Lake County, Indiana. Lake County elections officials said polling places will follow all COVID-19 safety protocols. These precautions include hand sanitizer, social distancing markers on the floor, frequent cleaning of voting machines and hand coverings. Wearing face masks is optional but encouraged.
Michelle Fajman, director of the Lake County Board of Elections and Registration, said the interest in voting by mail smashed the previous record that was established in 2008.
She said her office is processing 50,000 requests to vote by mail.
Fajman added that 11,594 people voted by mail 12 years ago. Biden was on the Democratic ticket that year as Barack Obama's vice presidential candidate. Obama became the first Democrat to win Indiana since Lyndon Johnson in 1964.
Fajman said the vote-by-mail requests doubled the number of requests before the primary election in June.
"Our primary was huge because of COVID also. There we only had a total of 31 thousand. We're right on the edge of that (in terms of ballots mailed out) and we still have 20 some days to go," Fajman said.
She expects a similar level of interest for early voting.
"We only had one week of in-person voting (before the primary). This election will have the full 30 days as well as the extended hours. We're looking to see a huge surge in the early voting numbers also," Fajman said.
