More than 1.5 million Hoosiers have already voted with two days left until Election Day, according to the Washington Post. This number is about 53% of the total amount of votes cast and more than two times the total amount of early votes in Indiana for the 2016 general election.
As of Sunday, 37,502 absentee ballots have been submitted in Monroe County, according to the Indiana secretary of state's office. In 2016, Monroe County residents turned in a total of 31,768 absentee ballots. Absentee voting by mail increased by more than 11,000 submissions from 2016 to 2020 and in-person absentee voting decreased by about 6,000.
These numbers reflect a nationwide pattern of increased voter registration and early voter turnout. By Oct. 22, more people had cast votes before this election than the total amount of votes cast before Election Day in 2016, according to the Washington Post.
About 97.1 million people have already voted in the 2020 general election, according to the Washington Post.
More than 1 million Hoosiers requested early ballots this year, according to the Indiana Secretary of State’s office, which oversees state election policy. While Indiana is one of nine states that requires a reason for an absentee ballot this year, this is an increase from the 2016 general election when a total of 977,239 ballots were submitted in person and by mail during the entire period of absentee voting, according to the Associated Press.
A survey conducted by Survey USA in which 685 Hoosiers were asked “In the election for the President of the United States, how will you cast your ballot this year?” found 23% of respondents said they would cast their ballot by mail, 29% said they would vote early and 42% said they would vote on Election Day. These results mean more than 50% of Hoosiers plan to vote before Election Day. Less than 16% of absentee ballots were cast by mail in 2016, according to an article by Indianapolis Business Journal.
President Donald Trump is leading by about 10 points in Indiana as of Friday, according to data collected by FiveThirtyEight.
The last day for Monroe County residents to vote early in person is Monday from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. at Election Central.
This story was updated at 1:30 p.m. Monday to include Monroe County numbers.
