What to know about central Indiana’s primary elections

Indiana voters on Tuesday will decide the Republican nominees for governor and several crowded congressional fields. Here is information voters should know about central Indiana races.

When, where and how to vote

The polls are open Tuesday from 6 a.m. until 6 p.m. local time. To check your voter registration, you can enter your information on indianavoters.in.gov.

Indianapolis voters can vote at any of nearly 200 vote centers. Most other central Indiana counties use a similar model, but Hamilton County residents are required to go to a polling place assigned by precinct. That information is available at indianavoters.in.gov or the Hamilton County website.

Under Indiana law, voters are required to have a valid ID that must match their registration. This can be in the form of a driver’s license, Indiana photo ID card, military ID or U.S. passport. Student IDs are accepted only if they are from public universities and include a name, photo and expiration date.

Because Indiana has open primaries, voters will also have to choose either a Republican or a Democrat ballot and vote for candidates only within that party. Nominees from each party will face off in the November election.

What’s at stake

Although the ballot will include picks for U.S. president, Indiana’s primary is too late to have an impact on Republican and Democratic nominees. The primary fields have narrowed to President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump, according to the Associated Press.

At the state level, Republicans will have a wide selection in choosing the GOP nominee for governor. The candidates are U.S. Sen. Mike Braun, Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch, former Indiana Secretary of Commerce Brad Chambers, former Fort Wayne businessman Eric Doden, former Indiana attorney general Curtis Hill and conservative activist Jamie Reitenour.

Whoever is selected in the Republican primary will face uncontested Democrat Jennifer McCormick in November to decide who should succeed term-limited Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb. McCormick is the state’s former superintendent of public instruction.

In central Indiana, two crowded GOP races for Congress will also be decided Tuesday.

In the 6th Congressional District, Republican voters will select a successor for U.S. Rep. Greg Pence, who announced early this year that he would not seek reelection. The field of seven candidates includes State Rep. Mike Speedy and former Indianapolis mayoral candidate Jefferson Shreve. The winner of the GOP primary will face Columbus Democrat Cinde Wirth in November.

Speedy’s former Statehouse seat is now the site of a four-way Republican primary.

In the 5th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Victoria Spartz is facing State Rep. Chuck Goodrich and seven others candidates in her run for reelection after initially announcing she would not seek a third term in Congress. Democrats will choose between Ryan Pfenninger and Deborah Pickett.

Hamilton County residents will also cast votes in several GOP primaries for open Indiana Statehouse seats.

Hamilton, Marion counties see elevated turnout

Both Marion County and Hamilton County are seeing increases in early in-person voting when compared with 2022—with Hamilton having a much larger increase.

There, election officials reported 11,248 early votes, which is 7,000 more than 2022 early in-person totals. Hamilton County Election Administrator Bethany Sheller said that’s a 5.5% turnout rate so far, which is already nearly half of the 12% turnout seen in the 2022 primary.

In Marion County, nearly 11,934 votes were cast prior to the close of early voting at noon Monday, while 11,176 were cast during the same period in 2022.

There are currently 635,478 registered voters in Marion County, according to Marion County Election Board Deputy Director Brent Stinson, so voter turnout so far is just below 2%. Through Monday at noon, 4,367 mail-in votes were received.