Voters set to choose Indianapolis mayor
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – Early Tuesday morning, workers were getting polling places ready for voters.
Tuesday, voters all across Indiana will choose leaders in their communities. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and will close at 6 p.m.
Voters in Indianapolis will decide between Democrat Joe Hogsett and Republican Chuck Brewer for Indianapolis mayor. Both men are making last minute efforts to get their names out there.
“People generally don’t think about elections until they roll right up on it and they don’t decide who they’re going to vote for until generally about a week out and that’s why it’s so important to just overload voters with message after message after message,” said Republican candidate Chuck Brewer.
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“We just want to make sure that people know there is an election this year, it’s important and sort of that person to person contact we find is often all it takes to really get somebody engaged in knowing that their vote matters and hopefully we’ll see the results of that on Tuesday,” said Hogsett’s campaign manager.
24-Hour News 8 spoke with voters at one polling place downtown, who said this year’s race seemed to be quieter than most.
“The number of candidates on the ballot, I think there are very few people out there advertising. So I think it was monopolized by a couple different folks,” said voter Andrew Strawridge.
Early voting was down about 30 percent this year, but Democrats made up a bigger percentage of the early vote than they did in the last mayoral election. Some voters said they hope people in Indianapolis show up to vote on election day, despite the early voter turnout.
“I think it’s your civic duty. You’re electing people who are going to represent you,” said voter Billy Brooks.
Hogsett and Brewer were each expected to vote shortly after the polls opened, and then visit voters at polling places all around the city. Then, they’ll each gather with supporters to watch the results Tuesday night.
Shortly after polls opened Tuesday morning, 24-Hour News 8 received calls from voters reporting issues. One voter at the Willow Glen Apartments in Beech Grove said machines were not plugged in and people were using paper ballots. A Marion County Election Board spokesman said they were aware of the issue. He said if voters encounter this at polling places, officials will be collecting voters’ ballots and run them through the machines once they’re up and running.
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