Lucas Oil Stadium opens as early-voting center
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The south concourse of Lucas Oil Stadium is lined with voting machines.
The Marion County Election Board voted Friday morning to open the largest building in the city to voters, starting this weekend.
“The fact that we have roughly double the voting equipment in this location — we estimate that can have roughly double the turnout at this location, so we anticipate having between 450 and 500 voters per hour at this location,” said Russell Hollis of the Marion County Clerk’s Office.
On Friday morning, the line to get inside the City-County Building to vote was right at three hours.
Terri Edwards, of Indianapolis, was bundled up for the weather. She told News 8 she has to work this weekend and Friday was the only available time for her to vote.
“I figured the lines would be a lot longer on the weekend. A lot of people are off, so …” said Edwards.
The Marion County Election board has never seen this type of turnout. The wait in line to vote at Krannert Park Community Center, the only west-side early-voting center, was close to two hours.
The parking lots were packed, and overflow parking was a muddy field. Even with the line outside, there isn’t much social distancing,
Jeffery Burgess, of Indianapolis, believes the election board should have acted earlier and opened more locations.
“Yeah they should have, they could have,” said Burgess.
The election board voted months ago to have five early voting satellite centers open to accommodate those leery of standing in line during a pandemic.
If you are looking for a place with the shortest line, the City-County Building has had wait times running close to two hours or less, and the Marion County Clerk’s Office has expanded the hours there to meet demand, keeping the office open until 9 p.m. through the weekend.
Satellite voting centers:
- On the south side at the Perry Township Government Center at 4925 Shelby St..
- On the west side at the Krannert Park Community Center at 605 S. High School Road.
- On the north side at St Luke’s United Methodist Church at 100 W. 86th St.
- Two on the east side at the Lawrence Township Schools’ administration building at 6501 Sunnyside Road and at the Warren Township Government Center at 501 N. Post Road.