INDIANAPOLIS (MIRROR INDY) — If you want to avoid election day crowds, like to get things done early or will be working while the Indiana primary polls are open May 7, voting early is a great way to make sure your voice is heard. Here’s what you need to know:

When can I vote early?

Early voting starts April 9 at the City-County Building downtown and ends May 6. From April 27-May 5, you can vote early at eight other locations throughout Indianapolis.

[Still need to register to vote? We explain everything you need to know.]

Where can I vote early? 

Registered voters in Marion County can head to the polls at any of the nine vote center locations — you don’t have to stick to your precinct. There are vote centers in each township, so you can vote wherever is easiest: close to your home, work or school. See list at the bottom of this story for hours and locations. 

When I show up to vote early, what will it be like?

To vote in the primary, you’ll have to select a political party — unless you live in Pike Township, where you’ll be voting on a property tax referendum for school funding. 

At the vote center, you’ll check in with a poll worker, who will print a barcode (for tracking purposes) onto a blank ballot for you. You’ll take that ballot, mark it up and then feed it into one of the machines on-site. There, you’ll select your party and choose your candidates. You’ll print the ballot with those choices out and check to make sure it’s right. 

When you arrive at the vote center, you’ll also receive a security envelope to put your ballot in. That envelope has a label that includes your name, date of birth, precinct of residence and address, all to keep track of each ballot.

Once you’ve reviewed your completed ballot, you’ll head to a table staffed by two bipartisan clerks — a Democratic poll worker and a Republican poll worker. You will fold your ballot so no one can see your choices, place it inside the envelope and seal it. 

Three signatures are required on the envelope: yours, the Democratic clerk’s and the Republican clerk’s. The envelope will go into a ballot box until voting closes for the day.   

What happens to my ballot? 

At the end of each day, the Marion County Election Board’s staff will take the ballot boxes to the board’s service center on East Washington Street. There, they put the envelopes in a large “cage” – it looks like a room made of chain-link fence and it’s filled with rows of stacked bins full of envelopes sorted by precinct. Ballots stay inside the cage, which is locked each night and has surveillance cameras on it, until Election Day. 

There are strict rules for how the cage is opened. The key for the cage is in a safe. To open the safe, there are two keys: one for the Democratic party and one for the Republican party. Since Marion County is a Democratic county, that party’s key stays at the service center. Someone from the Republican party brings the second key. Members of both parties have to turn the keys at the same time to open the safe. Then, a staff member from the Election Board can take the key to the cage out of the safe and open it.

On Election Day, staff members take the ballots out of the cage and run them through a tabulator – a machine that scans ballots and counts votes. 

Where to vote early: List of locations and hours 

Downtown Indianapolis (Center Township) | City-County Building, 200 E. Washington St.

Hours: 

• Weekdays, April 9-26 and April 29-May 3: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Weekends, April 27-May 5: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
• Monday, May 6: 8 a.m. to noon

Decatur Township | Decatur Township Government Center, 5410 S. High School Road

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Franklin Township | Franklin Township Government Center, 6231 S. Arlington Ave.

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Lawrence Township | MSD Lawrence Education & Community Center, 6501 Sunnyside Road

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Perry Township | Perry Township Government Center, 4925 Shelby St.

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. April 27-May 5

Pike Township | International Marketplace Coalition, 4233 Lafayette Road, Suite A

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Warren Township | Warren Township Government Center, 501 N. Post Road

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Washington Township | St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St.

• Hours: 11 a.m.-6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Wayne Township | Thatcher Park Community Center, 4649 W. Vermont St.

• Hours: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily April 27-May 5

Mirror Indy reporter Sophie Young covers services and resources. Contact her at sophie.young@mirrorindy.org.