Putnam County on par with Hoosier state primary vote

The numbers and nuances of the 2016 Indiana primary election continue to make news.

For example, statistics released Friday by the state show Hoosier voters turned out at a 38 percent rate for the primary, while Putnam County actually a tick better at 39 percent.

Absentee or early voting is definitely on the rise, new figures show -- although apparently you'd never know it in Putnam County..

And it's now official: Hillary Clinton went 0-for-Clinton in Indiana.

Let's take the last one first as not only did Hillary not win Clinton Township in Putnam County -- losing the vote 44-38 to Bernie Sanders earlier this month -- but she also lost Clinton County (by 59-41 percent) and the city of Clinton in Vermillion County by a 55-45 percent margin (1,309-1074 votes).

Oddly, Clinton has now lost every Clinton County in eight states -- Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York. The latter came by a 74-26 percent margin.

Meanwhile, Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson announced Friday that 38 percent -- or 1,771,753 of Indiana's 4.7 million registered voters -- cast a vote in the May 3 primary. The report was compiled by the Secretary of State's office using voter data gathered in Indiana's 92 counties.

While Putnam County's 39 percent figure was virtually the state average, it emerged as the lowest among the west-central Indiana counties, trailing Hendricks (47 percent), Montgomery and Morgan (43 percent), Clay and Owen (41 percent) and Parke (40 percent).

Figures show 9,538 of Putnam's 24,705 voters went to the polls with 8,660 actually voting on May 3, while 878 opted to cast early ballots.

Early voting continues to rise in popularity, the new figures showed.

In 2008, early voting was at 11 percent for the primary election. It grew to 12 percent in 2012. This year, it climbed to 16 percent.

However, only nine percent of the Putnam County vote came via early or absentee vote, one of the lowest marks in the state.

Conversely, 33 percent of the Montgomery County vote, 30 percent of all Morgan County ballots and 28 percent of the Owen County vote came via absentee or early voting.

Interestingly, Vermillion County, which posted the highest unemployment rate in the state according to recent figures, had Indiana's highest voter turnout at 51 percent.

Candidates and issues continue to drive turnout in elections, Lawson assessed.

Voter turnout in the 2016 primary is comparable to the 2008 primary. In 2008, 40 percent of registered Hoosiers voted in the primary election, while in 2012, just 22 percent of Indiana residents went to the polls in the primary.

"When Hoosiers are excited about candidates, it drives turnout," Secretary Lawson said. "When you compare the turnout numbers for this year and 2008, the last time presidential candidates were in the state, you can see a correlation. When voters are motivated, it gets them to the polls."