Report confirms Putnam voter turnout at 51%, same as state

Connie Lawson

INDIANAPOLIS — Secretary of State Connie Lawson Thursday announced that 51 percent -- or 2,308,258 of Indiana’s 4.5 million registered voters -- cast a vote in the Nov. 6 General Election.

The Secretary of State’s Office also certified that the Putnam County voter turnout in the election was officially 51 percent -- with 12,035 voters out of 23,732 registered Putnam voters casting a ballot in the 2018 general election.

That percentage was the best for a midterm election in Putnam County since 1994, when 61.7 percent of voters went to the polls.

The report also notes that 34 percent of the 2018 Putnam County vote was done by absentee/early voting with 4,059 voters choosing that method and 7,976 going to one of the eight voting centers on Election Day.

“This is the highest midterm turnout in over two decades,” noted Secretary Lawson, who represented Putnam County in her five-term tenure as District 24 state senator (1996-2012). “The last time we saw a midterm with turnout in the 50s was in 1994. Both of these election cycles highlight how candidates and issues drive higher turnout in elections.”

Early voting popularity continues to soar. In 2014, only 16 percent of voters cast a ballot early. This year, that number was doubled to 32 percent.

Henry County had the highest turnout in the state at 64 percent, followed by Spencer County at 62 percent. Lowest voter turnout came in Vigo County, where only 44 percent went to the polls.

Among counties contiguous to Putnam, the results were similar. Hendricks had the highest turnout rate at 56 percent, followed by Montgomery at 55, Owen at 54 percent, Parke and Morgan at 53 and Clay at 51.

The percentage of absentee votes in the area was led by Montgomery County where 51 percent of its 12,700 votes came via early voting, followed by 49 percent in Morgan County and 41 percent in Owen County.

Hendricks at 36 percent and Clay at 35 were similar to Putnam’s 34 percent but Parke County had only 28 percent take advantage of early voting in the general election, the turnout report showed.

The state’s best absentee/early voting was recorded in Switzerland County at 69 percent of its overall vote, while Madison County produced only 10 percent of its vote via absenteee or early voting.

The complete 2018 General Election Turnout and Absentee Chart with voter statistics for each county can be viewed online at www.in.gov/sos/elections/files/2018%20General%20Election%20Turnout%20from%20the%....

The report was compiled by the Secretary of State’s Office using voter data supplied by the office of the County Election Board in Indiana’s 92 counties.