FORT WAYNE – Allen County election officials urged voters to do their homework before heading to the polls Tuesday in an effort to avoid confusion that slowed down some early voters.
Voters will find an unusual ballot Tuesday. Two votes will be cast for the 3rd District congressional representative, and there will be one vote on an amendment to the state constitution, even though the question contains two parts, said Zach Klutz, Republican member of the Allen County Election Board.
Poll workers cannot answer questions about the effect of the constitutional amendment or interpret the question for voters, Klutz said. Voters should review sample ballots on the county's website to familiarize themselves with the question before heading to the polls, he said.
The amendment question asks whether property tax caps should be included in the state constitution. State law currently caps property taxes at 1 percent of a home's gross assessed value, at 2 percent for rental properties and farmland and at 3 percent for commercial and industrial properties.
But the second half of the issue asks whether mobile homes used as a primary residence should benefit from exemptions and credits much like houses.
Voters will vote once to answer both parts of the question, Klutz said, not twice.
And voters should carefully read the headings for each race as they go through the ballot. Some early voters thought the ballot contained a mistake because the 3rd District congressional race was listed twice, election director Beth Dlug said.
Voters will first decide who should serve the remainder of former Congressman Mark Souder's term, which ends Jan. 3. Voters will then decide who should serve a new two-year term in Congress, Klutz said.
Early voters have been taking longer in the booth because of the unique ballot. And the first batch of early voters took a long time, Dlug said, because the ballot issues took them by surprise.
Poll workers do not set time limits for those in the booths but may ask whether voters are having trouble if they take too long, Dlug said.
The fall ballot also includes several non-partisan races for Fort Wayne Community Schools board and a county judge post.
And voters in the East Allen County Schools district will decide whether to grant a property tax increase for the district.
Dlug said voters who choose a straight-party ticket will still be prompted to vote on the non-partisan races and referendum issues. She urged voters to go through all the pages of the ballot before finalizing their selections.
County officials are prepared for half of all eligible voters to turn out Tuesday, but the actual number of voters likely will be less. So far, Klutz said, early voting and absentee voting are on par with the last midterm election in 2006 when fewer than 40 percent of voters went to the polls.
More than 3,300 people have voted early at the election board's office in the City-County Building.
That's up from the 1,247 who took advantage of early voting in 2006 but down significantly from the more than 11,000 who voted at the office in the run-up to 2008's historic presidential election, Klutz said.
Between 62 percent and 65 percent of eligible voters turned out to vote in 2008, Klutz said.
Absentee ballots must be returned to the election board by noon on Election Day. In-office early voting will end at noon Monday, Klutz said.
Voters can take advantage of early voting from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. today and Friday; from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday; and from 8 a.m. to noon Monday.
Klutz also reminded voters to bring photo identification to the polls.
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles said most license branches will extend their hours Monday and Tuesday to handle requests for photo ID cards needed to cast ballots.
Full-service license branches will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday. License branches are normally closed Mondays.
The license branches will only process ID cards and driver's licenses those two days and will not perform any other services.
The BMV provides free state ID cards to any Indiana residents if they can provide proper documentation and are old enough to vote.
The required documents include proof of residency and proof of identity, such as a birth certificate or passport.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
See for yourself
To view a sample ballot and find your polling location, go to visit www.acimap.us/aceb; for more information about the state’s voter ID law, go to www.in.gov/sos/elections.
Sample ballots will appear in Sunday’s Journal Gazette.
