Primary Election changes for 2020 in face of COVID-19

Unsurprisingly, early voting in the Primary will look different for Dubois County residents in 2020.

In-person early voting will occur for one week beginning Tuesday, May 26 and ending Monday, June 1. Election Day has been moved to Tuesday, June 2. Last Friday, in response to the coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Eric Holcomb signed an executive order reducing the in-person early voting from 28 days prior to Election Day — with the delay, in-person voting in the county would have begun May 5 — to the single week.

Last Thursday, the Dubois County Election Board decided to limit the polling places during the week of in-person early voting to a single location; the County Annex across from the courthouse.

During that week, voters can come to the Annex to vote from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 26, Thursday, May 28, and Friday, May 29. Wednesday the Annex will be open for voting from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. That Saturday, May 30, it is open from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then on Monday, June 1, it is open from 8 a.m. to noon.

Primary Election Day is on Tuesday, June 2. Voters will vote in the polling locations for their precincts. See attached image below for that information.

Kippenbrock wants to remind voters they can go online to IndianaVoters.com to download an absentee ballot, print it out and then mail it in if they are concerned about voting in person. If you can’t print one from online, she said voters can contact her office at 812-481-7035 to request one and they will mail it to them.

Typically, a person has to give a reason for an using absentee ballots but in light of the coronavirus pandemic, those requirements have been waived.

The Indiana Primary is set to allow voters from the Democratic and Republican parties to determine which candidates in their respective parties will represent them in the General Election this fall. In Dubois County, the Democratic Party has four individuals vying to face off against the three Republicans holding the county council’s at-large seats. Those potential candidates are Matt Brosmer, Mikayla Granados, Mike Kendall and Duncan Mathies.

Democratic voters will decide which three of those candidates will be on the ballot in the fall.

Dubois County Clerk Amy Kippenbrock recommended voters go to https://indianavoters.in.gov/ to see a complete list of the candidates on their ballot in the Primary.