In 17 years of voting at this polling place, nevr took longer than 5 minutes...today it took 1 hr and 5 minutes!(Creative Commons)There are multiple contested primary races on ballots in Clark and Floyd counties this year.LPM News talked with election officials about big races, ballot security and v oter turnout.How the primary works Indiana’s primary election is when voters will help decide which Republican and Democratic candidates move on to the general election.This year, ballots in Clark and Floyd counties include state, congressional and county offices. Voters will also choose Democratic and Republican state convention delegates, and Democratic committee precinct people.Independents and Libertarians and other minor party candidates will be on November ballots, along with school board members, who can choose this year to affiliate with a party. Indiana lawmakers approved a measure in 2025 allowing the change. School board members previously ran as nonpartisan and can continue to do so, if they wish.Contested primary races include Clark and Floyd County sheriff, Floyd Superior Court 3 and three state legislative seats, two of which will have new representatives this year, after incumbents decided not to run for reelection. That includes District 72, long held by Republican state Rep. Ed Clere. He is not seeking reelection and plans to run for mayor of New Albany as an Independent in 2027.Four Democrats are running to unseat Republican Rep. Erin Houchin, the incumbent running for the U.S. Ninth Congressional District.This is the first time the Clark County sheriff’s office has been on the ballot since former Sheriff Jamey Noel was convicted of multiple felonies. Four people are running for that seat in the Democratic and Republican primaries, including the current sheriff.Clark County Clerk Ryan Lynch said the competitive seats are drawing voters out.“If you were to look at the correlation between the races and the primary turnout, when there are less contested races, obviously people feel less compelled to come out and vote,” he said.He said turnout so far was pretty good for a primary. As of Monday, more than 800 people in Clark County had cast early ballots in person, and staff had mailed out more than 750 mail-in absentee ballots, with 475 returned so far.That’s a small percentage of the county’s overall voters. In 2022, more than 10,000 people cast ballots by the end of primary election day, which was less than 11% voter turnout. There were more than double the number of Republican ballots versus Democratic ballots.In Floyd County, Clerk Danita Burks said more than 3,000 people had come in for early, in-person voting as of Monday — around 5% of the registered voters in the county.“I was hoping for more people to turn out,” Burks said, though she said she’s happy they’ve passed 3,000 and hopes that will increase this week.Less than 17% of registered voters in Floyd County turned out for the 2022 primary election.Who can vote?To vote in the primary, a person must be a U.S. citizen and Indiana resident who will be at least 18 on or before the general election in November.Indiana doesn’t register voters by party. People can vote if they have a felony conviction, but not while serving a sentence in jail or prison. People on probation, parole or in jail pretrial can vote.What to bring?To vote in Indiana, people need to bring ID issued by the state of Indiana or U.S. government. It has to have the person’s name, photo, conform to their voter registration and either be current or have expired sometime after the last general election in 2024.If a person shows up to vote and is told they can’t, like if they forgot their ID or are not showing up in the poll pad, which is how voters are checked in, they may still be able to cast a ballot.Angela Cornett, Clark County election administrator, said if that happens during early voting, clerk’s office staff can offer help.But if they go on election day, they should ask an inspector about casting a provisional ballot. That could allow the person to make their voting selections, and they’ll have a certain number of days to present their ID or other information to election officials, like proof that they changed their registration address, for their vote to count.What happens to early ballots? Indiana has a large window for early voting — nearly a month long — but those ballots aren’t opened and counted until 6 a.m. election day.Election officials explained what happens to the ballots in the meantime.Cornett said people voting early in-person in Clark County will make their selections then put their ballot into an envelope, which is sealed. It's signed by the voter and representatives from both parties, and put in a drop box for the day. Early voting is at the clerk’s office in the courthouse in Jeffersonville.At the end of the day, the bipartisan team checks to make sure the number of people they checked in matches the number of ballots they have. Those are then secured in the basement behind locks that both parties have to open together.“So it's not like… just one person has access to any of that at all,” Cornett said.The process is similar in Floyd County, except the ballots have to be brought back to the courthouse from the early voting locations. Early voting ends May 4 at noon.The primary election is May 5. Polls close at 6 p.m. local time. Check indianavoters.com to find out where to vote.Coverage of Southern Indiana is funded, in part, by Samtec Inc., the Hazel Walter T. Bales Foundation, and the Caesars Foundation of Floyd County. ...read more read less