Marion County expects 100,000 mail-in absentee ballots

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Marion County Clerk’s Office says a courier is expected on Monday to pick up the first batch of mail-in absentee ballots.

To put this into perspective, that batch will be about a third of the total number the office expects for the Nov. 3 general election.

Stacks of envelopes and mailing labels dominate the front room of the Marion County Election Service Center. From all corners of the county, every single day, close to 1,000 requests for mail-in absentee ballots arrive. The cause: the coronavirus pandemic.

So what is the anticipated number of mail-in absentee ballots in Marion County?

“For the most part, everything in 2020 has been unpredictable, but if I had to made a best estimate, I would say somewhere over 100,000,” said Russell Hollis of the clerk’s office.

The vast majority of the request came from online, and others are being sent by email or the old-fashioned way through the U.S. Postal Service. The preparation of mail-in absentee ballots is very labor intensive.

The applications are checked by hand against the voter database to ensure the person that requested the ballot is registered to vote in Marion County.

Once the application is approved, it is placed with an envelope for the ballot, which are supposed to be printed by now.

“We expect to do that throughout today and on Monday,” Hollis said.

Getting the ballots back into the hands of the election officials is the next challenge. For those worried about slowed mail delivery, the ballots can also be dropped off in person at any early-voting center or polling location before noon Nov. 3, Election Day. Then, the ballots have to be counted by hand.

“It is likely, with counting over 100,000 absentee ballots, that we may not know the winner of some key races on election night,” Hollis said.

A note to speed up the process: If you request an absentee ballot, make sure you sign it and get it back in the mail sooner than later.