Absentee voting starts Wednesday (Oct. 26); early voting starts Nov. 3

If you are going to be out of town or can’t physically go vote during the three-day early voting period from Thursday, Nov. 3, through Saturday, Nov. 5, and Election Day, which is Nov. 8, then you will still be able to cast an early ballot.

Whitley County Clerk Carolyn Willis said that six days of excused, in-person absentee voting will take place from Wednesday, Oct. 26 – Nov. 2 at her office in the old Whitley County Courthouse in Williamsburg.

Voting will take place from 8 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. each of those days.

The absentee voting is limited only to those, who literally can’t cast a ballot on Nov. 3-5 or on Nov. 8, for reasons, such as they will be out of state on those days for vacation or because they have a scheduled surgery and will be incapacitated.

Willis said that voters won’t have to bring in a doctor’s excuse or anything. Instead, they will be asked their reason for voting by absentee, and it must meet one of 13 qualifications.

The in-person, absentee voting was allowed during the May Primary Election, but Willis noted that few people utilized it because of the three-day early voting period that anyone could use without excuse.

There will also be three days of early in-person voting that will take place on Thursday, Nov. 3, through Saturday, Nov. 5, at both her offices in the old Whitley County Courthouse in Williamsburg, and in the old Corbin City Hall. Voting on those three days will take place over a 12-hour period from 8 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Any registered voter can cast a ballot during that three-day period.

Willis estimated that nearly 20 percent of voters cast their ballots in May during the early voting period.

On Election Day, which is Nov. 8, voting will take place from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. at one of eight voting centers, which are spaced out across the county and listed below.

• Williamsburg Independent School
• Whitley County High School
• Pleasant View Elementary School
• Whitley East Elementary School
• Whitley North Elementary School
• Oak Grove Elementary School
• Corbin City Hall
• Sanders Creek Church (Canadatown area)

Willis noted that the voting centers are in the same eight places that they were for the May Primary Election.

She said the switch to the eight voting centers, as opposed to the 32 voting precincts, seemed to be popular with voters, once they realized that they could cast their ballots at any one of the eight voting centers.

For instance, if someone lived in Williamsburg but worked at Baptist Health Corbin, then they could go to Corbin City Hall over their lunch break to vote.

Under the voting precinct system, you could only cast your ballot at your voting precinct, which meant that if you lived in Williamsburg and worked in Corbin on Election Day, then you had to either go vote at your precinct before or after you got off work.

“It works out well for a lot of our working people, especially our healthcare workers where they work 12-hour shifts. They can go to any of the eight voting centers and be able to cast their vote without a problem,” Willis said.

Willis said that the most common Election Day voting problem in the past was that someone had changed addresses since the last election and went to the wrong precinct on Election Day to cast their ballot only to find out they had to go to a different precinct to vote.

Willis said that her office hasn’t received a lot of phone calls about the upcoming General Election.

“I have been somewhat surprised at people just not seemingly being interested in this November election,” she said.

Willis attributes this, in part, to there being few contested races on the ballot.

“A lot of people have a bitter taste about that 2020 Presidential Election. They feel that their vote just doesn’t matter or think it is not that important to cast their vote any more. I don’t know how we will get that vote back. Hopefully in the future we will get people more motivated to cast their vote,” Willis added.

Willis is hoping for a 30 percent voter turnout for the upcoming election, but admits she won’t be surprised if the turnout falls below that level.