Pulaski County experienced near-record voter turnout during last month’s General Election.
That’s according to Election Board member Laura Bailey. “Election Day was just nothing short of amazing,” she told the county commissioners Monday. “Our total for the whole election was 58.27 [percent], which virtually ties the highest turnout in recent history.”
Bailey and County Clerk Christi Hoffa reviewed the 2016 election during Monday’s Pulaski County Commissioners meeting. Last month’s election marked the first time the vote center model was used for a general election in Pulaski County, after it was first introduced during May’s primary.
But Bailey says the thing that stood out the most was the increase in absentee voting, “Our early voting went from, like 14-percent up to about 21-percent. So that’s huge.”
She added that the Francesville early voting site proved to be a major convenience for residents. “Those were only the two Saturdays, and we were able to accommodate 165 people,” she said. “It was well-worth opening that on those days.” While that helped contribute to a record number of in-person early voters, Bailey said mail-in voting was also strong and even included an emergency fax vote.
The Pulaski County Election Board plans to use about $6,700 of the money left over in this year’s budget to purchase an additional voting machine and higher-speed printers for the existing machines. Board members plan to ask the county council for approval of those purchases next week.
