State Reports Relatively Smooth Primary Election

Contact: AJ Freeney-Ruiz
317-233-8655
Media@sos.in.gov

Indianapolis, IN - Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita today issued these statements at the close of the May 2, 2006 Primary Election.

On Indiana's Voter Id law:

"As expected, we have had a very successful statewide election utilizing Indiana's Voter ID law, which added a significant level of integrity to our already nationally heralded processes."

On the 2006 primary Election:

"While remaining cautiously optimistic, it is difficult to ignore how the state's high level of preparedness going into this election has aided in the day's smooth sailing. With the many new technological improvements to Indiana's electoral process, we felt it was important to have a very high level of contingency planning. On behalf of the voters and taxpayers, I want to applaud Indiana's local officials for their leadership today, as well as the more than 30,000 civic-minded volunteers who worked the polls."

Key Statistics on New Improvements to Indiana Elections:

County Contacts:

The Rapid Response Ground Team from the Secretary of State's office contacted over 77 counties and has received overwhelmingly positive feedback near the end of the day.
County officials throughout the state have cited the Polling Place Locator and the Election Day HQ websites as being huge assets in reducing their local call volumes.

Comments from Around the State:

"It has been an awesome day for us. We have had no problems in Spencer County. The Polling Place Locator has been a fabulous tool." - Ann Jochim, Spencer County Circuit Court Clerk

"This has been, believe it or not, one of the easiest Election Days!" - Julie Chase, Lawrence County Circuit Court Clerk

Hotline (866-IN1-Vote):

Approximately 150 calls received thus far
Questions generally revolve around polling place locations and registration status of voters
Some questions on Voter ID, Provisional Balloting, and other issues; all resolved

Voter ID:

No major issues to report at this time.
Personal and physical spot checking of 11 Central Indiana precincts by Secretary of State Todd Rokita revealed no problems with the new Voter ID requirement.
It was reported to the Hotline that five precincts in Marion county were not asking for ID, and the Marion County Election Board was made aware of this and has addressed it

Statewide Voter Registration System/File:

4,500 voter searches at its peak conducted by local election officials each hour based on projections from sampling. The average searches per hour dropped to 3,500 in the afternoon
Servers used only 35% of their capacity throughout the day
Midday and afternoon conference calls with Rapid Response Ground team located across the state revealed only typical Election Day transaction issues

Accessibility issues (as reported to the Hotline):

It was reported to the Hotline in early morning that some polling places had not opened, and county officials were made aware of this and addressed it.
No major issues reported in the afternoon; some complaints about the need to declare a political party

Fraud:

Isolated reports of electioneering have been reported in the morning and afternoon - typically dealing with campaign posters located too near polling place