MADISON COUNTY — It was an especially good year to be a Republican on the ballot in Madison County, as the number of voters choosing to punch a straight GOP party ticket was almost 63%, up from just more than 56% during the last presidential election four years ago.
Republicans won all county-level races — including auditor, coroner and surveyor, as well as county commission and council seats — and voters contributed to Republican wins in most races for state and national office.
It was not necessarily a great year to be an Election Day voter in the county, however, as lines to cast a ballot were extremely long in many cases, even though fewer ballots were cast this year than in the presidential election in 2016.
“I’ve heard people waited up to seven hours,” Madison County Clerk Olivia Pratt said.
It was a foreseeable situation that many in county government — including herself — had warned about, Pratt said, but which “came to pass. It should not have ever happened.”
The waits, she said, resulted from the failure of the county to follow through on a process to transition to the use of vote centers — where any voter can vote at any county polling site — including a failure to double the number of new machines prior to last week’s election.
In previous elections, the county used 420 aging voting machines, Pratt said. It then bought 170 new machines, which are incompatible with the old ones, with a plan to buy 170 more. The goal was to have all 340 new machines in place for this year.
She said Madison County Election Board, County Commissioners and County Council all needed to agree on the plan and had appeared ready to make the switch, but then midway through the plan got stuck at the county commissioners.
Ultimately, the county was left running the election with half the necessary machines.
The result were long lines during this year’s voting, lines which on Election Day snaked around polling stations, with waits often several hours long.
In South Madison County, the wait mid-afternoon on Election Day ranged from more than three hours at the Lapel Lions Club to more than five hours at Adams Markleville Fire Territory.
Madison County Election Director Mary Retherford said voting went as well as could be expected given the challenges.
On Election Day, the county dispatched some paper ballots to the polls with the longest lines to try to reduce the wait times, Retherford said.
According to Pratt, about half a dozen voting locations out of 40 total county-wde received about 200 paper ballots each.
Still, given that the county promised everyone who was in line to vote by 6 p.m. on Election Day would get to vote, polls stayed open long after closing, and results were delayed coming in. The final votes came into the election office from Adams Township at about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, Retherford said.
There were 91,351 registered voters in Madison County this election, compared with 97,573 in 2016.
Pratt said there were a lot of first time voters added to the rolls this year, but the number fell because of efforts the past few years to clean up the voter rolls, removing names that should no longer be there, such as those who had died or moved away.
Total ballots cast numbered 52,274, down from 54,958 in 2016.
The net results was a slightly higher percentage voter turnout in the county, 57.22% compared to 56.33% in 2016.
Pratt said she hopes with a new commissioner elected last week, that the county will be able to move ahead with buying some more voting machines and resume the shift to vote centers.
Darlene Likens, who will be the new commissioner in January, said she supported vote centers in 2013, when she was clerk, and will work with the county election board to get it the needed equipment it needs.
“I’m definitely open to vote centers and supportive as I have been in the past,” said Likens, who was county treasurer from 2010-18, and served 16 years on county council before that.
And as far as the purchase of 170 more voting machines, she’s on board, too.
“If that is what the election board says they need, then I think that’s what we look at,” she said. “I would go along with their figures.”
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Unofficial Madison County 2020 General Election results
(Voters chose one candidate in each race unless otherwise stated.)
Straight Party
Republican (Rep.) 12,691 (62.57%)
Democratic (Dem.) 7,436 (36.66%)
Libertarian (Lib.) 156 (.77%)
President and vice president of the United States
Trump/Pence (Rep) 31,153 (60.19%)
*Biden/Harris (Dem) 19,459 (37.60%)
Jorgensen/Cohen (Lib) 1,021 (1.97%)
Write-in 124 (.24%)
Statewide: Trump, 57%; Biden, 41%: Jorgensen, 2%
Governor and Lt. Governor
*Holcomb/Crouch (Rep) 29,367 (56.82%)
Myers/Lawson (Dem) 14,205 (27.49%)
Rainwater/Henry (Lib) 8,110 (15.69%)
Statewide: Holcomb, 57%; Myers, 32%; Rainwater, 11%
Attorney General
*Todd Rokita (Rep) 30,534 (59.89%)
Jonathan Weinzapfel (Dem) 20,451 (40.11%)
Statewide: Rokita, 58%; Weinzapfel, 42%
U.S. Representative District 5
*Victoria Spartz (Rep) 28,269 (55.05%)
Christina Hale (Dem) 19,797 (38.55%)
Kenneth Tucker (Lib) 3,270 (6.37%)
Write-in 18 (.04%)
Districtwide: Spartz, 50; Hale, 46; Tucker, 4%
State Representative District 32
*Anthony J. (Tony) Cook (Rep, incumbent) 944 (75.40%)
Amie Neiling (Dem) 308 (24.60%)
Districtwide: Cook, 75%; Neiling, 25%
State Representative District 35
*Elizabeth Rowray (Rep) 8,683 (54.87%)
Melanie M. Wright (Dem, incumbent) 7,141 (45.13%)
Districtwide: Rowray, 55%; Wright, 45%
State Representative District 36
Kyle Pierce (Rep) 11,465 (47.04%)
*Terri Jo Austin (Dem, incumbent) 12,909 (52.96%)
Districtwide: Austin, 53; Pierce, 47
State Representative District 53
*Robert W. Cherry (Rep) 8,342 (100%)
No Candidate Filed (Dem)
Madison County Division 1 Circuit Court Judge
*Angela Warner Sims (Rep) 41,809 (100%)
Madison County Division 2 Circuit Court Judge
*Stephen J. Koester (Rep) 29,157 (57.06%)
G. George Pancol (Dem, incumbent) 21,941 (42.94%)
Madison County Division 4 Circuit Court Judge
*David Happe (Rep, incumbent) 32,374 (63.42%)
Rosemary Khoury (Dem) 18,675 (36.58%)
Madison County Division 5 Circuit Court Judge
*Scott A. Norrick (Rep) 29,943 (58.71%)
Kyle F. Noone (Dem) 21,058 (41.29%)
County Auditor
*Rick Gardner (Rep, incumbent) 32,019 (63.11%)
James (Jamey) Townsend (Dem) 18,715 (36.89%)
County Coroner
*Troy A. Abbott (Rep) 29,443 (57.56%)
Danielle Dunnichay-Noone (Dem, incumbent) 21,710 (42.44%)
County Surveyor
*Tom Shepherd (Rep, incumbent) 30,329 (59.86%)
John Manship (Dem) 20,338 (40.14%)
County Commissioner District 2
*Darlene Likens (Rep) 35,572 (69.85%)
Ollie H. Dixon (Dem) 15,356 (30.15%)
County Commissioner District 3
*John M. Richwine (Rep, incumbent) 32,156 (63.36%)
Lindsay Brown (Dem) 18,592 (36.64%)
County Council At-Large
(Vote for three)
*Anthony Emery (Rep) 25,832 (19.76%)
*Ben Gale (Rep, incumbent) 25,985 (19.87%)
*Mikeal Vaughn (Rep) 25,588 (19.57%)
Treva L. Bostic (Dem) 16,530 (12.64%)
Stephany Mae Finney (Dem) 16,289 (12.46%)
Tom Newman Jr. (Dem) 20,522 (15.70%)
Madison County School Boards
Anderson Community Central 1
*Carrie Bale 12,978 (56%)
Robert (Buckie) Bookhart 10,195 (44%)
Anderson Community East 2
Andrew Jones 4,342 (18.97%)
Kellie J. Kelley 6,066 (26.50%)
Nicole R. Milburn 2,919 (12.75%)
*Holly Renz 9,563 (41.78%)
Anderson Community South 1
*Kenneth Hodson 10,551 (46.98%)
Liddia Sanglton 3,892 (17.33%)
Tammy Sloss 8,017 (35.69%)
Alexandria Community District 1
*Amy Renee Bair 1,616 (55.30%)
Brad J. Justus 1,306 (44.70%)
Alexandria Community District 4
Larry Kent Oliver II 969 (33.07%)
*Carrie Beth Rowland 1,961 (66.93%)
Alexandria Community District 5 At-large
*Diana L. Sayre 2,784 (100%)
Elwood At-large (Vote for three)
*Chad Bock 1,435 (14.55%)
*Stephanie Hoel 1,487 (15.08%)
Paul (Brent) Kane 1,118 (11.34%)
Scott Morris 1,085 (11%)
David (Mike) Peterson 718 (7.28%)
Sandra Ratliff 653 (6.62%)
*Robert B. Savage 1,406 (14.26%)
Monica Wells 1,394 (14.14%)
Rob Wright 566 (5.74%)
Frankton-Lapel School Corp. District 1
*Michael S. Rusche 2,879 (62.98%)
Robert (Rob) Trotter Jr. 1,692 (37.02%)
Frankton-Lapel School Corp. District 2
*Randy Cunningham 4,466 (100%)
Frankton-Lapel School Corp. District 3
*Melissa Duncan 4,455 (100%)
Frankton-Lapel School Corp. District 4
*Tami Bailey-Davis 2,428 (51.64%)
George (Geep) Harrison 2,274 (48.36%)
Madison-Grant District 5
*Mary Jo Brunt 661 (60.64%)
Corey J. Sizelove 429 (39.36%)
Madison-Grant District 6
*Amanda Kelich 1,023 (100%)
South Madison District 1 Adams Township
*Richard (Buck) Evans 8,603 (100%)
South Maidson District 2 Fall Creek Township
*Michael H.Hanna 8,654 (100%)
South Madison District 3 Green Township
*Chris Boots 8,620 (100%)
South Madison District At-Large
*Angela (Angie) Brown 4,075 (45.58%)
Jeanne Fredericks 2,652 (29.66%)
Tom Lee Jewell 2,214 (24.76%)
Retention Public Questions
Indiana Supreme Court
Shall Justice Christopher M. Goff be retained in office?
Yes 31,679 (73.18%)
No 11,610 (26.82%)
Indiana Court Of Appeals
Shall Judge Cale Bradford be retained in office?
Second District
Yes 31,542 (73.42%)
No 11,418 (26.58%)
Shall Judge Elaine B. Brown be retained in office?
Fifth District
Yes 32,517 (75.60%)
No 10,494 (24.40%)
Shall Judge Melissa S. May
Fourth District
Yes 32,842 (76.45%)
No 10,115 (23.55%)
Shall Judge Margret G. Robb be retained in office?
Fifth District
Yes 32,526 (75.81%)
No 10,380 (24.19%)
