Record 3 million Hoosiers cast ballots for November election

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - A record 3 million people in Indiana cast their ballots for the Nov. 3 election, according to state officials.

About 65%, or 3,068,542 of Indiana's some 4.7 million registered voters, cast a vote in this year's General Election. That's the highest since presidential election since the 1992 election, when Bill Clinton unseated President George H.W. Bush. That year, 74% of registered Hoosiers voted.

'œWe continue to see that candidates and issues drive turnout,'ť Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson said in a statement. 'œPresidential elections tend to have higher turnout rates. That held true this year.'ť

With more ballots cast than in 2008, 2012 or 2016, this was a record-setting year, Lawson said. In 2016 and 2012, 58% of registered Hoosiers voted in the General Election. In 2008, voter turnout was at 62%.

Absentee voting also increased dramatically as 61% of of those who voted - 1.9 million Hoosiers - cast their ballots in early voting or by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic. In the June primary, 51% of registered voters, or 552,779 people, voted absentee.

In the 2016 General Election, 33% of Indiana voters used the absentee option. In 2012, 22% voted absentee.

Of Indiana's 92 counties, Hamilton and Wells counties had the highest turnout with 75%, according to the secretary of state's county-by-county voter turnout report. Greene, Hancock and Whitley counties had 74% turnout. Marion County, which includes Indianapolis, recorded a 59% voter turnout.