Straight party voting won't count for at-large candidates

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Indiana Secretary of State Connie Lawson says voters who cast a straight ticket ballot in November should know those votes won't count for at-large candidates for county or town councils.

Under a new law, voters need to select each candidate they wish to elect for those at-large seats. Lawson says some voters previously didn't follow ballot instructions when voting straight party ballots and chose to split the ticket by marking both a straight party ticket vote with individual candidates in partisan races. The new law eliminates that.

As with school board elections and votes on public questions, the straight party function doesn't cast a straight party vote for at-large races. The law doesn't change how the straight party ticket functions in any other ballot race.