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[ News ]

Indiana's primary turnout high, despite photo ID law

May 8, 2008 --  Indiana's controversial photo identification rule may not have made a major dent in the state's high turnout, but it did frustrate a small group of voters more accustomed to divine law.

Naomi Cannon leaves Saint Monica and Saint Luke Catholic Church after voting Tuesday, May 6, 2008 in Gary, Ind. Indiana and North Carolina are hosting primary elections today. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)
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By DEBORAH HASTINGS

Indiana's controversial photo identification rule may not have made a major dent in the state's high turnout, but it did frustrate a small group of voters more accustomed to divine law.

About 12 elderly Roman Catholic nuns were turned away Tuesday from a polling place because they didn't have state or federal identification bearing a photograph.

Sister Julie McGuire said she was forced to turn away her fellow members of Saint Mary's Convent in South Bend, even though they had been told earlier that they would need to get such an ID to vote.

"One came down this morning, and she was 98, and she said, 'I don't want to go do that,'" McGuire said. Some showed up with outdated passports. None of them drive.

Elsewhere across the pivotal state, voting appeared to run smoothly, despite the fears of some elections experts that the photo ID law could cause confusion at the polls.

More than 1.6 million votes were cast Tuesday in the Democratic and GOP presidential races with nearly all precincts reporting, according to unofficial tallies by The Associated Press. That smashed the 1992 primary turnout of a little more than 1 million votes.

A high number of Republican crossover votes sent several counties scrambling to print extra ballots. A judge ordered some polls in northwestern Indiana's Porter County to stay open an additional hour after several precincts ran out of Democratic ballots.

Nancy Zondor, of Chesterton, said she went to vote at her Porter County polling site around 4 p.m. only to be told she would have to wait or come back later for a ballot. She said she had to leave without voting in order to drive to her son's track meet.

"I was aggravated, for sure, it's a big election," said Zondor, who planned to vote for Obama. "I just always vote in every election and want to."

Marion County, the state's most populous, had to print several thousand extra Democratic ballots because of increased demand in traditionally Republican voting areas, said Angie Nussmeyer, spokeswoman for the clerk's office.

Other ballot shortages were reported in Howard, Jackson and Hancock counties as voters turned out in droves. Local voting officials printed substitute ballots that were to be counted by hand.

Polling locations reported voter totals that far exceeded previous primaries. More than 80,000 people voted in Fort Wayne's Allen County and nearly 22,000 people voted in southern Indiana's Floyd County — both double the 1992 turnout.

Some 70 percent of the presidential votes cast statewide were Democratic ballots, with even heavily Republican counties such as Johnson County in suburban Indianapolis having more than 60 percent of its votes in the Barack Obama-Hillary Rodham Clinton race.

The turnout followed a month of record absentee voting with 173,000 ballots cast in person or by mail through Monday, according to the Indiana secretary of state's office. That is more than three times the number of early ballots cast in the 2004 presidential primary.

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Discuss:

Indiana's primary turnout high, despite photo ID law

Member Comments

  • Posted By:
    rachel8 at 05/09/2008 1:11:36 PM
    Comment:
    Spoken as someone that has not been locked out of mainstream society, been poor with little opportunity, had your rights infringed on by the government. Your overwhelm me with your compassion and empathy.
  • Posted By:
    merry1951 at 05/09/2008 12:10:31 PM
    Comment:
    Personally, I think it should be a national law, not just Indiana. If they announced it now, there would be NO EXCUSE for anyone living in America not to have photo ID. It is 6 months until November, if someone can't get thier photo taken in six months, there is a problem somewhere. Call senior services and arrange for transport, or have a traveling notary issue ID cards. If you can't prove who you are, and that you are entitled to vote, then you shouldn't have the privlege. If a person doesn't care enough about voting to get proper ID then they don't care enough to vote.
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