Cass County voters make their voices heard

May 8—Local voting precincts were seeing good voter turnout Tuesday morning and into early afternoon as Cass County came out to vote in the Indiana primaries.

Morning rain and a later threat of tornadoes wasn't hindering voters from casting their ballots.

Sandra Torkelson was working the polls in Walton and said there had been a steady stream of voters throughout the morning.

She said that during early voting there were a total of 100 hundred voters. They were at approximately 130 voters on Tuesday alone just shortly after noon.

Torkelson said it was very likely some of the enthusiasm that voters were showing this year was in part due to a stacked Republican governor's primary in which top contenders included Senator Mike Braun, Lt. Governor Suzanne Crouch and businessman Brad Chambers.

"There aren't a lot of contested seats on either (the Republican or Democrat ballot)," she said.

Locally, there is just one contested race in Cass County. Four Republican candidates are vying for three at-large seats on the Cass County Council.

Cheryl K. Alcorn (1,907 votes), Tracy W. Williamson (1,731) and Dean E. Davenport (1,695) were the top three finishers. Jonathan W. Nelms received 1,221 votes.

The other eight county races are uncontested. Not one Democrat registered to run in any of the county races, meaning county leadership for 2025 is practically decided.

According to unofficial results, 16.8 percent (3,714 of 22,107) of registered Cass County voters cast a vote on the primary.

About 1,500 Cass County voters took advantage of early voting to vote for governor. In Cass County overall, Mike Braun led the Republicans with 1,195 votes. Brad Chambers (632) and Suzanne Crouch (612) placed second and third, respectively.

At the Logansport Community School Corporation building, all voting spots were filled.

Peggy Ruff said turnout had been great for the first part of the day.

"Thursday, Friday and Saturday we had 19, 22 and 26 ballots," she said. "We had 76 ballots casts before 8 a.m. this morning."

Ruby McLean said voting at the McHale Pavilion had also been good throughout the morning.

All three women hoped voters would return in November for the general election with the same enthusiasm.