With more than 12 thousand voters casting their ballots in Bartholomew County, incumbents are the big winners in today’s primary election.
Sheriff Matt Myers won the Republican primary for re-election as the county sheriff. He has 64 percent of the vote, compared to opponent Rob Kittle’s 19 percent and Tami Watson’s 17 percent. There is no Democrat running for that office.
All three of the incumbents for Bartholomew County Council have won their Republican primary races for re-election.
Laura DeDomenic has won in the District 2 race against Glenn Petri, 63 to 37 percent. Mark Gorbett has won the District 3 race against Dave Jones, 67 to 33 percent and Jorge Morales has won over Tom Owens in District 4, 57 percent to 43 percent. The winner of that race will face Democrat Lynne Fleming in the fall.
In the District 1 race where there is no incumbent, Scott Bonnell defeated Marcus Speer 55 to 45 percent in northeastern Bartholomew County. Democrat Hanna Omar will face Bonnell in the fall election.
For the Statehouse District 59 race, Republican Ryan Lauer won his primary, with 36 percent. This closest competitor was Joanne Flohr with 25 percent. Democrat Dale Nowlin has won on the Democratic side of that race, with 62 percent and 38 percent for Mary Kohen.
Incumbent State Rep. Sean Eberhart is leading in the Bartholomew County section of his district 57 race which centers in Shelbyville., while incumbent State Rep. Jim Lucas is also winning in the southern portion of Bartholomew County that falls in his Seymour district.
According to numbers from the county clerk’s office, there were 12,302 votes cast in the primary election. Of those, 3,327 were cast in early voting and 8,975 were cast today at one of the one of the voting centers. That is the highest election turnout total in an off-year primary in recent memory. In 2006, there were 11,865 voters who cast ballots. That was the year that State Senate President Pro Tem Bob Garton lost in his Republican primary against then-newcomer Greg Walker.
As a percentage though, turnout only amounted to 24.7 percent of the 49,865 registered voters in the county.
Bartholomew County instituted vote centers three years ago, moving away from the traditional precinct voting. Under this plan, voters can cast ballots at any of the voter centers throughout the county. Those with the highest turnout today, as of 5 p.m., were Grace Lutheran Church, with 927 voters, Donner Center with 912 and St. John’s Masonic Lodge with 747. The three least used vote centers were Faith Lutheran Church with 266, Clifford Fire Station with 219, and White Creek Lutheran Church with 125 voters.