Crowds turn out for first week of early voting in Tippecanoe County

For the first week of early voting.

That's resulted in the busiest ever first day of early voting at the tippecanoe county building.

News 18's joe paul was there today to speak with voters and the county clerk.

He joins us live to tell us how the pandemic is changing the look and feel of early voting.

Joe?

The pandemic isn't stopping voters from turning out.

They th out the virus were definitely on their minds as they cast their ballots in person today.

T wanted to make sure that i voted like a responsible citizen should and i wanted to avoid lines and do it as safely as possible considering the covid situation."

Audrey mcgill was one of hundreds of people turning out for the first week of voting in tippecanoe countymichele (la-roo) lareau was by her side at the county building.

"a little disappointed, it's been really convenient using the payless stores in the past but i understand their fear of drawing too many crowds in with the coronavirus and everything."

Drew werling almost registered to vote absentee.

But changed his mind before early voting began on tuesday.

"i had gotten most of the way through registering and then i didn't know if things were going to change, if concerns about covid would end up being a valid excuse or not.

I didn't know if they would change that."

Karen freeman also considered voting by mail but felt safe casting her ballot in person.

"if there weren't masks and there wasn't the social distancing, i would've probably done it by mail, but i'm concerned how they're going to view mail-in ballots."

But clerk julie roush says that she can't turn away voters without masks.

That's according to guidance from the indiana secretary of state.

"we cannot deny someone to vote if they're not wearing a mask, but we have masks available and we will offer them to them."

The county election board is taking extra precautions to keep voters out of harm's way.

"we have the sanitizer, we have sneeze guards we've got gloves we've got disposable styluses for the txs machines, which is what you vote on and everything is being wiped down."

Additional early voting locations will open as en find t where they are and when they open on r website, wlfi.com.

Reporting live ws 18.

A federal as dsaught to allow mail-in