INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana saw a 7 percentage point increase in turnout for the 2020 election, with numerous counties hitting record-setting turnout.
The Indiana Secretary of State’s Office released its full 2020 election results and county-level turnout data on Tuesday, recapping this fall’s election.
“We continue to see that candidates and issues drive turnout,” said Secretary of State Connie Lawson. “Presidential elections tend to have higher turnout rates. That held true this year with sixty-five percent of Hoosiers turning out to vote, the highest percentage we’ve seen since 1992.”
Statewide, turnout hit 65% an increase from both 2016 and 2012 when 58% of voters came out in the election years. The numbers were even up from 2008, an election that carried a lot of enthusiasm, when turnout hit 62%.
The COVID-19 pandemic also changed the way and when voters voted, with more than half of all votes coming in ahead of Election Day.
This year, 61% of all ballots cast in Indiana were cast either by mail or through early in-person voting. That’s nearly double the 33% absentee rate in 2016 and nearly triple the 2012 election at 22%.
Locally, turnouts were all in the mid- to upper-60th percentile.
DeKalb and Steuben counties tied for the highest turnouts at 67%, following by LaGrange County at 66% and Noble County at 65%.
That represented big increased for Noble and DeKalb counties, with DeKalb County up 10 percentage points from 2016 and Noble County up nine points.
Steuben County, on the other hand, saw only a smaller increase of 3 percentage points from 2016 while LaGrange County’s turnout was actually down from a very high 71% in 2016, but higher than the 2012 turnout of 60%.
DeKalb and Noble counties also were on the upper end of people voting early, with DeKalb County having 65% of all ballots cast early and Noble County at 62% early. Steuben County had just over half of all ballots come in ahead of Election Day at 51%, while LaGrange County was on the bottom end at just 39%, tied for fourth lowest early voting numbers in the state.
Hamilton County on the northeast side of Indianapolis and Wells County in northeast Indiana had the highest turnouts statewide, both hitting 75%.
Boone County, on the northwest side of Indianapolis, had the highest percentage of absentee ballots at a whopping 84% of votes being case ahead of Election Day.
Delaware County (Muncie) and Madison County (Anderson) had the lowest turnouts at 58% each.
President Donald Trump carried Indiana over former Vice President Joe Biden with 57% to 41%; while incumbent Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb won with 56.5% of the vote compared to Democrat Woody Myers at 32.1% and Libertarian Donald Rainwater at 11.4%.
In the only other statewide race, Republican Todd Rokita won attorney general 58.3% over Democrat Jonathan Weinzapfel with 41.7%.
In northeast Indiana, Republican Rep. Jim Banks won his 3rd District Congressional seat 67.8% over Democrat Chip Coldiron with 32.2%.
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