Races to watch, early voting continues in St. Joseph County

INDIANA (WNDU) - The 2022 midterms are officially less than a week away, and St. Joseph County voters are turning out - and turning in ballots - by the thousands.

The latest information from county election supervisors indicates 7,306 people have voted in-person at the County-City Building, and 6,094 mail-in ballots have been received. Officials are waiting on some 2,000 absentee ballots to be returned via mail.

Voters must bring a government-issued photo I.D. when voting early or on election day.

Election supervisors Nancy Lindzy and Cindy Streich itemized other important details for voters.

“Many people are saying they’re unaware of who is voting - or who is running for different offices,” said Lindzy.

“They can go to Vote411.org to find information or indianavoters.com and it will give a list of the candidates, and that would be helpful to them,” added Streich.

Races to watch locally, statewide

Political columnist Jack Colwell sat down with WNDU on Tuesday to list some of the races he finds interesting across Michiana.

“I think the most interesting race and probably the most important race in St. Joseph County, at least, is the county commissioner race, because that’s going to determine whether the much-talked about Republican gerrymander worked or failed. If Carl Baxmeyer, the Republican wins, it will be a success. If Don Westerhausen, the Democrat, wins, [the gerrymander] will be a failure. So there’s a lot riding on that race,” offered Colwell.

Kevin Conery is also running in the commissioners race as an independent.

He added he believes there is a clear winner in the Indiana 2nd Congressional District race between Libertarian William Henry, Democrat Paul Steury, and Republican Rudy Yakym.

Yakym won the August GOP caucus to fill the spot of late U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski on the November ballot.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt about the outcome,” Colwell started. “Rudy Yakym, the Republican, who replaced Jackie Walorski, after that tragic accident this year, has all the funding he needs. He’s on television all the time with it, with his, his ads. And he inherited, really, the Walorski support and organization. And all indications are that he will win very big.”

Colwell said the Indiana Secretary of State contest could result in the first Democrat to win the seat in a decade. Colwell said there were some early polls that showed U.S. Senate Democratic challenger Tom McDermott closing in on incumbent Sen. Todd Young, a Republican.

“But in the final analysis, almost everybody seems to think that Young will be re-elected,” Colwell said.

Early voting location, times in St. Joseph County

Early, in-person voting is happening in the lobbies of the County-City Building and the County Services Building (located on Lincolnway in Mishawaka). Both lobbies are open 8 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

On Saturday, November 5th, early voting hours run 8 a.m. until 4 p.m. and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, November 6th.

The last day for early voting is Monday, November 7th, from 8 a.m. until noon.

County election supervisors said all absentee ballots need to be returned by Tuesday, November 8th at 6 p.m.

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