INDIANAPOLIS — We're one week into early voting in Indiana.
Election officials in Marion County and the surrounding donut counties say the lines are steady with people casting their ballots early.
According to election officials in Hamilton County, 11,000 people have already come out to vote early there.
Charlie Fuhrer is one of those.
"I love early voting. It just makes life a little bit easier," Fuhrer said, explaining he doesn't want to get up early on Election Day and wait in line.
"I think it's a big election and it's ... I hope it's a big turnout, because you know exactly where the nation stands," Fuhrer said.
Hamilton County Election Administrator Beth Sheller expects at least a 70% turnout this year among voters Hamilton County's 275,000 registered voters.
"I had a lady come in and say, 'I haven't voted in 14 years, but I think it's important now.' At the fairgrounds, they said they had 67-year-olds come in that had never voted," Sheller said.
In Marion County, early voter turnout continues to grow, too. So far, 7,802 people have voted early in person.
Marion County election officials have mailed out 26,682 absentee ballots — 9,939 have been returned.
Here's a quick breakdown of early voting in some of the donut counties surrounding Marion County:
Johnson County
- 3,669 people have voted early in person.
- 4,500 absentee ballots have been requested; 1,800 returned.
Hamilton County
- 11,000 people have voted early in person.
- 19,000 absentee ballots have been requested; 8,000 returned.
Hancock County
- 2,370 people have voted early in person.
- 2,092 absentee ballots have been requested; 798 returned.
Hendricks County
- 3,251 people have voted early in person.
- 5,661 absentee ballots have been requested; 2,340 returned.
Hamilton County
- 11,000 people have voted early in person.
- 19,000 absentee ballots have been requested; 8,000 returned to be counted, which will start on Election Day morning.
Election officials in Hamilton County say absentee ballots that come in are stored in a room with double locks on the doors.
"The Democrats have one key. The Republicans have one key, they each have their own key. Nobody gets in without both of them being there to open the doors," Sheller explained.
Voting machines are sealed each night after poll workers make sure the number of voters who checked in that day matches the number of ballots cast on voting machines.
"They are recorded in a book and they're sealed for the night with the seals written out. In the morning, they come back in, make sure the seals haven't been tampered with, open up, check the numbers and start all over again every day," said Sheller.
Come Election Day, voters in Hamilton County will have 111 sites where they can vote and make sure their voices are heard.
Fuhrer is happy his voice is now in the books.
"I feel like I cant complain if I don't vote," he said.
13News checked with other counties about when they start counting early votes. Election workers in Johnson and Hancock counties say they start Election Day morning. Marion County does the same thing.
Hendricks County officials say they wait until the polls close Election Day night.
It's not too late to request an absentee ballot. The deadline to do that is Thursday, Oct. 24.