It may be days before all the votes are counted in Vanderburgh County.
County Clerk Carla Hayden says more than 14,000 people cast their ballots by mail, and more than 40,000 took advantage of early in-person voting amid the coronavirus pandemic.
After a voter cast their ballot, the voting machine spit out the finished ballot – sort of like a receipt from a cash register.
Hayden says the early votes went into envelopes while votes cast on Election Day were counted right away…
"It's strictly the paper ballots that get counted. Now, during the early voting period those went into an envelope. On Election Day, they actually get scanned and tabulated right there at the vote centers."
Hayden says opening all those early voter envelopes by hand will take time, and she’s reserved the Old National Events Plaza for up to three days.
She said once the votes are out of the envelopes they are run through a high-speed tabulator.
Hayden said ballots should not have to be counted by hand.