Voter turnout across the region dropped this year, compared to the last municipal election in 2019. Only Whitley County improved its voter turnout percentage, while also increasing the number of registered voters.
Turnout dropped by more than 10% in every county, except Allen where it dropped by almost 7%.
In Kosciusko County, the number of registered voters dropped tremendously, going from more than 18,000 in 2019 to less than 1,500 this election.
Kosciusko also saw a drop in registered voters just from the primary in May.
According to the county clerk’s office, this drop can be attributed to the City of Warsaw not holding an election this year, due to a ticket of entirely uncontested races.
According to Michael Wolf, the chair of the political science science department at Purdue Fort Wayne, Indiana law gives cities the option to not hold an election to save money.
Allen and Whitley counties both increased in straight party voters, with both counties seeing more Republicans voting straight party tickets than Democrats.
In Wells County, the number of Republican straight-ticket voters dropped from 25% to less than 1% and in Allen County, straight party Democrats increased by less than a percent.
Everywhere else in the region, Democrats voting straight party dropped by larger numbers.
