Here are a couple of updates on crashes taking place Tuesday, Dec. 1, from Indiana State Police:
6 p.m. update:
After about six hours, an investigation and subsequent cleanup of a crash on Interstate 70 near the Indiana/Ohio state line has concluded. Both eastbound lanes are now back open. Motorists intending to travel through the area can resume normal travel. The crash took place at the Ohio 6 mile-marker before noon and required all eastbound lanes to be shut down.
James M. Disney, age 74, of Richmond, Indiana, died unexpectedly Friday, November 27, 2020, and went to be with the LORD. Jim was born on October 22, 1946, in Anderson County, Tennessee, to Grace Disney and raised by his mother and stepfather, Bob Clements, and later, Bill Wright. He graduated from Richmond High School in 1966. Jim served seven tours of duty in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. He retired at the age of 50 from GTE, where he worked as a telephone installer maintainer.
Wayne County’s Democratic Party chair Beth Harrick shared this statement on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 4, with local media regarding November 2020 Election Day and vote count proceedings. RELATED ARTICLE: WAYNE COUNTY ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCED
“Above the desire to elect any one candidate, the Wayne County Democratic Party is committed to protecting the interests of voters and the integrity of the election process. On October 28th we became aware of a serious discrepancy between the Indiana state statute (IC 3-11-14-30) and how Wayne County Poll Workers were being trained by the Wayne County Clerk’s office. The discrepancy was in regards to documenting the final per-precinct, per-candidate tally of votes at each polling site, prior to the election machinery being removed and taken to the Courthouse for a merged final count.
Wayne County might go another night before election results are made public. Bipartisan teams and the Voters Registration Office staff are painstakingly reviewing the nearly 3,700 mail-in absentee ballots cast in the 2020 election to make sure each one is counted. Wayne County Clerk Debra Berry said the process begins when a voter requests an absentee ballot. The voter is sent an absentee ballot and a secure envelope for its return. The voter marks their ballot and returns that ballot to the Voters Registration Office in the secure envelope.
Fayette County health officials announced Wednesday, Nov. 4, that the county has some of the worst COVID-19 statistics in the country. It ranks in the top 100 worst counties in the United States for cases per hundred thousand on a seven-day rolling average. In addition, Fayette County is Indiana’s only county to remain in the red level, 3, which is the state’s worst, for COVID-19 for the second straight week. On Wednesday, Fayette County’s Health Officer, Dr. Wayne White, recommended that all Fayette County schools curtail all extracurricular activities from Nov.
Wayne County election officials are still winding down the count of votes collected Tuesday and in the preceding weeks through early voting, mailed ballots and the traveling board. Shortly before 1 p.m. Wednesday, no results were yet available on the county’s website. Polls closed at 6 p.m. Tuesday and few if any voters were standing in line at that time, based on a reporter’s visit to four of the county’s eight vote centers around that time. Wayne County Clerk Debra Berry said the mail-in absentee ballots and the ballots collected by the traveling poll board, who visit shut-ins and others, were a part of the delay in finishing the vote counting Tuesday night. Having to print the results tapes of results for each precinct at the polling places instead of bringing the equipment to the courthouse as usual also threw off the regular schedule and added more time to the counting, Berry said.
Wayne County election results are expected to be delayed tonight because of a change in the tabulation process. Wayne County Clerk Debra Berry said the process since vote centers were introduced in Wayne County has been that when the vote centers close for Election Day, the inspector and judge have brought the equipment to the Voter Registration Office in the courthouse. Once there, they would run the tapes — in other words, print the results — while simultaneously electronically tabulating the results for posting to the county website for the public and the media. However, Wayne County Democratic Party chairman Beth Harrick made a request last week that the tapes be run at each vote center, citing Indiana code 3-11-14-30, according to attorney Amy Noe Dudas, speaking during Whitewater Government Television’s Election Night coverage. The code says, “Subject to IC 3-12-2-5, as soon as the polls are closed, the inspector, in the presence of the judges and poll clerks, immediately shall secure each electronic voting system against voting and obtain at least one (1) paper printout of the total votes cast for each candidate and on each public question in that precinct.”
Once the Democratic Party followed up on its request in the afternoon on Election Day, the Wayne County Voter Registration Office contacted the state election board attorney for clarification, Dudas said.
These are the polls open from 6 a.m. – 6 p.m. today in Wayne County, Indiana. You must be standing in line at 6 p.m. at a polling place to be allowed to vote after the polls close. Please visit our Western Wayne News Facebook page and be our “boots on the ground” throughout today to let other voters know where you are and about how much of a wait/line there is. Golay Center
1007 E Main St. Cambridge City
As of Wednesday, about 15,000 registered voters in Wayne County had cast an absentee or in-person absentee ballot. In-person absentee voting, also known as early voting, continues at four vote centers plus the courthouse on Thursday and Friday, and at the Kuhlman Center and courthouse on Saturday. Ballots also may be cast 8:30 a.m. to noon Monday at the courthouse. Eight vote centers will be open Tuesday for Election Day. “I assume there will be long lines on Election Day,” Wayne County Clerk Debra Berry said.
