Primary Election Day

I got to my polling place early on Tuesday, and was amused to see the sign below on the door.

I was even more amused at what happened when I entered the voting room. I stepped past the gentleman at the door who was supposed to check my ID, and I had to go back and show him my driver's license. Then I had to show it to the people at the desk, both of whom knew who I was, and one of whom knows me very well. It reminded me of going through airport security. The TSA agents spend ten or twelve seconds checking driver's licenses, pretending to be looking for something. Have they ever stopped anyone who intends harm with this check? Didn't all of the 9-11 hijackers had valid driver's licenses? Still, requiring valid ID seems to be a reasonable way of discouraging voting fraud even if the poll watchers make if more dramatic than it needs to be.

The Jasper County races were pretty clear cut. Terry Risner won the Republican nomination for sheriff with 48.8% of the vote in a three way race, and Dawn Hoffman won the nomination for assessor with 56.9% of the vote, defeating the incumbent and another candidate. However, in the race for the Republican nomination for the first congressional district, the winner, Mark Leyva, won with less than 25% of the vote. One wonders if he would have won in a run-off, though it probably does not matter. The entire Republican field of eight got only 61% of the vote that the incumbent, Peter Visclosky received. The first congressional district is a safe Democratic district even if their candidate may be ethically challenged.

The Republican Senate race is another where a runoff might have changed the outcome. Dan Coats, a former senator, won but with only 39% of the vote. There is a significant chance that he might have lost a run off.

In the District 16 contest between Douglas Gutwein and Richard  Kallenbach, Gutwein won by a 2-1 margin.

My vote was not decisive in any of the races and never has been, illustrating that the economists' claim that it is irrational to vote. (It is rational if you enjoy the process--just as it is rational for you to cheer on your favorite sports team on television. You cannot affect the outcome, but it still feels good to cheer.)

Results for state and national races can be found here. I found the Jasper County results in the Rensselaer Republican; they do not seem to be available yet at the Clerk's office. The Lafayette Journal and Courier online has Jasper county results here. For other county results, see the links here. (If the newspaper can put them online, why cannot the clerk do it as well?)

Update: I did not scroll down far enough to see the link to the pdf file on the clerk's site. I only looked at the sidebar and there was no link there.