Support for this edition comes from Food Finders Food Bank, ready to kick off the annual Drive Away Hunger campaign. For the 16th consecutive year, Food Finders will launch its Drive Away Hunger campaign, Nov. 1-Dec. 4, aiming to feed neighbors in Greater Lafayette and across the region by collecting 900,000 meals through physical donations and monetary support. For details on Lafayette Media Group dropoff sites at Pay Less Super Markets, ideas for food drives at school, the office or where you worship, and how to donate directly, go to www.food-finders.org/dah.
POSTAL SERVICE: ‘DEPLOYING EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES’ FOR ON-TIME MAIL-IN BALLOTS
The U.S. Postal Service pushed back this week after warnings from the Tippecanoe County Election Board about slow mail service that had local election officials urging voters to hand-deliver their mail-in ballots rather than risk having them arrive after a 6 p.m. Nov. 3 Election Night cutoff to count.
Susan Wright, a U.S. Postal Service spokesperson, told Based in Lafayette that the local system was working to keep election-related mail moving on time.
“Postal Service management in the Lafayette area has confirmed that there are no reported ballot delays,” Wright said.
“Along with other postal facilities across the country, Lafayette retail and delivery operations has been deploying extraordinary measures since Oct. 24 to expedite ballots to election offices,” she said. “These measures include, but are not limited to, extra deliveries and collections, special pick-ups, and localized handling and transportation of ballots.”
During a hastily called meeting Tuesday, the Tippecanoe County Election Board issued a series of recommendations for voters who might have still had election ballots in their hands, after a report that one mail-in ballot took three weeks to get to a resident preparing to vote from Alabama.
“I can only guess how long it will take that voter to get the ballot to Tippecanoe County,” Randy Vonderheide, a Republican appointee to the three-member election board, said Tuesday.
By the Oct. 22 application deadline for mail-ins, Tippecanoe County’s election office sent 2,176 ballots, Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush said. As of Wednesday, 1,365 of those – or 62% a – had been returned, according to county records.
Those ballots must be received by the county by 6 p.m. Nov. 3 to be counted.
In an Oct. 20 release, the U.S. Postal Service recommended mailing ballots at least a week before Election Day. That date – Oct. 27 – has passed.
“Because election office rules and deadlines differ across the country, we recommend that voters learn the requirements that apply to them and follow their election office’s recommendations,” the USPS said.
In this case, the Tippecanoe County Election Board laid out these options:
Voters with mail-in ballots may hand deliver them to the Tippecanoe County Elections Office, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette, by 6 p.m. Nov. 3 on Election Day. Mail-in ballots also may be delivered by hand to any of the county’s vote centers.
Mail-in ballots also may be returned to the county’s election office by a family member or someone in the voter’s household.
Voters who applied for a mail-in ballot but decide later to vote in person may do that by surrendering the mail-in ballot at a polling place or the county election office. If the mail-in ballot did not arrive, the voter may declare that when going to vote in person. In each case, the voter is required to sign a form explaining the reason for not voting with the mail-in ballot they applied for.
EARLY VOTER TURNOUT UP 42.5%, SO FAR, OVER LAST MIDTERM: Early voting in Tippecanoe County continued to outpace turnout for the same period in 2022, the most recent midterm election, county election officials say.
As of Wednesday, 17,849 ballots – both in-person and mail-in – had been cast since the start of early voting Oct. 6. That’s up 42.5% from the 12,521 votes cast by the same point in early voting, according to the county election office.
Those numbers show a drop in mail-in ballots received at this point – 1,365 this year compared to 2,144 in 2022. But in-person voting is up 58.8% this year over 2022.
In 2022, the most recent midterm election, 39,932 people voted for a 32.1% turnout, according to county records. Of those, 46.6% voted early.
Compared to 2024, during the most recent presidential year election, the early voting total is down 41% from the 30,291 ballots cast by the same time two years ago, according to county records.
LAST CALL EARLY VOTING OPTIONS: Here’s a schedule for early voting sites in Tippecanoe County through the noon Monday, Nov. 2, deadline:
Friday, Oct. 30
Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. Hours 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South, Lafayette. Hours: Noon-6 p.m.
Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette. Hours: Noon-6 p.m.
Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South, Lafayette. Hours: Noon-6 p.m.
John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette. Hours: Noon-6 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 31
Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. Hours 9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South, Lafayette. Hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tippecanoe County Fairgrounds, 1406 Teal Road, Lafayette. Hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South, Lafayette. Hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
John Dennis Wellness Center, 1101 Kalberer Road, West Lafayette. Hours: 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 2
Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St., Lafayette. Hours: 8 a.m.-noon.
YOUR VOTER GUIDE: Looking for a hand unraveling the names and issues on the ballot? Here’s a look at your early polling options, vote centers open on and before Election Day and Q&As with candidates in contested races on Tippecanoe County ballots.
COUNTY LIBRARIAN RETIRING AFTER 24 YEARS LEADING TIPPECANOE COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
Jos Holman, who helped lead Tippecanoe County Public Library through more than two decades of growth with branches outside Lafayette, announced in October to the library’s board that he will retire as a county librarian and library director.
Holman said this week that he plans to wrap up by mid-December. And the library board is planning a retirement celebration for him 4-7 p.m. Dec. 10 at Tippecanoe County Public Library’s downtown location, renamed the Holman Branch in 2024.
“Yes, I am ready,” Holman said this week.
Holman has been county librarian since 2002, when he came from a similar position in Mt. Vernon, Indiana. In the past 24 years, the Tippecanoe County Public Library has added several outlying branches, including the Wea Prairie Branch on South 18th Street, the Wyandotte Branch on County Road 50 South in Lafayette and the Klondike Branch on 3062 Lindberg Road, just west of West Lafayette. The library expanded downtown facilities when it took in the neighboring Walter Gray building, a former auto dealership and garage, renaming it the Stein Family Building in 2012. In 2024, the library cut the ribbon on a $6 million renovation to its downtown branch, renaming a facility opened at 627 South St. in 1989 for its director.
Marlene Darnell, divisional librarian, will be interim library director while the TCPL board conducts a national search for Holman’s replacement, the board announced this week.
THE REASON FOR NEW ADDRESSES FOR WEST LAFAYETTE FIRE STATION AND WELLNESS CENTER
When West Lafayette breaks ground Friday afternoon on an expanded Fire Station No. 3, the city will be saying farewell to the address numbers that show it at 1100 Kalberer Road. The new address, as of Sunday, Nov. 1: 900 Kalberer Road.
Across the street, the John Dennis Wellness Center will be recalibrated to 901 Kalberer Road, ditching its 1101 Kalberer Road address its had since it opened in the past decade.
The reason? City officials say that, generally, addresses west of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse should increase as you travel from east to west. The numbers assigned to the two West Lafayette facilities were out of sequence with other addresses, creating inconsistencies with neighboring properties. The city said the Area Plan Commission, which helps determine addresses for new development, was working to right the east-to-west sequencing on Kalberer Road as the area continues to develop.
In this case, one example: Walt’s Pub & Grill, which is west of Fire Station No. 3, is at 1050 Kalberer Road. The numbers continue to climb as Kalberer Road heads toward Morehouse Road.
“This has been on our radar for a number of years, but had wanted to get this squared away prior to pulling final permits on the expansion of Fire Station 3,” Jen Van Schuyver, West Lafayette’s development direction, said. “With the development occurring on the northside it’s easier to correct two municipal addresses now than a number of other established businesses later.”
Work is expected to start on an expansion of West Lafayette Fire Station No. 3 in November, with a groundbreaking event set for 2 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30.
Last week, the West Lafayette Redevelopment Commission agreed to a guaranteed maximum price for the first phase of the project at $5.58 million for the first phase. Another $5.75 million has been set aside in 2027 for a second phase. The fire station expansion, in the works to handle growth in the northern portion of the city, is expected to include room for a second crew at Fire Station No. 3, two new drive-through bays for trucks, additional living quarters, training space, HazMat vehicle and trailer storage, decontamination and airlock systems that separate gear zones from living quarters, and expanded parking, according to city documents.
Thanks, again, for support for this edition from Food Finders Food Bank, ready to kick off the annual Drive Away Hunger campaign, Nov. 1-Dec. 4. Learn about how you can help at www.food-finders.org/dah.
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