Slow start to a primary season, and other notes
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Slow start to a primary season, and other notes
A handful of notes and other reads heading into the working week …
Thanks to sponsor Food Finders Food Bank for the help to make this edition possible. For more about the nonprofit organization’s work to feed families in and around Greater Lafayette, along with plans for its annual Blue Jean Ball, scroll through today’s edition.
Just a handful of notes and other reads heading into the working week …
PRIMARY POLLS OPEN: Early voting in Tippecanoe County’s primaries is off to a fairly sluggish start. Since opening April 5, 408 people have voted, according to a vote tracker/poll waiting time tool used by the elections office. For fair context: This year is lining up to be a more normal, Election Day-concentrated situation than in 2020, when early and absentee voting dominated under days of stricter pandemic protocols. (Not to mention: This is a midterm, without the juice of presidential campaigns.)
Either way, this week will expand early voting options, beyond a trip downtown to the Tippecanoe County Office Building. Here are some things to keep in mind.
About the election: The May 3 primary will decide which candidates make the November general election in congressional, General Assembly, assorted county and township seats, precinct committee positions and delegates to the state party conventions. Voters may ask for either a Democratic or Republican ballot at the polling place.
Where to vote ahead of the May 3 primary day:
At the election office: 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. weekdays at the Tippecanoe County Board of Elections, on the third floor of the County Office Building, 20 N. Third St. in Lafayette. There will be 9 a.m.-4 p.m. hours on Saturday, April 23, and Saturday, April 30, in the elections office. The final day of early voting will be 8 a.m.-noon Monday, May 2.
9 a.m.-noon Thursday, April 21: Lafayette Jefferson High School, 1801 S. 18th St.
9 a.m.- 1 p.m. April 23: Otterbein United Methodist Church, 405 E. Oxford St., Otterbein; Stockwell United Methodist Church, 6941 Church St., Stockwell; West Point Fire Station, 4949 Indiana 25 South.
Noon-6 p.m. April 25-30: Eastside Assembly of God, 6121 E. County Road 50 South; Faith West Community Center, 1920 Northwestern Ave.; Northend Community Center, 2000 Elmwood Ave.; Wea Ridge Baptist Church, 1051 E. County Road 430 South.
Election Day: Polls will be open 6 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday, May 3. The county will have 17 vote centers open that day.
On ballots: To see which races will be on your ballot, go to www.indianavoters.com. Here’s a list of candidates running for elected positions in Tippecanoe County.
For more about candidates: The League of Women Voters of Greater Lafayette compiled a series of Q&As and video interviews with candidates, assembled at Vote411.org. Key in your address, pick your party ballot and scan the candidate bios and responses.
JUST A REMINDER: While we’re talking about what makes a media outlet (good morning, Kirk Freeman; I wrote about it in Sunday’s edition), here’s what this reporting project thing is all about. Feel free to share with friends and foes alike ...
TUITION FREEZE AT PURDUE: In recent weeks, Purdue has been touting its 10th consecutive year of no tuition increases and stabilized room and board for campus housing, and how – all totaled – keeping tuition and housing at roughly 2012 prices will cross the $1 billion savings mark for students. Purdue President Mitch Daniels told university trustees that that worked out to 60,000 new grads who’d come through the West Lafayette campus with no tuition increase. The tuition freeze has become one of Daniels’ top calling cards. (It’s also been a fertile source of criticism about how those savings have led to cuts, privatization of campus functions and more.) During this month’s trustees meeting, Daniels showed the math for current students. At average tuition and room and board cost increases since 2012 across other Big Ten campuses, in-state students living on campus would have paid $5,878 more a year in 2021-22 – that’s $25,284 compared to $19,406.
GRAD STUDENT EYES ON IU … AND PURDUE: And then there’s this … In Bloomington, Indiana University graduate students were striking to get union recognition and better pay for the instruction, lab work and other jobs that come with grad life. At Purdue, grad students are monitoring the situation at the rival public university. WBAA reporter Ben Thorp had a good, quick look at what Purdue grad students are looking to do, even after the university this semester upped stipends and delivered a wage package that will put the lowest full-time employee on campus at $15 an hour. Here’s a way into that story: “Purdue students hope IU strike will galvanize their own living wage efforts.”
WOLF PARK’S 50TH: Wolf Park near Battle Ground, just north of Lafayette, will celebrate the 50th anniversary of when Erich Klinghammer received the first wolves from Chicago’s Brookfield Zoo and started his behavioral research and education about their interactions. Wolf Park will spend the rest of the year marking its history and telling about plans for the next half-century, said Karah Rawlings, executive director of the facility at 4004 E. County road 800 North. First up: Wolf Park’s 50th Birthday Party, set for Saturday, April 23. The day will include tours, music and one of the park’s signature Howl Nights. For tickets and more information, go to https://wolfpark.org/programs/50th-celebration/
Thanks, again to sponsor Food Finders Food Bank for the help to make this edition possible. For more about Food Finders’ Blue Jean Ball, click on the link below.
Have a story idea for upcoming editions? Send them to me: davebangert1@gmail.com. For news during the day, follow on Twitter: @davebangert.
Slow start to a primary season, and other notes
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