This and that … early votes on a Saturday edition

Early voting numbers, so far. Harrison grad Ted Arthur lands role in Broadway’s ‘Back to the Future: The Musical.’ Lafayette scene friends set ‘Mumfest,’ rally for Rick Mummey. Fallout in Fairfield

Oct 22, 2022

Today’s edition is sponsored by the Center for C-SPAN Scholarship and Engagement, which will host a conversation with C-SPAN founder and Purdue alum Brian Lamb and Purdue President Mitch Daniels Oct. 24 at Purdue’s Fowler Hall. For more information and free tickets, click the links below.

**CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS AND MORE INFORMATION**

Just a few notes for a Saturday morning …

EARLY VOTING TALLIES: As of Friday, a week-and-a-half into the early voting season ahead of the Nov. 8 election, slightly more than 2,000 Tippecanoe County residents had voted in-person, the election office reported. Another 600 mail-in absentee ballots – of the 2,345 that were sent out – had been submitted, too, according to election office numbers. Tippecanoe County has 123,845 registered voters this election.

Early voting continues 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, in two spots:

Ivy Hall, Ivy Tech Community College, 3101 S. Creasy Lane, Lafayette
Wabash Township Fire Station No. 2, 51 S. Newman Road, West Lafayette

Here are the early voting locations for next week, if you’re looking to plan a trip to the polls:

Weekdays, Oct. 24-28: 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St.
Tuesday, Oct. 25: 10 a.m.-6 p.m., Tippecanoe County 4-H Fairgrounds, 1400 Teal Road, Lafayette.
Wednesday, Oct. 26: 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Mackey Arena, East Entrance, 900 John Wooden Drive, West Lafayette.
Saturday, Oct. 29: 8 a.m.-3 p.m., Tippecanoe County Office Building, 20 N. Third St.
Saturday, Oct. 29: 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Otterbein United Methodist Church, 405 E. Oxford St., Otterbein; West Point Fire Station, 4949 Indiana 25, West Point; and Clarks Hill Christian Church, 9510 Pearl St., Clarks Hill.

For a full list of early voting sites in Tippecanoe County ahead of the Nov. 8 election, along with Election Day polling places, here’s the schedule.

For a roundup of candidate Q&As, ballot lookup tools and more, here you go:

As campaign season rolls on: A guide, so far. A collection of candidate Q&As, ballot lookup tools and voting sites as you sort things out ahead of the Nov. 8 election

Look for additional candidate Q&As and developments in local races in the coming days.

ALL IN FOR ‘MUMFEST:’ Rick Mummey has been a friendly face, big-time supporter of Lafayette’s music scene and truly a great guy for as long as I can remember. (And I date to 1989, when Rick was on the WKHY morning shift, telling me to get my sorry butt out of bed). Friends from the Lafayette scene announced this week that they’ll hold a benefit Nov. 19 for Mummey to help him cover mounting medical expenses tied to recent back surgery. Mumfest will feature Frank Muffin, Dr. Fine & D’Gleet (a band Mummey’s front for more than two decades), The Scratch Thing, the Velocity District and the Brickler-Klein Project. The show will be 6 p.m. Nov. 19 at The Arts Federation, 638 North St. Tickets: $15, available at www.frankmuffin.com.

GREAT SCOTT, LOOK WHO’S CONDUCTING: The announcement Friday that “Back to the Future: The Musical” would land on Broadway in 2023 included word that Harrison High School grad Ted Arthur would be musical director. Arthur posted this shortly after Friday morning’s news: “Happy Back To The Future Day! SO EXCITED TO START NEXT SPRING!!” Arthur, a 2004 Harrison grad, has had music director gigs on Broadway dating to 2018, with “The Prom.” The show based on the hit 1985 movie will have performances June 30, with an opening Aug. 3, at the Winter Garden Theatre … in case you’re making plans.

SPEAKING ABOUT FLUX … THE WORD AT FAIRFIELD TOWNSHIP: Clear answers escaped everyone by the end of the week about who was in charge at Fairfield Township, days after former Trustee Taletha Coles stepped down under fire and just hours away from a court hearing that could have booted her from office anyway. As a locksmith was changing the locks on the township office doors, township and county officials spent part of Friday trying to clarify whether Perry Schnarr, township board president, or Cheryl Watkins, a township employee Coles said had been elevated to chief deputy, should be interim trustee. Tippecanoe County Clerk Julie Roush said the Indiana Township Association is expected to weigh in on the question early next week. Either way, the title could be short-lived: The Tippecanoe County Democratic Party set a caucus for Nov. 12 to choose a replacement for Coles to round out the rest of her term, set to end at the end of 2022. The caucus comes four days after the Nov. 8 election, in which Fairfield Township voters will choose between Democrat Monica Casanova and Republican April O’Brien to be trustee, starting January 2023.

FINALLY, TODAY … RUNNERS AHEAD: Heads up near campus and in West Lafayette this morning. It’s Purdue Half-Marathon day. Here’s a way into maps and more …