By: Keith Klein (Photo: wthr.com)
By the Thursday deadline to request an absentee ballot more than half-a-million Hoosiers had requested to vote by mail.
The Secretary of State’s office shows 560,000 people requested to vote by mail in Indiana for the Nov. 3 election. In 2016 that number was 156,000 .
The current number also surpassed the 547,000 Hoosiers who requested to vote by mail for the 2020 primary, when absentee ballot rules were waived.
Over 934,000 Hoosiers had voted in the 2020 general election as of Friday.
In August and September this year, about 72,000 rides were taken in on Bloomington e-scooters.
That’s about 46 percent of the ridership for the same two months in 2019 – an impact of the pandemic. IU students have returned, but many have reduced travel, because of online classes.
The University makes up the majority of ridership for public buses and private e-scooters alike. After e-scooter ridership dipped severely over the summer, it has rebounded this fall, somewhat better than public bus ridership.
Ridership on Bloomington Transit’s buses in August was about 32 percent of August 2019 ridership.
The licensing agreement requires scooter companies to pay the city 15 cents a ride.
The total of 151,000 e-scooter rides so far in 2020 work out to about $23,000.
The City and Ivy Tech Community College announced the transfer of the John Waldron Arts Center to the City.
Mayor Hamilton announced formation of a committee to recommend the building’s potential long-term use. The City invites residents to nominate themselves or others for service on the committee by contacting Director of Public Engagement Mary Catherine Carmichael at 812-349-3406.
For comprehensive election night coverage, tune to WGCL November 3rd at 7.
