How did Wayne County voters vote in the 2024 general election?

RICHMOND, Ind. – Of the more than 45,000 registered voters in Wayne County, approximately 25,779 votes were cast in this year’s general election, with 13 of 14 polling places reporting as of 10:30 a.m. Tuesday.

Republicans won every race where they were represented, with the majority of races uncontested by Democrats.

Of the regular party votes, 10,091 went to the Republican Party, of which 4,190 went to the Democratic Party. The Libertarian Party and We the People Party had 74 and 174 ballots respectively.

In the race for the US presidency, Donald Trump won 16,741 votes, or 65% of the province, compared to Vice President Kamala Harris’ 8,389.

Three voters who voted for Trump at the polls on Tuesday and who did not want to provide a last name — Joe, Connie and Elizabeth — gave a series of reasons why they voted for him.

“Because the country needs change,” Joe said. “I’ve never voted before, but it had to be done.”

“He made me feel like there was still some hope, because I don’t really feel that way,” Connie said. ‘The world is getting worse and worse, and everyone wants hope. I hope he does what he says.’

Elizabeth, a 37-year-old nurse, said she voted strictly Republican, in part because of her family’s military background.

“I grew up with a Marine Corps father and I saw what can happen when other people are in power,” she said. “I have been in the field for 16 years and have seen a lot of damage done by the opponents, so I am ready for changes.”

For Harris voters like Joy Arnett, their reasons were based on fear of others.

“I am literally terrified of another Trump term,” she said. “I’m terrified for my daughters, for my whole family. There are a lot of girls, and I’m terrified of women.”

Arnett said she started voting in 2016 because of Trump, adding that she was never interested in politics until he came on the scene.

“I think we’re at a precipice,” she said. “We are in a very historic place in this country and I want to be on the right side of history.”

Jimmy Freiberger, Arnett’s son and a student at Earlham College who recently presented at the 25th World Congress of Philosophyalso voted for Harris.

“I’m not a big fan of Donald Trump, and there are several reasons for that,” he said. “I think he’s xenophobic, and he’s very open about it, especially after the Springfield pets thing. To me, that’s actually almost more dangerous than the policy, because it cultivates a sense of hatred.”

Freiberger said a point of contention for him from both Trump and Harris is international politics, especially Gaza, adding that he thinks Trump would be worse than Harris.

“Kamala is someone who can push and take a direction that I think is impossible.”

Jamie Perez, another Harris voter who voted with Freiberger and Arnett, compared the Republican Party to Nazism.

“It’s very interesting to me to see that what was once considered political poison… political suicide to compare the Republicans to Hitler and fascism, the Nazi party, is being normalized, and I believe this is because they finally allowing the mask to be used. slip,” Perez said. “This is always what they were thinking about with the rhetoric they embraced.”

Regardless of voter differences, every voter interviewed agreed with how smoothly the voting process went at First English Lutheran Church and the First Kuhlman Center.

“It was good,” Evan Puterbaugh said. “It was my second time voting and it was easy and simple. I don’t want to say I’m happy because we actually have to do it, but it wasn’t like pulling teeth or anything.”

Mike Braun and Micah Beckwith earned the county’s vote for governor and lieutenant governor with 15,167 votes, or 60%, over Democratic challengers Jennifer McCormick and Terry Goodin, who received 8,877 votes.

In the races for U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, Jim Banks and Jefferson Shreve each captured 64% of Wayne County’s votes in their respective races, defeating Democrats Valerie McCray and Cynthia Wirth.

When it came to the public question about amending the state constitution to remove the state superintendent of public instruction from the governor’s line of succession, a majority of Wayne County voters decided not to remove it, with 10,642 against and 9,434 in favor.

The statewide vote was too early to call by late evening, with 85.4% reporting as of 10:41 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 53.7% in favor and 46.3% opposed.

Evan Weaver is a news and sports reporter at The Palladium-Item. Contact him at X (@evan_weaver7) or send an email to [email protected].