More Information

 About the May 2, 2006 Primary Election Results

1.      When do these results become final?

The election night returns reported on the "Live Election Returns" area of this site are not yet final and official, but represent what is known as the "Election Night Canvass."

           A. Closing the Polling Places:

Indiana state law requires counties to begin counting votes cast at the primary election immediately after the polls close at 6 p.m., prevailing local time.

In accordance with prevailing local time, the polls in the counties of Daviess, Dubois, Gibson, Jasper, Knox, Lake, LaPorte, Martin, Newton, Perry, Pike, Porter, Posey, Pulaski, Spencer, Starke, Vanderburgh, and Warrick, close at 7 p.m., Indianapolis time. The polls in all other counties close at 6 p.m., Indianapolis time.

In most counties, ballots are counted first at local polling places by precinct election officials. These officials then travel on election night to a central counting location (often the county courthouse) to report the precinct election results to the county election board.

In other counties, ballots are not counted by precinct election officials, but are returned to the central counting location (often the county courthouse), where each precinct’s ballots are counted by the county election board or designated county election board employees.

            B. Reports from County Election Boards:

To help this office provide election night returns to the public, each county election board has been asked to forward the general election results for federal and state level candidates to the Indiana Election Division.

Complete or partial returns from each county will be posted continuously on election night as received from each county. Data entry will cease at midnight, and resume the morning after election day until reporting is complete. Please remember to refresh your browser for the latest returns.

           C. Provisional Ballots, Corrections, and Recounts:

To comply with federal law and Indiana law, county election boards may be revising election night vote totals to include votes cast on “provisional ballots.”

A provisional ballot is cast by a voter whose eligibility to vote is questioned. If the county election board finds that the voter was in fact eligible to vote, then the provisional ballot cast by that voter is counted, and candidate totals will be revised accordingly. All valid provisional ballots must be counted by noon, May 12, 2006.

After completing the county canvass, each county election board includes a complete set of certified returns in its minutes. A county election board may vote to correct any error in the election night canvass through noon, May 19, 2006. After this deadline, these election returns are subject to further revision if a recount is conducted.

A recount for a local office occurs after a petition for a recount is granted by a court. A recount for a state level office occurs after a petition for a recount is granted by the state recount commission (http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voters/recount.html).

A recount for the Democratic Party or Republican Party nomination for election to a local office must be completed by June 30, 2006. The local court may extend this deadline to another specific date if the court makes a finding that there is good cause to do so.  There is not a specific deadline in Indiana law to for the state recount commission to complete a recount for the Democratic Party or Republican Party nomination for election to a federal, statewide, or any state legislative office.

After the completion of any proceedings involving recounts, the election results from the general election become final and official.

2.        Which primary election results can be found on this web site?

The election night returns presented on this site includes votes cast in the Democratic Party primary and Republican Party primary for nominations to election for U.S. Senator; for U.S. Representative; for State Senator; for Indiana State Representative; for Judge of a Circuit, Probate, Small Claims, or Superior Court; and for Prosecuting Attorney.

These primary election results are voluntarily reported by a county to the Indiana Election Division for publication on this web site.

3.        What about primary election results for local offices?

A candidate seeking the Democratic Party or Republican Party nomination for election to a “local level” office, such as circuit court clerk, a county office, a township office, or a town office elected in 2006 must file the candidate’s declaration with the local circuit court clerk (or county election board).

The primary election results for these candidates are not reported to the Indiana Election Division until approximately May 16, 2006, the deadline for filing a post-election report. The county post-election reports are available in paper form for inspection and copying at the Election Division, but are not available in electronic form, or currently published on this web site.

However, some counties do publish their own election night results on county web sites for some of these offices. The Election Division links to these county web sites can be found at http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voters/usefullinks.html

4.        Why are some offices not on the primary election ballot?

The Democratic Party and Republican Party do not choose their nominees for the offices of Secretary of State, Auditor of State, or Treasurer of State at the May 2, 2006 primary election. Instead, the candidates for these offices are chosen at the state party conventions, usually held in June of each general election year.

For more information about the Indiana Democratic Party convention or the Indiana Republican Party convention see http://www.indems.org/ and http://www.indgop.org/.

5.        Does a candidate who wins a primary automatically appear on the general election ballot?

A candidate who wins the Democratic Primary or Republican Primary is entitled to appear on the November 7, 2006 general election ballot as a candidate of that party, unless the nominee chooses to withdraw as a candidate, subject to certain deadlines, or is disqualified as a candidate after the primary, due to death, or felony conviction, for example.

6.        What about candidates of other political parties or independent candidates?

Other political parties are not eligible to use a primary election to nominate their candidates for the general election. The Libertarian Party (http://www.lpin.org/) is entitled to nominate all of its candidates by party convention. If a party other than the Democratic, Libertarian, or Republican parties chooses to nominate candidates, or an independent candidate wishes to appear on the ballot, then the political party or independent candidate does not conduct a primary election, but instead nominates the candidate by petition. For links to some of these other political parties, see http://www.in.gov/sos/elections/voters/usefullinks.html. If enough registered voters sign the petition, and other filing requirements are met, then the candidate appears on the general election ballot.