Nov. 5—GOSHEN — As of 9:30 p.m., 27 of Elkhart County’s 29 polling places have been counted, but that’s not enough to call some races.
Due to a technical problem, the county’s 29,118 early ballots, along with about 3,000 mail-in votes, could not be counted Tuesday evening. They won’t start counting until 9 a.m. Wednesday morning. Provisional ballots must also be verified and counted.
The total number of votes cast on Election Night is also not yet known, because not all votes have been counted yet. However, some candidates have strong leads in their contested races.
As of Tuesday evening, it appeared the Elkhart County At-Large seat would return to the incumbents, Adam Bujalski (22,861), Steven Clark (22,054) and Thomas Stump (23,054).
“It looks good,” Clark said Tuesday night. “I am excited that it appears that Adam, Tom and myself will be the winners, and I am pleased that Elkhart County trusts us to move the county forward and continue the positive direction we are taking.”
Bujalski was also confident he would get his seat.
“Looking at the numbers and the demographics of the county, I think we’re missing some absentees, but right now I’m pretty confident,” he said. “I have finished my first term and there are still many things the council can change from the way it used to be, by modernizing the province. I am happy to continue serving another four years on the way I like.”
Republican incumbents faced two Democratic candidates as of Tuesday at 9:30 p.m.: Ralph Spelbring (7,731) and Kevin Peters (9,754).
Timothy Wesco (7,034), the Republican candidate for State Representative District 21, also expressed confidence in his race against Libertarian Melissa Kauffman (1,795) on Tuesday evening.
“I will wait patiently for the results, but I am confident in the outcome,” Wesco said.
He added, “I’m excited to continue representing my community in the statehouse and I’m excited about where Indiana is and where we can continue to go as we continue to expand opportunity and freedom and uphold the state’s values uphold. life and liberty in our state.”
However, across the country other races were much closer.
Keith Goodman (638), president of Goshen Community Schools District 4, had a significant lead over his opponents Linda Hartman (410) and Lisa Lederach (369).
“It certainly feels good to be in this position, but I also know there are more votes coming in,” he said.
Goodman said he has been working hard, going door to door and talking to a lot of people. He was happy to see Tuesday night’s numbers, but they weren’t set in stone yet.
“I had a lot of people helping me, a lot of friends and family. I’m extremely grateful for their support, their time, their energy. I’m very grateful for that,” he said.
Here are the numbers counting 27 of the 29 voting centers. These figures do not include mail-in ballots, early voting ballots or provisional ballots.
US Representative District 2
Rudy Yakym, R: 25,455
Lori Camp, D: 9,345
William Henry, L: 882
Michael John Hubbard I: 14
State Representative District 21
Timothy Wesco, R: 7,034
Melissa Kauffman, L: 1,795
County Council in general
Vote for 3
Adam Bujalski, R: 22,861
Steven Clark, R: 22,583
