Indianapolis, IN—

Indiana is getting ready for a primary day tomorrow that Hoosiers here haven’t seen in at least 40 years. The excitement in the Obama-Clinton head to head has resulted in 303,893 new voter registrations, which includes 138,297 new and 165,596 updated registrations in the state. Even with the expected high turnout Secretary of State Todd Rokita expects “to have a fair and accurate election that incorporates integrity” and that they will have a “decisive tally” and a “true choice” of the people tomorrow night. Rokita is looking at tomorrow as “final exam day” and says Indiana’s 30,000 poll workers are ready for the test.

The highest centers of new voter registrations are in Marion County where Indianapolis is located and in the university towns—a good sign for Barack Obama even as Clinton leads the polls.

People could early vote, technically absentee voting, until noon today and there have been a record breaking 167,783 ballots cast—double the amount of a usual primary and close to the amount of early ballots cast in a general election. These votes will be counted throughout the day tomorrow.

Rokita says Indiana is prepared for their big day printing extra ballots, having more electronic voting machines, and training alternative poll workers, but he stresses no election is perfect:

“We have laws in place for when those mistakes happen and we have well trained leaders and poll workers to react to those issues when the pop up,” Rokita told reporters, “My biggest fear and it’s a wonderful fear to have. Is that there will be so many people. Such a high turn out there will be long lines. “

The polls open at 6am tomorrow and close at 6pm. 12 of the 92 counties are in central time, which means they will actually close at 7pm eastern. They believe turnout will be as heavy as a general election, but Rokita says that poll workers will be able to handle the crowds and will get everyone processed as fast as possible.

Historically, Indiana’s May primary has been too late in the year to really matter, but with the tight Democratic race Indiana is aware this is the first time the state has held the spotlight in a presidential process in 40 years. Rokita welcomes the attention and is confident that everyone who wants to vote tomorrow will be able to:

“From a presidential perspective yes it’s the first time we’ve mattered in 40 years and I welcome it. I hope Indiana can matter every year and that’s a different press conference,” Rokita said, “What I’m worried about is that all people get a chance to vote. I’m not worried that we have a perfect election. I do expect us to have an election that is fair and accurate in its integrity and if the poll workers are trained as I have been told and expect they are everyone that is 18 or older and a U.S citizen that wants to vote in tomorrow’s election should be able to.”

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