So what exactly caused the hold up last night in Lake County, Indiana, which lead to the cliffhanger of an outcome in the state’s primary? The state wasn’t called for Senator Clinton until late into the night because Lake County–part of the Chicago suburbs– used a system of tabulating votes called “central counting” where absentee ballots are counted at the end of the day. This system is usually reserved for rural communities while urban areas tabulate absentee ballots throughout the day. Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita made it clear that the Lake County election board needs to change their ways:

“The fear is that when you go behind closed doors and you take a lot of time–of course the number one priority is accuracy, but when you take an overabundant amount of time and the nation not to mention the state is waiting the only thing that can come of that is suspicion of nefarious activities so you want to get if not a total count out at least partial count out–a rolling count out so that we all know again as tax payers, as voters that the count is occurring and that we are getting results on a piecemeal basis,” Rokita said, “That didn’t happen. That usually doesn’t happen in Lake County and they have been criticized before for that practice

Rokita mentioned Lake County’s less than stellar reputation when it comes to their election board. He said he usually sends teams of his deputies up to Lake County to monitor their elections and he is hoping for more transparency in the future. However, county election boards in Indiana are autonomous and state government can merely suggest changes and cannot regulate their behavior as long as it is lawful. Rokita said he is not going to investigate and does not suspect any illegal activity, but that he will continue to monitor the situation. He added that he wouldn’t put political mischief past the board:

“This is a board made up of politicians and political wannabes and I don’t put politics past delaying the vote or anything like that, but I can’t find anything they did that is contrary to Indiana law at this point.”

Rokita was adamant that transparency and the ability for the media and public to monitor the vote count process is imperative and he will continue to ask Lake County that they change their system:

“They have to be doing better than the other guy because of their reputation, but there is no excuse for not reporting out at least the partial tally as they are counting,” Rokita stressed, “We haven’t had any reports that media weren’t allowed to watch the tally. But certainly that has to be the case. This isn’t Rome where a puff of white smoke comes out and the two party chairmen announce the results. I mean in order for people to have trust in the process they have to be able to see it. Giving a partial tally throughout the night like you do in the rest of this country really is something they ought to adopt.”

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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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