Primary Election Day is Tuesday, allowing voters a final chance to select the Democratic party nominees for Bloomington mayor, city clerk and city council.
Voting opens at 6 a.m. and closes at 6 p.m. Unlike early voting, which is exclusively at Election Operations, Election Day will feature 18 polling sites. Voters must go to the polling site they are assigned to, which they can find out by accessing their voter portal.
[Related: Meet the candidates running for Mayor of Bloomington]
The Democratic candidates for mayor are former deputy mayor Donald Griffin, city councilmember Susan Sandberg and executive director at IU Center for Rural Engagement Kerry Thomson. For months, the candidates have made their pitch to voters at forums and debates, where they have revealed subtle differences in their approaches to issues like housing and annexation.
Although a March poll conducted by Public Policy Polling for the BSquare Bulletin found Thomson to be leading, a staggering 58% of respondents were still undecided. Thomson leads the race in fundraising, having received $105,841 in the reporting period from January to early April. In contrast, Sandberg raised $29,732 and Griffin raised $47,373 in the same period, according to candidate spending reports.
The Democratic candidates for city council at-large, which represents the whole city instead of a certain district, are current councilmembers Matt Flaherty and Stephen Volan, and challengers Isak Asare, Andy Ruff, Lois Sabo-Skelton, Ryne Shadday and Jonas Schrodt.
Volan previously represented District 6 but was redistricted out. District 6 now has one contender, and Volan has elected to run for an at-large seat.
[Related: WFIU/WTIU mayoral debate recap: candidates discuss annexation, equity]
Contested city council districts include District 1, with incumbent Isabel Piedmont-Smith and Joe Lee, District 2, which pits current councilmembers Kate Rosenbarger and Sue Sgambelluri against each other, District 3 with incumbent Ron Smith, Conner Wright and Hopi Stosberg and District 5 with Shruti Rana and Jenny Stevens.
Also on the ballot is City Clerk Nicole Bolden, who is running unopposed for re-election.
All but one race is currently uncontested in the general election, meaning that the winners of the election may be set to assume office in January if no one ends up running against them. The one contested race is District 3, which features Republican challenger Brett Heinisch. Republican or Libertarian challengers can enter the race via caucus by July 3 and Independent candidates can file to run as long as they collect the required signatures by June 30.
[Related: City councilmembers denounce lack of transparency in Tech Center funding discussion]
Independent candidate Joseph Davis has filed to run for mayor but had not yet received enough signatures when asked in early April.
