Ripley County votes

WANDA ENGLISH BURNETT PHOTO

Clint Nicholson, seated, with Billie Ebinger, were working the polls at one of the eight polling stations in Ripley County on Tuesday. Also pictured is Kristy Grossman, who was ready to cast her vote. She has been working with Just For Him Ministries in North Carolina, but wanted to make sure to be home to vote!

From the highest office in the country to the county level, voters in Ripley County spoke red with their votes on Election Day 2024.

Republican Donald Trump, with running mate JD Vance, was the choice for the majority of Ripley County voters, along with Republican Mike Braun for governor and running mate, Micah Beckwith. Jim Banks took the US Senator seat. Todd Rokita retained the Attorney General seat, along with Erin Houchin, US Representative Ninth District and Lindsay Patterson for State Representative District 55. Jean Leising, State Senator, was unopposed as well as Alex Zimmerman for State Representative District 67.

There weren’t a lot of contested races in the county, but one people were watching was that of Ripley County Council At-Large. This also went to the top three Republicans: newcomer Stephanie Back with 8,423 votes, Andrew Decker with 7,860 votes and Peggy Ann Ehlers with 6,289 votes. Decker and Ehlers were both incumbents.

Jay Gayheart, incumbent for Jac-Cen-Del School Board, easily won the seat that was challenged by three. School board positions are non-partisan.

Early voting in the county was strong, but not as large as in 2020, according to Clerk Liz Baumgartner. Voting went smooth throughout the eight voting stations in the county with 64.25 percent turnout. There are 22,604 registered voters with 14,523 casting ballots in 2024. All precincts were reported and the tabulation was completed before 10:00 p.m. on Election Day, November 5 in the county.