It's Election Day. Follow the action here

9:45 p.m.

‘I feel like you should be the best person’

Before Jefferson Shreve conceded the Indianapolis mayoral election around 9 p.m. Tuesday, Derek Jefferson watched votes coming in at the Republican watch party Tuesday night. Jefferson was on the production team of Republican mayoral candidate Shreve’s first commercial.

“As an African American, most of us have been raised or programmed that we should be Democratic, but I have always been independent,” Jefferson said. “I look at the person, and at this point I feel like you should be the best person for what I want out of leadership.”

Jefferson believed that Shreve would bring a change to the city—a change that Indianapolis needs.

“I personally have lost family members on the administration of Joe Hogsett. Crime is a big issue here, and I think he can really tackle the crime,” Jefferson said. “He can’t fix it but he can out things in place to make it much better.”

9:30 p.m.

Indianapolis Republican mayoral candidate Jefferson Shreve conceded the mayor’s race to his opponent, incumbent Democratic Mayor Joe Hogsett, Tuesday evening.

As of 9:30 p.m. with close to 80 percent of precincts reporting, Hogsett had captured just below 60 percent of the vote, with Shreve landing close to 40 percent.

This is our hometown,” Shreve said in his concession speech. “This is our city. And I'm convinced that it can be better."

8:45 p.m.

Republican Sue Finkam has won the Carmel mayoral race, according to unofficial election results.

Her opponent, Democrat Miles Nelson, conceded. Early results show Finkam won the race with about 57 percent of the vote.

Finkam will succeed Jim Brainard, also a Republican, who oversaw a vast transformation of the suburban city during seven terms, including a three-fold population surge to 102,000 residents.

Click here to read the full story.  

8:10 p.m.

Here's a look at voting in Central Indiana today, in Lawrence and Speedway.

6:30 p.m.

The polls are closed in Marion County. 

Komal Sheth showed up to vote at the Benjamin Harrison Presidential site about 20 minutes before voting ended.  She said it was in her voting plan all along.

“We actually have a book club right after this and we planned to vote all together and then have our book club,” Sheth said.

There were 645 recorded voters at the Harrison site on Election Day.

5 p.m.: Indianapolis mayoral candidates on the public safety director role 

Criminal justice has been at the forefront of Indianapolis’ mayoral race. While the candidates have agreed on the need to change state gun laws and increase the number of police officers, a debate over the city’s need for a public safety director sets Democratic incumbent Joe Hogsett and Republican Jefferson Shreve apart. 

The city previously employed a public safety director, who reported to the mayor and oversaw eight agencies, including police, fire, animal control and homeland security. Hogsett eliminated the role in 2016, creating the Office of Public Health and Safety instead. 

Hogsett maintains the role isn’t needed, and that he prefers the city’s police and fire chiefs report directly to him.

Shreve said the city needs a dedicated staff person to focus solely on addressing crime. 

You can read the full story here. 

4:30 p.m. Carmel residents cast their votes 

A steady stream of people voted at polling places in Carmel Tuesday, as residents elect a new mayor for the first time since 1996. Republican Jim Brainard served seven terms in the northern Indianapolis suburb. 

David Atella said he cast his vote without any issues at Mercy Road Church.

“Couldn’t have been any easier or any faster,” Atella said. 

The Carmel mayor’s race has been a heated one.  The two candidates vying for Brainard’s old job are Republican Sue Finkam and Democrat Miles Nelson. If Nelson is elected, he would become Carmel’s first Democratic mayor. If Finkham is elected, she would be the city’s third female mayor. 

People are also voting for city council seats and a school referendum. Sharon Hendricks voted at St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church.  She said she always tries to get to the polls. 

“I feel it’s my civic responsibility to vote.  I can’t complain about anything or do anything if I’m not out there voting,” Hendricks said. 

3:45 p.m. Local funds for school on ballot in Hamilton, other counties

Carmel-Clay and Hamilton Southeastern schools are asking voters in Hamilton County to continue a property tax increase to give more money for each district. 

A property-tax referendum allows voters to decide if they want to pay more than their tax cap - and give that extra money to local schools. 

In past years voters approved an increase for Carmel-Clay and Hamilton Southeastern. If they vote “yes” again, each district would get around $24 million for each of the next eight years. 

Both districts plan to use the money to pay teachers.

But school leaders worry the required language on the ballot question could make voters think their taxes will increase much more than it actually would. 

A 2021 law requires the ballot question to include the estimated average percentage of property tax increase paid to the school district if the levy is approved. Not the actual increase to the homeowner’s property tax bill. 

In 2022, Terry Spradlin, executive director of the Indiana School Boards Association, told WFYI: “We do believe the language is confusing and certainly misleading to taxpayers.”

The referendum for Hamilton Southeastern would lower the tax rate from a voter-approved 2016 levy of $0.2275 to $0.1995 per $100 assessed value for the next eight years. But the ballot question is required to read that the referendum would “increase the average property tax paid to the school corporation” by 20.8 percent.

"It is a continuation at a reduced rate,” Katy Dowling, HSE chief financial officer said in a video to the community. “We are not increasing your taxes anymore. We are just maintaining what we are providing at a lesser rate." 

To determine what your new property-tax bill could be, use WFYI’s referendum calculator.

3:00 p.m. Voting continues 

Indianapolis voters slowly trickled into downtown’s City-County Council Building midday to cast their ballots. 

Willette Fields said she believes in her ability to exercise her right to vote. She doesn’t usually vote in local elections, but she said she recently realized all elections are important. 

“I feel like my opinion does matter. And I feel like there’s a lot of young people who feel like it doesn’t matter. And it only doesn’t matter if you don’t vote,” Fields said. 

A few minutes later, Tanner Alexander spoke to WFYI before walking inside. He said he voted because he’s passionate about Indianapolis. 

“I think it’s a city people sleep on and they don’t always appreciate how great Naptown is, and how lively this place can be,” Alexander said. “And we can’t get new people here if we don’t continue making the progress that we’ve been making over the past few years.”

Alexander said he wants the city to have more public transportation so the city is more attractive to people who are considering relocating.

“I want people to be able to get from one end of downtown to the other end of downtown without having to have a car,” Alexander said. “Cars are expensive to maintain, to buy, so if we can have an easy way for people to traverse the city, that would be great.”

Alexander went to the City-County Building with his coworker Katja Krasnovsky. They vote together every election, then celebrate by grabbing lunch.

Krasnovsky said she came to vote because it’s important to make your voice heard. She’s primarily interested in LGBTQ and women’s reproductive rights. Although those issues aren’t specifically on the Marion County ballot, Krasnovsky said voting in local elections impacts those issues too. 

“It all starts small, right? So it starts in the city and if you’re able to get people in office who are able to work together to pass legislation that is going to matter and impact the city, then it can impact the broader country,” Krasnovsky said.

12 p.m.: Holcomb, Pence donate to Indy mayoral campaigns

Today’s Indianapolis mayoral election is the most expensive in recent memory. Democratic incumbent Joe Hogsett and Republican challenger Jefferson Shreve reported nearly $21 million in contributions last month.

Some of those dollars came from former and current elected officials and their campaigns. 

How do we know? WFYI created a searchable database of all the campaign contributions for the Hogsett and Shreve campaigns. Under Indiana campaign finance law, candidates are required to file several forms during the election cycle that detail who gives them donations. 

Here are a few of the current elected officials who contributed. 

Hogsett

• $7,500 from Bart Peterson, two-term Democratic Indianapolis mayor 2000-2008.
• $30,000 from Vop Osili for Council, campaign committee for Osili, president of the Indianapolis City-County Council.

Shreve

• $10,000 from Eric Holcomb for Indiana, campaign committee for Indiana Gov. Holcomb.
• $500 from Greg Pence For Congress, campaign committee for Pence, U.S. representative for Indiana's 6th congressional district.

You can search the database here.

8 a.m.

Indianapolis resident Violet Davis was one of several voters to cast a ballot at Brookside Park Family Center Tuesday morning. Davis said issues like infrastructure and housing brought her to the polls.  Davis said she wants to see progress made in the city.

“I feel like it's kind of falling behind and I really want us to move forward as a city,” she said.

Public safety was a main focus in this year’s election. But voter Marhta La Bounty said there is not a candidate that aligns with her views on how to improve crime in the city.

“We need to address the reasons why people commit crimes, and they don’t seem to be speaking to that,” La Bounty said. “They’re not making changes about that, they just want to put more people on the street for after the fact.”

Democratic Precinct Committeeman Michael Torres was at the center assisting voters.

“As a precinct committeeman, I feel as if it’s my responsibility to make sure everything goes ok and there’s no issues or anything,” Torres said. “I am here just encouraging people to vote and giving information if they need candidate information.”

7 a.m.:

A handful of people arrived at John H. Boner Neighborhood Community Center  to cast their votes – shortly after polls opened Tuesday morning. 

Among them was Indianapolis resident Chet Crump. He says he wants to see a change in mayoral leadership.

“I am tired of the old mayor and the old ways,” Crump said. “It’s going to be a big push to go from Democrat to Republican in the mayoral race, but that is what I am going for.”

He says the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department is a top voting issue for him.

“They’ve been beefing up the police pay, but it's too little too late I think,” Crump said.

Alicia Reuter is an inspector at the center. She thinks people like the options to vote early and to vote at any voting center.

“That does mean that it is kind of unpredictable as to how many voters you are going to get at your center as compared to previous years,” Reuter said. “We didn’t have a line this morning. We’ll have to see how the day goes to see how the turnout goes.”

Voting centers are open until 6 p.m. Find the full list at vote.indy.gov.

6 a.m. Polls are open

Polls are open for the 2023 municipal elections. Marion County residents can vote between now and 6 p.m. at any of the county’s voting centers, which can be found at vote.indy.gov. Voters can choose from 186 locations. 

You will need to bring a valid form of photo identification, which could include an Indiana driver’s license, a U.S. passport, Indiana State Identification Card, military ID or some public college student IDs. For more information, read this Election Day guide from Indiana Public Broadcasting.

To see your sample ballot, visit the Indiana voter portal at indianavoters.in.gov.

In Marion County, the Indianapolis mayor’s office and City-County Council seats are up for election. Voters will also cast ballots for a range of mayoral, city council, and other races in Beech Grove, Lawrence, Southport and Speedway.

Read and listen to our interviews with the 2023 Indianapolis mayoral candidates, Republican Jefferson Shreve and Democratic incumbent Mayor Joe Hogsett. 

Find your district and take a look at our 2023 Indianapolis City-County Council election surveys, sent to each candidate in partnership with the Indianapolis Recorder. 

Go here for this past year’s 2023 election coverage from the WFYI newsroom. 

This post will be updated throughout the day.