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NEXT MORNING UPDATE @8:00am – The effort to elect an African-American to the Brownsburg School Board in Hendricks County fell short. African-American Tracy Sullivan lost by 69 votes to Michael Runyon.

NEXT MORNING UPDATE @8:00am – When we called the race in IPS District 3, there were a few precincts still left to report.  But, now with all precincts counted, Samantha Adair-White came from behind to WIN the District 3 seat. Adair-White beat Josepha Beyer by 36 votes – 1,524 for Adair-White and 1,488 for Beyer in unofficial returns from all 56 precincts in the district. Adair-White and Rev. Michael Brown who was unopposed, will join Dr. Mary Busch and Elizabeth Gore as the four African-Americans on the seven member board.

9:00pm – The Pike School Board race is over. Incumbent and current Board President John Brown was was the leading vote getter in the 13 candidate field.  In second is Yvette White and in third is Regina Randolph.  White and Randolph will join incumbent Ricky Hence as the three African-Americans on the Pike Board. The first time that’s ever happened.  Also, the referendum to build a new Guion Creek School overwhelmingly passed. As did school referendums in Washington Township and Speedway.

8:50pm – The IPS School Board race is over. Annie Roof has defeated Leroy Robinson and five others for the At Large seat. Her margin over Robinson was some 915 votes. In the District 3 race, Josepha Beyers has defeated four other candidates by a handy margin.

8:42pm – The national media is saying that Dan Coats has won the GOP nomination for US Senate for the seat being vacated by Sen. Evan Bayh. But his win is embarassing. Some 40% of the vote. And Coats couldn’t even win his “adopted” home county of Marion.

8:40pm – It’s nearly 9pm, but the shape of this election is now known. In the Prosecutor’s race it will be Democrat Terry Curry, who handily beat County Assessor Greg Bowes, facing off against Republican Mark Massa. Unless he can find a lot of Republican votes in the 28% of precincts not yet counted, Carlos May, the slated Republican candidate for Congress will be beaten by veteran candidate Marvin Scott.  It looks like Dennis Fishburn has defeated Bart McAtee for the GOP nomination for Sheriff and will face Democrat John Layton who easily turned back the challenge from Mark Brown. In the Democratic Primary for Center Township Trustee, which was the election in that heavily Democratic stronghold, Eugene Akers solidly won against Byron Davenport.

8:25pm – Earlier I asked had Blacks divided the Pike school board vote. Well, on election night things have a way of changing for the better. With 58% of the vote in incumbent John Brown will win re-election.  The battle is for the other two winning slots. And right now two African-American women hold those slots. Yvette White is 90 votes behind Brown for second place and 24 votes behind her is Regina Randolph in third.  She is nearly 100 votes ahead of Allison Maguire who is in fourth. Could history be made tonight. If White and Randolph hold on there would be three African-Americans on the Pike Board for the first time in history!

8:10pm – The IPS races are shaping up to be down to the wire. The at large race is now a two person race between Annie Roof and Leroy Robinson. The key dos Roof have more votes in the precincts yet to be counted or are those Robinson strongholds. Right now Roof leads Robinson by 98 votes. In Dist 3, Josepha Beyer has regained the lead. Again, this race will boil down to Beyer’s strengths in mostly white and integrated neighborhoods and Batts strength in Black areas.

8:07pm – So far more Republicans have voted in their primary than Democrats, so far the difference is some 7,000 more.

8:05pm – The school referenda are winning. In Pike with 38% of the vote in the vote to build a new Guion Creek school is winning 2-to-1. It’s a landslide in Speedway, that district’s school referendum is passing with 85% of the voters saying “Yes” with 42% of the vote counted.  And in Washington Township, with 22% of the vote in, that referendum to help schools is winning in a landslide.

8pm – Two hours after the polls close. Over a third (36%) of the vote is in and we can make some definite statements. Andre Carson is the Democratic nominee for Congress.  And unless they find large amounts of votes fast, Greg Bowes, Mark Brown and Byron Davenport seem headed to defeat. They are losing by two-to-one margins that haven’t changed since the first returns came in. In the GOP race for 7th District Congress, veteran candidate Marvin Scott continues to lead the party’s choice Carlos May. The margin is now nearly 500 votes and growing. Marion County Republicans gave more of their votes to Dan Burton and Dan Coats’ opponents. Very embarassing that Dan Coats, who counts Indianapolis as his Indiana residence, couldn’t even carry his “new” home county.

7:50pm – Has the Black vote in the Pike school board race divided so much that it allow three white candidates to win? So far with 23% of the Pike vote counted, incumbent board member John Brown is leading the thirteen candidate field.  In second is Allison Maguire behind by 69 votes and then three votes behind her is Eric Huffine. Regina Randolph, who is Black, is a close fourth, but the three highest vote getters win.

7:45pm – In the school board races, in IPS At Large with 21% of the vote counted, Leroy Robinson now leads Annie Roof by 64 votes. Nearly 200 votes back in third is Justin Forkner followed by Josephine Coleman. In th Dist 3 race, Ramon Batts has jumped to the lead ahead of Josepha Beyer by 50 votes, followed by Samantha Adair-White who is 17 votes behind.

7:40pm – Votes now coming in from nearly every part of the county. Even Pike which is usually last. 18% of the precincts are counted. On the Democratic side, the slated candidates are winning by two-to-one margins. John Layton over Mark Brown for Sheriff, Terry Curry over Greg Bowes for Prosecutor and Eugene Akers over Byron Davenport for Center Township Trustee. On the Republican side, Ted Clements is leading Jocelyn Tandy-Adande by two-to-one in the Recorder’s race. In the Sheriff’s race slated candidate Dennis Fishburn is leading Bart McAtee by 755 votes.  But in the 7th District race, with 18% of the vote counted, while Cong. Andre Carson is crushing his three opponents, on the GOP side Marvin Scott is leading slated candidate Carlos May by 150 votes.

7:28pm – With 5% of the vote counted in the Republican primary for 7th District Congress, why is Marvin Scott doing so well and Carlos May doing so poorly in the early stages?

7:20pm – In the IPS race, in the at large seat with 7% of the precincts counted, Annie Roof has opened up a nearly 70 vote lead over Leroy Robinson.  Josephine Coleman is a close third and Justin Forkner is a close fourth. In the IPS Dist 3 race, Josepha Beyer leads Roy Schroeder by two votes and leads Samantha Adair-White by three votes.

7:10pm – 3% of city/county precincts counted.  More GOP areas coming in. In the GOP primary, with 3.6% of precincts in the 7th Congressional District counted, slated candidate Carlos May is locked in a tiht race with long time candidate Marvin Scott. In the GOP Sheriff’s race, another tight battle with slated candidate Dennis Fishburn ahead of Bart McAtee by 15 votes! With 3.1% of precincts counted.

6:50pm – First returns of the night in in Indy. Two precincts from Center Township. Mostly Democratic ballots. The Dems slate is carrying, but in the Dems Sheriff race Mark Brown gets 35% of the vote against John Layton’s 65% in these very, very early returns.  In the Center Township Trustee race, slated candidate Eugene Akers gets 60% against challenger Byron Davenport. Of the small number of GOP voters, Dennis Fishburn the slated Sheriff candidate gets 65% against Bart McAtee’s 35%.  In the IPS at large, in these early returns Leroy Robinson has a slim lead over Annie Roof.

6:45pm – There are 585,817 registered voters in Indianapolis and Marion County. The key is how many voted today. And did more Republicans vote in their primary than Democrats.

6:35pm – Don’t expect Marion County returns to start coming in until close to 7pm.  In the US Senate race, first fragmentary returns statewide show Dan Coats in the lead, but less than half the vote.  State Sen. Marlin Stutsman is in second with about 23% of the vote followed by former Congressman John Hostettler in third with 17%. Trailing badly are Don Bates, Jr. and the Tea Party candidate Richard Behney. This is a three candidate race – Coats, Stutsman, Hostettler.

6:30pm – As we begin here is what to look for.  In Marion County the first returns come from the townships, usually the southern townships of Perry and Franklin, some precincts in Lawrence and Washington come in first as well.  Mainly these are GOP areas.  This is where we’ll get the first idea if GOP turnout has been stronger than democratic.  We will also start to see sketchy returns from the statewide Senate race.  The first precincts in are showing Dan Coats in the lead, but at less than 40%.  If he wins by an anemic margin, with more Republicans not voting for him, that doesn’t make him the strongest candidate against expected Democratic opponent Congressman Brad Ellsworth.

Welcome to live commentary and analysis on tonight’s Primary and School Board Election returns from Marion County and elsewhere.