Previewing Indiana’s only regularly-scheduled 2025 election

By

Thomas Grobben

On Monday, March 3, 2025, voters in the Town of Vernon, Ind., population 236, will cast their ballots in the state’s only regularly-scheduled election of the year.

Here’s a look at what, and who’s, on the ballot:

Vernon is holding an election today because it is the only town in Indiana still governed by a charter, enacted in 1851, rather than state law.

Ballotpedia spoke with J. Bradley King, Co-Director of the Indiana Election Division, who shared some examples of what makes Vernon’s elections different from all other cities and towns in Indiana:

  • Elections are held on a Monday, rather than a Tuesday;
  • Polls are open from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., rather than 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.;
  • Winners serve two- rather than four-year terms;
  • Voters elect a mayor, which is typically only a position in cities, not towns; and,
  • Voters elect a town marshal, making the Vernon Town Marshal the state’s only elected marshal

King described Election Day in Vernon as follows: 

“Observing an election in the Town of Vernon is like taking a journey through time. The polls are opened by the loud ringing of a hand-held bell … with the voters casting their ballots on handwritten and hand-counted pieces of paper, deposited in an old wooden ballot box … After the 4 pm close of the polls, the ballot box is opened and counted in the presence of all who wish to view the canvass.”

During Indiana’s time as a territory and early statehood, the governor and legislature would enact numerous specific laws bringing chartered corporations into being, including commercial enterprises, churches, and local governments.

The state’s growth during the first half of the 19th century resulted in a large increase in these individual charters to the point where they outnumbered general provisions in state law.

In 1851, lawmakers rewrote Indiana’s constitution to prohibit the creation of new, individually chartered corporations and enacted laws allowing existing corporations to reorganize and relinquish their charters.

Today, every town in Indiana is governed under Title 36 of the Indiana Code except for Vernon.

Indiana is one of 26 states where Ballotpedia is providing comprehensive election coverage in 2025. Click here to learn more about that coverage.