Midterm voting began at 6 a.m. Tuesday, and while national attention will be on control of Congress, Indiana will be watching the secretary of state race with Democrat Beau Bayh and Republican Max Engling as the prime contenders.

Voters in Ellettsville and Richland Township in Monroe County will decide if the entities should combine as a larger Town of Ellettsville.

Voters in the Ninth Congressional District, where the seat is rated as "safe Republican" by the Cook Political Report, will choose whether to send Republican Erin Houchin back to Washington for a third term in the U.S. House. She faces Democrat Brad Meyer and Independent write-in candidate Floyd Taylor.

Polls close at 6 p.m.

Weather is expected to be partly cloudy with a high temperature in the mid-70s.

12:30 p.m. update - Monroe County polls

Austin Long, local resident and voter, said he had no issues finding his polling location despite a busy schedule.

"Location-wise, I feel like there's always a convenient one wherever I live, wherever I'm registered," Long said.

Kathy Duckett, another local resident and voter, said there's a historical importance to voting.

"I think it's really important, especially in this time in our history," Duckett said, "I think it's really important to vote today and every opportunity."

Early voting ended at noon Monday with 17,402 ballots cast in Monroe County. That’s more early votes than the midterm in 2022 (14,064) but fewer than 2018 (21,341).

As of Oct. 7, there were 91,488 registered voters in the county.

To find your polling location in the county, check out the Monroe County Voter Information map.