INDIANAPOLIS -- More than 110,000 votes have been requested for Indiana's primary, with still more than a week to go before the official Election Day.
The Indiana Secretary of State's office reports that more than 64,000 of those, or about 58 percent, are Republican ballots.
What's not known is how many of those have voted for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is suspending his campaign in Indiana to give Sen. Ted Cruz better odds of beating Donald Trump in the Hoosier state.
For Kasich voters, the governor's sudden announcement on Sunday came as an unwelcome surprise.
"Had we known this several weeks ago, I would have been able to do what John is asking us to do, which is to support Ted Cruz," said Indiana State Rep. David Ober (R-District 82), who voted early for Kasich.
Trump has called the agreement between Kasich and Cruz "political collusion."
At the University of Indianapolis, Assistant Professor of Political Science Laura Albright says the move is unprecedented.
"From a historical perspective, it really is unprecedented," Albright said. "I think it could backfire, and in fact it makes me wonder for all the Indiana voters and the Hoosiers who wanted to support Kasich, will they feel comfortable casting a vote for Cruz, despite the fact that they wanted to support Kasich?"
Albright says the message to voters in Indiana, Oregon and New Mexico is to sacrifice their vote for the overall goal of their candidate – getting to the Republican Convention with no clear nominee.
"They're saying, don't vote necessarily who you want to vote for, vote for this because of another thing," Albright said. "I think it is one more way, unfortunately, which we can disenfranchise interested voters."
According to the most recent polls, Kasich was standing at about 20 percent support in Indiana. That could potentially mean about 13,000 early ballots cast by Republican voters have already gone to Kasich.
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