Arriving about 12:20 p.m., Broderick found hundreds of people in line, with the earliest voters having arrived about 8 a.m., officials said.
“We thought it would be very crowded on Tuesday. It probably would have been less crowded than today,” Broderick said. “But it was no big deal because it went fast.”
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
Just after 1:30 p.m., she had turned in her ballot. Polls are open until 5 p.m. Sunday, but all voters who are in line at that time will be processed, Warren County Board of Elections Director Brian Sleeth said.
Long voting lines have been common this year, with about 80,000 of Warren County’s 178,000-plus registered voters expected to cast early ballots, Sleeth said.
The number of Warren County residents who registered to vote this cycle is about 11,000 more than in the last presidential election in 2020.
Despite the long lines, this year’s early vote count isn’t expected to surpass the total of four years ago during COVID, when the totals topped 92,000, Sleeth said.
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
Credit: NICK BLIZZARD/STAFF
“Nothing compares to 2020,” he said, noting more than 50,000 mail-in ballots were received that year. “With the COVID, it’s just hard to compare.”
With about 3,000 ballots cast a day this year in the pre-Election Day period that started Oct. 8, “we’ve never had this many people come in and early vote,” Sleeth said.
“The voters have been fine,” he said, asked if there had been any trouble.
Campaigners, however, have been “real vocal,” sometimes threatening legal restrictions about their distance from voters, Sleeth said.
Campaigners for candidates and issues must not be within 100 feet of the polls, he said. When voting lines end more than 100 feet from polls, campaigners are restricted from coming with 10 feet of the lines, according to Sleeth.
Sleeth said that law has been followed, but county workers have commonly issued reminders.
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