Voter turnout has been good so far in the general election, with 26,809 people having already voted by about 9:35 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 8, according to Wyandotte County Election Commissioner Bruce Newby.
There were reports of lines in some polling places earlier this morning, but the lines had dwindled by 9 a.m.
That 26,809 figure includes about 10,311 people who voted in advance by mail, and more than 13,000 who voted in advance in person by Monday, Nov. 7, Newby said.
This morning’s voting was around 3,300 in Wyandotte County, by about 9:35 a.m., he added.
There are 79,265 registered voters in Wyandotte County, he said, and the number of people who have already voted are about 33.8 percent of the total registered voters.
Newby said there were the usual startup issues this morning at a few polling places.
Even though all the voting machines had been tested before being sent out, a few of the touch screen voting machines didn’t turn on correctly at the polling place this morning, he said. He pointed out that voters were still able to vote on a paper ballot if a machine didn’t work correctly.
Some polling places had lines of people waiting to use a touch-screen machine, he added.
“No one needs to wait for a touch screen unless they want to,” Newby said. People may ask for a paper ballot, which is often a faster way to vote, he said. Next year, there will be new voting equipment, and all voting will be paper-based then, he added.
The election office has a tech support staff that goes out in marked vans, with tech support people who work on any problems with the voting machines.
There was a small problem at one south side polling place this morning, where people were lining up in the wrong line, he said. There were two polling places at the church building, and the facility gave a different entrance door for voting this year for one of the groups. Some voters were in the wrong line to vote he said. Some of the people didn’t want to get in line again and left, he said.
The KCATA has announced that all Ride KC bus routes are free today, in an effort to get more people to the polls. KCATA paratransit services also are free today. For more information, see http://www.kcata.org/news/kansas_city_region_offers_free_bus_and_paratransit_fares_on_election_day.
Polls are open until 7 p.m. today, Nov. 8, in Wyandotte County. To find out your polling place, visit Voter View at https://myvoteinfo.voteks.org/.
For questions, the Wyandotte County Election Office telephone number is 913-573-8500 and the website address is www.wycovotes.org/.
Going all paper next year? Why the h— are we going backwards. We should be switching to all electronic.