The polls are still open on this Election Day until 8 pm, and poll workers in the Northwoods have been reporting higher than average turnout for a midterm election.
Crescent Town Resident Judy Kingsbury was helping out at the polls Tuesday at the Crescent Town Hall. She says there’s been a constant stream of people all day.
“I think it’s even higher than the last time. Not as high as a presidential election, but as you see, we’ve had people coming in steady since 7 o’clock this morning.”
While many volunteers staffed polling places throughout the Northwoods, others were on hand to keep an eye on voting procedures. Jane Trotter from the nonpartisan League of Women Voters was working as a pollwatcher, or election observer, roving between five different polling locations to check if things were running smoothly.
“I think because of the issues with the voter ID, and the confusion and the last minutes changes back-and-forth, the League of Women Voters just wants to make sure that people are getting to do what they came to do. And the government accountability board has put the same message out there.”
Trotter says she’s looking to make sure polling places are accessible to everyone, and tries to help if people are being turned away for some reason – like showing up at the wrong polling place.
“We’ve been requested that if anybody is turned away because they have not been able to register or vote, to make an effort to talk with them and see what the issue was. So far I haven’t seen that happen. In the past I have, in other locations, but this election so far in the three places I’ve been poll watching that’s not been the case.”
If you need to find your polling place, you can do so online using the Government Accountability Board’s website myvote.wi.gov.
If you haven’t registered to vote, you can do so at your polling place.
Polls close at 8 pm tonight.
