CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Two of the county clerks in Kanawha and Jackson counties are looking ahead to a good Election Day turnout, and say it has been smooth sailing when the polls opened up at 6:30 this morning, at least.
Jackson County Clerk Christina Gossett told MetroNews affiliate WMOV Radio that they were ready to tackle the big day as soon as they came in.
Christina Gossett
“We are ready, we’ve been ready, we’ve been here bright and early, everything is going great so far,” Gossett said.
In Kanawha, County Clerk Vera McCormick said it’s been no different than any other typical election day.
“A lot of people are checking to see where they need to go vote, what precinct they’re in and where they need to go, we’ve been very busy on the phones,” McCormick said.
However, she said as with any typical election day, they did have at least two poll workers not show up Tuesday morning as well as a couple of issues with the voting machines, which they managed to take care of.
McCormick went on to say that there were a couple of other minor issues, but all in all, it was going efficiently.
Vera McCormick
“A couple of calls, but you know, we just went out and took care of them, somebody had a sign up too close or something like that, but we’ve got people out there, we’ve got field workers out if we need them and we really haven’t even had to call them in today,” said McCormick.
As with many counties across the state, both clerks in Jackson and Kanawha counties say they have seen a record-breaking number of early voters in this General Election.
Early voting in Kanawha reached a total of around 32,000 voters when it ended on Saturday.
But McCormick said where so many came out for early voting, this may have eased up Tuesday’s crowds in Kanawha County.
“From what I hear they’ve been very busy at the precincts, so I think we’ll have a great turnout, but I really haven’t heard about lines, nobody has called and complained about long lines,” McCormick said.
Gossett said in Jackson, they tallied up a total of approximately 5,894 early voters, 779 of which came out to vote on the first day it opened.
She said how well the voting process has worked out so far is encouraging for how it might turn out on Tuesday as well.
“It went great, we were so thrilled to see the people, and we had a line everyday, I won’t say out the door, because we actually set up almost like a theme park-style line in the lobby of the courthouse for people to wait in, but everybody was just so patient and kind, and it worked out great,” she said.
She said Jackson County is at a 30% voter turnout currently and may reach 50% by the end of Tuesday.
Polls opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday morning and will close at 7:30 Tuesday evening.
Gossett said it’s very precise, and you must be in line at 7:30 if you want to cast your vote for this election.
“As long as you’re in line, you have to be in line at 7:30 p.m., even if you haven’t voted yet, the poll workers will hand you a slip of paper, if you have that slip of paper in line at 7:30 you will be permitted to vote, so don’t leave just because the line is long at 7:30,” said Gossett.