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PITTSBURG —
Whoever predicted a light voter turn-out for Tuesday’s election should turn in his or her crystal ball.
“By around 1 p.m. we’d had over 600 voters,” said Pam Emerson, polling manager at the Countryside Christian Church polling place. “In some mid-term elections we don’t get that many all day.”
The Church of Christ polling place, which has the largest number of registered voters in Pittsburg, was seeing even more traffic, according to Ken Bateman, polling manager there.
“I’m not sure of the exact number, but we’d had approximately 800 voters in here by noon,” he said.
Eager voters came out early, Bateman added.
“We have to get here at 6 a.m., and there was already somebody here wanting to vote,” he said. “The polls open at 7 a.m., and by that time we had 40 or 50 people waiting to get in.”
He, Emerson and Beth Emmert, polling manager at St. John Lutheran Church, all reported a steady flow of voters throughout the day. Some of them hadn’t been to the polls in quite a while.
“One woman said she hadn’t voted in many years, and wasn’t even sure if she was still registered,” Emmert said. “Obviously, it was very important for her to be here.”
“We opened here with a line waiting,” noted Joe Beauchamp, ballot clerk at St. John. “It’s wonderful to see people turn out and exercise their right and responsibility to vote.”
But Beauchamp, who has been an poll worker for quite a number of years and seen many elections with low voter response, confessed that he’s curious about what drew voters to the polls this year.
Bateman believes that different voters probably had different reasons.
“High voter interest is reflected in the turnout,” he said. “There’s a variety of issues and candidates this year that people really care about.”
Whatever the reason they came, the flood of voters caused some challenges at the polls.
“We had to add two extra tables for people to sit and vote, and have them bring us more privacy screens,” Emerson said.
“We’re on our second round of ink pens,” Emmert said. “But it’s a good challenge to have. The voters have been very active, and I’m very proud of this community.”
Whoever predicted a light voter turn-out for Tuesday’s election should turn in his or her crystal ball.
“By around 1 p.m. we’d had over 600 voters,” said Pam Emerson, polling manager at the Countryside Christian Church polling place. “In some mid-term elections we don’t get that many all day.”
The Church of Christ polling place, which has the largest number of registered voters in Pittsburg, was seeing even more traffic, according to Ken Bateman, polling manager there.
“I’m not sure of the exact number, but we’d had approximately 800 voters in here by noon,” he said.
Eager voters came out early, Bateman added.
“We have to get here at 6 a.m., and there was already somebody here wanting to vote,” he said. “The polls open at 7 a.m., and by that time we had 40 or 50 people waiting to get in.”
He, Emerson and Beth Emmert, polling manager at St. John Lutheran Church, all reported a steady flow of voters throughout the day. Some of them hadn’t been to the polls in quite a while.
“One woman said she hadn’t voted in many years, and wasn’t even sure if she was still registered,” Emmert said. “Obviously, it was very important for her to be here.”
“We opened here with a line waiting,” noted Joe Beauchamp, ballot clerk at St. John. “It’s wonderful to see people turn out and exercise their right and responsibility to vote.”
But Beauchamp, who has been an poll worker for quite a number of years and seen many elections with low voter response, confessed that he’s curious about what drew voters to the polls this year.
Bateman believes that different voters probably had different reasons.
“High voter interest is reflected in the turnout,” he said. “There’s a variety of issues and candidates this year that people really care about.”
Whatever the reason they came, the flood of voters caused some challenges at the polls.
“We had to add two extra tables for people to sit and vote, and have them bring us more privacy screens,” Emerson said.
“We’re on our second round of ink pens,” Emmert said. “But it’s a good challenge to have. The voters have been very active, and I’m very proud of this community.”
