Voter turnout ‘unbelievable,’ poll workers say

By Brandi Makuski

“I’ve never seen an election like this,” said John Munson, a 9th District poll worker at the Lincoln Center, 1519 Water St.

Munson, who said he’s been working the polls “for a long time” said at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3, the precinct already had an 85 percent turnout.

“People are still coming in but it’s slowed down now,” he said. “It’s been unbelievable. I wish people would vote like this in the spring.”

Stevens Point City Clerk Kari Yenter said she had to deliver additional ballots to some polling places, and she expects Tuesday to be “a late night.”

Yenter said the city had received about 7,800 absentee ballots as of 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 3.

Of the 15,000 registered voters in Stevens Point, Yenter said over 11,000 had cast in-person ballots by 5 p.m.

The line to vote in Plover extended outside the municipal center for most of the day, and shortly after 7 p.m., voters were still lined around around the building. Village Clerk Karen Swanson said of the 3,401 absentee ballots sent out by mail, about 3,014 had been returned.

In Whiting, Clerk/Treasurer Annette Stashek said the village hall had to request additional ballots from the Wisconsin Elections Commission Tuesday afternoon. Stashek drove to Appleton to retrieve them.

“We were down to about five ballots at 3:30,” she said. “We figured 80 to 90 percent of the people had already voted absentee, so I thought we had plenty.”

Stashek said new voters were still registering to vote at the village hall at 7 p.m., but she estimated the village would be done counting ballots by about 10:30 p.m.

County Clerk Kayla Filen said about 40 percent of registered voters in the county voted absentee.