On Saturday (September 30), a record number of voters cast early ballots at City Hall on the first day of advanced voting.

"We had good turnout on Saturday," said Returning Officer Sharon Pollyck, "We had 223 voters come out, and if you're curious about comparisons, that's about quadruple what we had in 2013 and triple what we had in 2010, which was our higher voter turnout ever."

Pollyck explained the second day of advanced voting, which takes place midweek during the evening, typically has a higher number of people casting ballots. After the second advanced vote on October 11, the City will know better if they can expect record turnout in the election overall.

"Probably what will be really telling for us is next Wednesday, but we're really hoping that we get at minimum 30 percent, and we're really hoping we're pushing around 50 percent for voter turnout."

Even so, Pollyck said the number of voters that showed up on Saturday has staff at City Hall excited about turnout for this year's election.

"For returning officers, probably across the nation, it's really sad when people don't exercise that right because there are so many countries where people don't have that right. So we're really, really excited. We hope this is a good sign for voter turnout, and we hope we're going to have excellent voter turnout next Wednesday and on October 16."

Pollyck also said they've issued 25 mail-in ballots, and have received five back so far.

The second advanced vote will take place on Wednesday (October 11) from 5:00-8:00pm. Election day is October 16.

 

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