Few Issues And Several Low Voter Turnouts Reported Across UC

Election Day seems to be going rather smoothly across the Upper Cumberland.

Few issues have been reported so far, but the voter turnout has been a concern for some officials.

White County Election Administrator Dorcas Marcum said at 4:00 p.m. today approximately 1,800 people had cast ballots.

“I thought there would be a little bit more because our early voting numbers were about 3,300,” Marcum said. “I was thinking on election day we would have about that same amount, but I don’t know if we will achieve that or not.”

Marcum said the turnout could pick up as more people begin getting off work later this afternoon.

Jackson County Election Administrator Clay Thaxton said the voter turnout inside and near Gainesboro city limits was rather slow today, but that wasn’t the case in the Dodson Branch area.

“I think  towards the Dodson Branch area some of those precincts are voting a little bit heavier than the ones closer to town,” Thaxton said, “I think the reason for that is because people closer to town were able to take advantage of early voting, but I’m really not sure what to expect with the turnout.”

Thaxton said a light went out at one voting precinct early today, but that issue did not cause any problems.

The lights did cause a slight issue in Putnam County this morning, according to Election Administrator Debbie Stiedle.

“For a few minutes there was an outage at Northeast, but that was the only precinct that was bothered by that,” Steidle said. “They voted people and continued to vote people, even a few on paper.”

Steidle said the good news is the voter turnout seemed to be pretty steady across the county today.

“I think a fair amount of people are voting based on the amount of phone calls we are getting,” she said. “In a few places I’ve heard that they have had some lines, so that’s good that people are voting.”

Voter turnout was not as good in Clay County. Wanda Daniels is the Election Administrator in that county.

“When we first opened up here in District 3 we had a line of people ready to vote and after that it just slowed down,” Daniels said. “I really expected better than this and I don’t know what’s going on. I was hoping Election Day would be a better turnout.”

Low turnouts were also being reported in Pickett County, but Election Administrator Tim Clark said he’s not surprised.

“For Pickett County, there are only three races that are contested,” Clark said. “The bigger offices that bring out the most voters are uncontested tonight along with our city races.”

Polls close at 7:00 p.m. across the Upper Cumberland. People in line by that time will be allowed to vote and a photo ID is required to vote.