With Election Day less than a week away, more people have voted early than officials expected and are still waiting in lengthy lines every day.
More than 18,000 people, or 16 percent of registered voters, had cast ballots by the end of Tuesday, with five days of early voting left. Prior to the start of early voting, Johnson County Clerk Susie Misiniec estimated a total of 15,000 voters would cast their ballot prior to Election Day.
By the time the polls open on Election Day, she predicts nearly one out of four registered voters will have already cast ballots. About 108,000 Johnson County residents are registered to vote.
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Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“This is historically one for the record books,” she said.
While early voting is intended to give people a chance to vote who may not be able to on Election Day, it is also meant to reduce wait times by spreading out the voting period over the course of a few weeks.
“I think we’ve overplanned for Election Day and haven’t planned enough for early voting,” Misiniec said.
The typical pattern in Johnson County has been for most people to vote on Election Day, Misiniec said.
On the first Saturday that multiple early voting locations opened, some voters waited in line for as long as two hours. And this week, when more early voting centers opened around the county, lines have been forming throughout the day every day.
The bottleneck leading to the hour-long wait times is in the check-in process, she said.
“It is not the voting machines,” she said. “We have plenty of voting machines open. Often, we have open voting machines waiting for a voter.”
The key to keeping the lines moving is getting people checked in quickly, Misiniec said. One suggestion: Voters should have their photo ID ready, she said.
To address the long lines, the number of poll workers at the two busiest locations — the former Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria and Mount Pleasant Christian Church — has been doubled this week. Those two voting sites in Johnson County began the week with two clerks and two election judges. By Wednesday, each location was staffed with four clerks and four judges, Misiniec said.
The responsibility for providing poll workers falls on the county Republican and Democrat parties. Both parties have been able to bring in extra workers to help address the lines that have been forming early in the week, which has been unusual in past elections, Johnson County Republican Party chairwoman Beth Boyce said.
“We have added a few people for the rest of week, which we hope will help speed people through the lines,” she said.
While Boyce doesn’t want people to have to wait to cast their vote, the turnout has been encouraging, she said.
The county will need to re-evaluate early voting and look at the number of polling sites and workers needed, Boyce said.
In the future elections, having several more voting centers in northern Johnson County will be considered, Misiniec said.
Even with the long waits, most voters have been patient and understanding, Misiniec said.
Police removed a man from the voting center at Jonathan Byrd’s this week after he became upset and was cursing and yelling at people because poll workers told him he lived in Marion County and therefore could not vote in Johnson County, the report said.
That confrontation has been the only situation of its kind so far, Misiniec said.
Poll workers are instructed to stay out of arguments and contact police if necessary, she said.
“I expect by Election Day that tempers will flare,” Misiniec said. “People are really wound up about this election.”
With 24 vote centers open Nov. 8 — 10 of which will be double-staffed — officials are well prepared for the expected heavy turnout, Misiniec said.
And because many of the locations are fairly close to each other, if a backup occurs in one spot, poll workers can redirect people to a nearby location with a shorter line, she said.
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Here is a look at where and when you can vote early:
Today through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Johnson County Courthouse, 5 E. Jefferson St., Franklin
Today through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Former Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria, 100 Byrd Way, Greenwood
Franklin Community Center, 396 Branigin Boulevard (State Street), Franklin
Mount Pleasant Christian Church, 381 N. Bluff Road, Greenwood
Trafalgar Public Library, 424 S. Tower St., Trafalgar
Saturday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Mount Pleasant Christian Church
Trafalgar Public Library
Former Jonathan Byrd’s Cafeteria
Johnson County Courthouse
Edinburgh Public Library, 119 W. Main Cross St, Edinburgh
Monday, 8:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Johnson County Courthouse
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