Moderate voter turnout at elections

District 3 City Council candidate Mike Potter said, “Normally there’s about 50 people or so waiting in line when the polls open. We had about eight or 10 this morning, so it’s a low voter turnout for City Hall.”

Mayor Paul Finley and many candidates running for office noted a less than excellent voter turnout so far in Madison. Many hoped voter turnout would improve when residents leave work, but there had been a “steady stream” of voters, according to multiple candidates.

Finley said about 8,000 people voted in the last mayoral election four years ago. About five hours into the voting day, Finley said around 2,100 people had voted.

District 2 City Council candidate Devinti Williams said, “It strikes me as probably a moderate turnout so far, but I think you really will get a feel for it about 5 o’clock.”

District 3 City Council candidate D.J. Klein said, “I appreciate all the support from everybody that came out, and I hope we have a successful day.”

District 3 City Council candidate Malcolm Johnson said, “The hardest part is getting people to come out and vote when they say they support you.”

Malcolm said early in morning during voting a Madison police officer came to the polling location for District 3 and had candidates move about 15 political signs to ensure drivers’ views would not be obstructed when turning out of the polling place.

Devinti worked the polls in the past when he was not running for election. Regarding this year, Devinti said, “I don’t think it’s going to be a high turnout.”

“My belief is that more people should vote,” said Devinti. “That’s just my general belief. If I could get 100 percent turn out, that’s what I’m always shooting for.”

District 2 City Council candidate Steve Smith “I think we’ll have a lot more people come after work today too, so I think it will be a pretty good turnout.”

District 3 City Council candidate Mike Potter said, “Normally there’s about 50 people or so waiting in line when the polls open. We had about eight or 10 this morning, so it’s a low voter turnout for City Hall.”

District 3 City Council candidate Clifton Miller said, “I would have thought more people would have been out.”

Miller also said while he was outside City Hall he heard from “quite a few people going to the wrong polling place” who were not happy.

State Rep. Mike Ball was one of the residents who went out to the polls to vote. He said voting is his “responsibility as a citizen. I always vote.”

“Madison should be very proud,” said Ball. “As I’ve looked through and met all the candidates, they’re all good people, and there’s no bad choices.”

Polls will be open until 7 p.m. Voters in line by that time will be able to vote, according to board members at the Madison County Board of Registrars.