Local voters stuffed the ballot box at Town hall today, according to Stacy Grant, Idyllwild resident. And it’s true. Diana Johnson, poll inspector, said, “Things were going well all day until about 6 [p.m.]”
That was when the ballot box was nearly full. Several voters were concerned about trying to put their ballots in the box without damaging them, including Grant, who said, “I barely got my ballot in the box. They were picking the box up and shaking it, but it was still incredibly full.”
By 6:30 p.m. voters arriving to cast their ballots had to vote electronically.
The turnout at Town hall was phenomenal, according to Johnson. By 7 p.m., she thought more than 600 voters had cast ballots at the polling site. In addition, nearly 200 voters, who received mail-in ballots had returned them to the local precinct.
The combination overwhelmed the local ballot box. Even the provisional ballot box was nearing its capacity, Johnson said. About 130 voters cast provisional ballots at Town Hall.
The Pine Cove polling site had been popular, but the local inspector said there is a high proportion of voters who cast mail ballots. As of 7:15 p.m., the Pine Cove ballot boxes had not reached capacity.
About 180 Pine Cove residents did vote at the local precinct and about 18 provisional ballots were used.
