Election Day Log: Fellowship Baptist Welcomes Steady Voting Traffic

Update, 6 pm, April 3: Voters at Fellowship Baptist Church on Green Bay Road kept the poll workers there busy.

"It's been extremely busy, which is good," said Chief Poll Inspector Pat Barlament. "We've had a lot of registrations and address changes, which is also good."

As of 4:30 pm, 477 of the 2,011 registered voters in the district had come in to vote.

Barlament also said most of the voters coming to cast ballots were older and she was hoping to see more young adults.

"So that is a little disappointing," she said.

But then Katie McMahon walked in, needing to register to vote before using the touch screen voting machine. She is a recent transplant to Mount Pleasant from Pleasant Prairie and a new addition to the faculty ranks of Racine Unified, teaching music at Starbuck Middle School.

"I always vote, and I like the touch screen, but wish we had more of them because there's always a line with only one machine at each location," she said.

Belinda Wampler was helping residents at the touch screen. This is her first year as a poll worker, and she said she's amazed at how particular the process is for an election.

"This is not a fly-by-the-seat kind of operation," she said. "There's checking and check it again. It's very particular, which is good so the integrity of the election is preserved."

Willie and Peggie Days also cast their ballots today because they never not vote.

"We are exercising our right to vote because that is what we do," said Willie Days.

Peggie Days agreed that they vote because that's just what they do, but they feel this year's election cycle has the potential to effect them on more personal levels because they are both public employees.

"There are a lot of issues important for children and civil servants and we need to pay attention and turn out to vote," she said.

Original Story: Despite the charged political climate in the state, clerks in both Mount Pleasant and Sturtevant estimate turnout will come to about 40 percent.

This isn't a presidential election, noted Mary Cole, clerk/deputy treasurer in Sturetvant, which means turnout is typically lower.

"I think this year will be similar to last April," she said. "We had about 40 percent then, and we'll probably be about the same this year."

Veronica Rudychev in Mount Pleasant agreed, saying she might have ordered too many ballots because she thought the village might see a 60 percent turnout.

"It's really a guess," she said. "But given how motivated people are this year to vote, we ordered enough for 60, but I really think we're going to see closer to 40 percent."

Both Cole and Rudychev both think the recall election primary on May 8 and the general election on June 5 will see much higher numbers.

Mary Korzilius, a poll worker at Peace Lutheran in Mount Pleasant, thought at first turnout would be about 50 percent. She thinks 40 percent might be too high as well, but agrees that voters will turn out in much higher numbers for the recall elections.

"It's hard to tell, really," she said. "But I think we're going to see lines of voters when it comes to the recall elections."

As of 11:10 am, Sturtevant had seen 288 come through Village Hall, the village's only polling location. While Patch was there, another 15 to 20 voters arrived to cast their ballots.

In Mount Pleasant, 467 voters had come through the doors of Village Hall as of 11:40 am. Peace Lutheran was handing out numbers in the 500s by 12:30 pm.