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Steady Traffic at Polls

Senator Reilly says voters coming prepared.

 

A steady stream of voters came out to Crofton polling places this morning. State Senator Ed Reilly, who's running uncontested, was outside of the Crofton Woods Elementary polling location.

While his fate is known, Crofton voters filed into local polling sites to cast ballots for other hotly contested races.

"It's been a steady stream of voters," Reilly said. "The Crofton Woods polling place is a unique location because it's a dual polling place so it's a lot more active than others," says Reilly who lives across the street from the school.

While the other locations have 1,200 voters the Crofton Woods polling site has 2,400. Crofton Woods reportly saw 364 voters within the first three hours of the polls opening and Reilly added that the voters coming are on a mission.

"Most come prepared, they have sample ballots in their hand and don't want to be distracted," Reilly said.

Suzann Barthold, an election judge, agreed that the traffic has been pretty steady but is unsure of what the crowd will look like later in the afternoon.

Both the Crofton Library and the Prince of Peace Presbyterian locations also saw constant traffic. Mindy Smith of Crofton proudly wore her "I Voted" sticker after exiting the poll. "It's very important for everyone to get out and vote," she said.

While campaign signs and workers plastered the public polling sites the Prince of Peace Presbyterian Church was one of the quieter locations as it had signs reminding campaigners that it is a public place and no campaign signs could be posted.

Rob Genzel Jr., a provisional judge at the Prince of Peace location said that around 10 a.m. they were just getting over the morning rush where the traffic was pretty heavy. "Now it's been more transient traffic but we had about 25 people lined up this morning when we opened at 7."

When asked if he expects an after-work rush, he said, "I hope so." In between directing voters to the registration table and helping moms with strollers out the door, he said that the general election seems to have more interest than the primaries, and as a result, there may be larger crowds throughout the day.

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