Voters headed to the polls after work could expect a wait. A larger-than-normal voter turnout locally and statewide has caused most polling places to run out of ballots. By the end of the night, turnout could run as high as 40 percent, said Fond du Lac City Clerk Sue Strands.
“By late afternoon, we were at 30 percent, and typically, it’s between 16 and 18 percent,” she said. In the city of Fond du Lac’s 40 wards, long lines are forming at many of the polling locations. “Voters will now have to use the handicapped accessible touch screen voting machine and there is only one at each location,” Strands said.
City and county clerks order ballots in February, gauging the amount they need by voter turnout from previous years. The Government Accountability Board projected a 20 percent turnout. “There is just no way to predict that far ahead that this would happen,” she said.
Results could also be delayed, as the touch screen votes are not tallied automatically. Each ward will have a final printout and that total will have to be added to the regular ballot total for each candidate, she said.
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