Polling site powers through outage
On-and-off again power out ages caused mild Election Day hiccups at Mayflower Congregational Church- UCC, 3901 NW 63.
The Rev. Lori Walke, the church' s interim senior pastor, said the power was out at the church when it opened its doors as a polling site on Tuesday morning. She said OG& E crews restored power about 10 a.m.
Walke said election volunteers seemed to take the power outage in stride and assured voters that their ballots would be counted though they could not be electronically scanned in as usual.
The minister said the power was initially out for several days after the recent ice storm and church leaders had called the election board to inquire about the plan if the power was not restored by Election Day. She said they were told that the church would remain a polling site with or without power.
Walk es aid she was happy when power was restored on Friday and an
election board official visited the church a few days later on Monday for a typical pre-election day visit to the polling site.
Walk es aid the power went off shortly after he left.
Voters seemed undaunted by the outage. Most wore mask sand stayed apart in accordance with CDC pandemic guidelines.
"The atmosphere has been really good," she said.
"Bless those line workers that are trying to get these( electric) lines restored. They must be overwhelmed."
Meanwhile, Han na Mobley waited outside the church f or about an hour and a half, and was among the voters who cast their ballot right after power was restored at the house of worship.
"I didn't know the power was off until I was here for 45 minutes," Mobley said.
She said she heard people in line wondering how their votes would bet allied if they couldn't be scanned in. Mobley said some people indicated that they had used their flashlight son their smart phones to see the ballot.