Voting: How the county fared.

WEST PALM BEACH — Early voting generated hundreds of thousands of ballots across Palm Beach County, but when it came to election day, there were few lines at polling places and few reports of trouble.

According to the Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections, voters cast 51,195 mail-in ballots, while an additional 39,283 did so at early voting sites.

The question, then for Tuesday’s voting, was: Did the popularity of two weeks of early voting generate greater participation overall, or just shift habits and leave polls empty?

“I don’t have a crystal ball,” Supervisor of Elections Susan Bucher replied Tuesday morning. She was relaxed and smiling, a rare thing for an elections supervisor on the big day, particularly in a county where, even 18 years later, butterfly ballots still flit through election-watchers’ memories.

One complaint popped up on the Engage West Palm Facebook page. West Palm resident Aaron Wormus said he’d been turned away from his polling place at Precinct 2140 on South Olive Avenue early Tuesday because he was a no-party

affiliation, or NPA, voter. When he told election workers that he still was entitled to vote for judicial candidates, one responded, “See you in November.”

Bucher, however, got wind of the complaint and called the clerk at the polling place. The clerk and poll workers were aware that NPAs also are entitled to cast ballots, Bucher said.

She said Wormus should return and try again, and he said he would.

In Jupiter, meanwhile, a halfdozen residents didn’t find out until showing up to vote that their polling place had been moved. And when they went to the new location, signs for it were barely visible.

“Just went to vote at Independence Middle School in Abacoa and was told my voting location had been changed,” one person emailed The Palm Beach Post. The person could barely find the new site, the Martinique community clubhouse, the writer said. “I drove by once, didn’t see signs, came back and one sign had fallen over on grass. The ‘vote here’ sign was behind parked cars back from the street, in the shade. Two ‘vote here’ signs were taped sideways at entrance and not visible from street.”

A word to the wise: Before leaving the house, check the Supervisor of Elections website to confirm the address of your polling places, because they do change

from time to time.

BRUCE R. BENNETT / THE PALM BEACH POST The Supervisor of Elections Service Center in Riviera Beach is abuzz with activity Tuesday, primary election day, which went smoothly for the most part at polling places.

LANNIS WATERS / THE PALM BEACH POST Margie Yansura and Gregg Weiss campaign near the polling place at First Evangelical Lutheran Church in West Palm Beach on primary election day Tuesday. Weiss was running for County Commission District 2.