TURNOUT STRONG ON OPENING DAY
“Our system is safe and
Long lines greeted voters casting their choices in national and local races as early voting opened Wednesday morning in Shelby County.
About 3,000 voters cast ballots in the first two hours, according to election officials. “That’s a lot of people voting,” said Linda Phillips, administrator of elections for the Shelby County Election Commission.
By 2 p.m., that number was almost 6,400. Commission chairman Robert Meyers said there were lines at most locations. Abundant Grace Fellowship Church in Whitehaven was dealing with issues with some machines that contributed to an estimated two-hour wait in mid-afternoon.
Phillips initially anticipated as many as 15,000 could vote Wednesday. By comparison, Shelby County Election figures from 2012 — the last presidential race — show about 13,500 participated in the first day of early voting. Election Day is Nov. 8.
The election commission reported one glitch by midday — a problem with access cards that led to some voters having to cast paper ballots, primarily at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Germantown. Phillips said election officials are “just kind of mystified” by the problem, since the cards were tested.
The matter was resolved by late morning and all of the machines were working, officials said, adding that all of the paper ballots cast would be counted. Those who left because of the problem were told they would move to the front of the line when they returned.
The presidential showdown between Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump is driving much of the turnout. The daily sniping between the candidates and the lessthan-diplomatic tenor of the campaigns has created heavy interest at the top of the ballot.
Congressional and state representative races also are on the ballot, along with municipal races in four suburbs. Most of those contests, particularly U.S. Representative races in District 9, where Democratic incumbent Steve Cohen is seeking re-election, and in District 8, where Republican David Kustoff is seeking to fill the role vacated by Stephen Fincher, are not expected to be competitive.
Twenty-one early voting locations across the county opened at 10 a.m. Wednesday, and people were waiting
secure; it is not rigged.” LINDA PHILLIPS ADMINISTRATOR OF ELECTIONS FOR THE SHELBY COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSION
for the doors to open. Around 2 p.m., a long line of voters waited inside New Bethel to place their vote. Phillips said there was a roughly 50-minute average wait at the location.
Phillips’ theory for the turnout is that some voters wanted to cast their votes so they wouldn’t have to pay any more attention to debates, coverage or even calls to their homes.
Phillips said the problems with the early-access card involved a security code that tells the voting machine what ballot style to bring up. Security codes are changed for every election, and it’s possible that the last time they were cleared, some of the coding remained on the cards and prevented the machines from turning on and pulling up the correct ballot, she said.
Every single card was tested before the election, Phillips said, but the commission doesn’t know the exact cause of the malfunction.
A few cards were having the same issue at other polling locations, but didn’t disrupt voting, she said. Although the reason for the malfunction was unclear, Phillips stressed it was not an issue of security or card tampering.
“You can’t hack into my system,” she said. “It’s not connected to the internet, and it lives in warehouses with security cameras.”
She added that the process in Shelby County is not “rigged,” as Trump has alleged about the election nationwide.
“Our system is safe and secure; it is not rigged,” Phillips said. “Democrats and Republicans check everything we do.”