Before 7am at the Tonsler Park Recreation Center on Cherry Avenue, close to 100 people lined up waiting to cast their ballot.
By 8:30am, the line wasn’t much of a line at all. Ida Woodfalk, chief of the precinct, said that by 9am 565 people voted and of those, about 200 preferred a paper ballot to the electronic machines. “It’s been really nice,” she says. “No problems so far.”
Ben Hicks cast his vote using the electronic machine. “Oh, it was real easy and quick,” he says. “It’s simple and painless.”
Another resident said she, too, was aiming for the quickest way to “be in and out.” She chose a paper ballot. “I think it’s a lot quicker than the machine,” she says. “Thank God I got out of there so fast!”
Workers at Recreation precinct said that voters there are 3 to 1 in favor of electronic ballots.
Woodfalk says it has been smooth sailing since the precinct opened this morning at 6am. But, as CBS reports, the Commonwealth has experienced some issues since the polls opened, including problems with voter registration and polling machines not functioning properly.
According to the Washington Post, in some areas, the problems are weather-related. Voters who got wet by standing in line caused their ballots to be unreadable by the optical scanning machines.
"Ballots are getting wet and affecting the machines. You need to be sure to dry your hands before completing your ballot," said Susan Pollard, a spokesperson for the state Board of Elections.
