News

High turnout, few stumbles highlight city’s Election Day

By 4 p.m. Tuesday, voter turnout for the city of Madison had reached 51 percent of all registered voters with many more expected in the final four hours, said Madison City Clerk Maribeth Witzel-Behl.

“It’s just incredible,” she added.

In the 2004 presidential election, the final turnout totaled 79.9 percent of all registered voters in the city, but according to Witzel-Behl’s prediction, the turnout for this election year could be much larger.

The final turnout count was not determined by press time.

While voters turned out Tuesday anticipating long lines at the polls due to record turnout predictions, many did not expect to be forced to re-register due to a glitch in the system.

According to Sylvia Robertson, chief inspector at the Memorial Union precinct, such registration hiccups happen everywhere, and the problem of transferring registration information to poll lists is not uncommon.

“We had problems, especially this year,” Robertson said. “I do not know all of the details, but I do know, even though it’s a pain in the neck, because of Wisconsin registration at the polls laws, [voters] can re-register, and we will let them vote.”

UW sophomore Mike Gorski said when he arrived to the polls at Porchlight Inc. on Brooks Street, he was told his name was not on the polling list even though he had preregistered at least one month ago.

Gorski added his roommate ran into a similar dilemma, saying he had to return home and talk to his landlord to obtain a copy of his lease agreement to prove his residence.

“I had to come all the way back [to my house] to get an electric bill with my name and address and re-register, and I was running late to class,” Gorski said. “It was just a pain in the ass, and I’m sure that really turned off a lot of people to voting.”

Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, said various problems, including students’ names not appearing in both the state or city poll lists and a clerical address error for students residing in Witte and Sellery Halls, were the main problems seen at the Gordon Commons and Doyle Administration precincts.

“The bottom line is, I don’t think any students who attempted to vote were overly inconvenienced,” Verveer said. “I don’t know of a single student who was supposed to vote here that was turned away. No one was disenfranchised, which is the most important thing.”

Witzel-Behl said she was not aware of any problems with voter registration but added discrepancies between the municipalities in which registration forms were sent could have caused the problem.

While UW freshman Allison Feuerstein said she had previously registered and was not on the poll list, the entire voting process only took about 10 to 15 minutes.

“The wait wasn’t too long,” Feuerstein said. “But I wasn’t on the list, so that was kind of a hassle.”

According to Adam Young, chief inspector at the Gordon Commons precinct, the officials made every effort to be both flexible and accommodating for voters.

“As long as everything is legitimate, we did whatever we could to help assist and make sure that voters who are legitimate voters get out and vote,” Young said.