By Karen Middleton
Limestone County’s chief election official predicted at late afternoon Tuesday that more than 70 percent of the county’s registered voters turned out to cast ballots.
“It was an incredible turnout everywhere we went,” said Probate Judge Mike Davis. “Of course, the larger precincts were more crowded. But everywhere, it was a constant flow of voters.”
According to Lee Liveoak in the Board of Registrars office, there are 45,481 voters registered in the county.
Davis said that one of the disability machines had a problem with not being able to feed the ballot, but the votes were counted.
“Our optical scanning equipment worked well,” he said.
The main problem seemed to be traffic control at the polls, he said.
“I compare this to a 100-years flood,” said Davis. “No matter how prepared you are, you can’t control all factors. We had to call out more deputies, particularly at Creekside, to direct traffic. There was also a parking problem at Lamb of God Lutheran Church in Madison. They had to have deputies to help with parking.”
Davis said his office was prepared to restock any of the polling places that ran out of supplies and those issues were resolved promptly.
“I would have to give an A-plus to all the polling officers,” he said. “And also the voters. They were very patient—patient throughout the process. I think this will be the greatest turnout we’ve ever had in Limestone County.”
Davis said that in his 26 years of serving as probate judge, the highest turnout he has seen thus far was in Ronald Reagan’s re-election in 1984 when 64 percent of registered voters cast ballots.
“The nearest to that would have to be our last gubernatorial election when we had 62 percent,” he said. “I’m thinking that there will be 70 percent-plus this time. It’s just amazing to see this phenomenon.
“In predicting turnout you go a lot by registration and on previous turnout, but this time with the the economy and everything, there is a lot of interest in Limestone County.”
