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Smooth sailing at the local polls While Toledo, Ohio, police donned riot gear for any prospective clashes at the polls, all was quiet on the Johnson County front during Election Day. The most conspicuous apparel found Tuesday morning were American flag outfits that swathed elderly women outside Precinct 12 at Grant Wood Elementary. And so it went for the county from the bright hour of 7 a.m. until it was time to close and count the votes at 9 p.m. Both Johnson County and the state witnessed record turnouts for the election. County turnout topped 72,814. Precinct officials said that while the stream of voters was steady — roughly 40 people were waiting in line at Grant Wood before the polls opened — no chaotic lines amassed. And officials avoided any major technical glitches through the end of the night. “We have a peak every hour as classes get out,” said precinct worker Myron Smalley at the Johnson County Courthouse around 1 p.m. “We’ll have a rush, then we’ll be quiet for 15 to 20 minutes, then another rush.” While the turnout so far was higher than some previous elections, he said, the line on the courthouse stairs never crept to more than 10 people. The cause: record-breaking early voting, officials said. A radio playing Taylor Swift easily dominated the few voters’ soft murmurs at the Iowa City Recreation Center, where Precinct 19 official Marty Adams estimated 30 percent of his precinct voted before Election Day. Students made up much of the local electorate Tuesday. Instead of pushing strollers or lugging shopping bags like the older voters casting their ballots on Sunday, many individuals in line at the Recreation Center instead sported backpacks and wore sweatpants. Young voters — 18 to 24 — made up roughly 25 percent of the county’s early voters, according to the Johnson County Auditor’s Office. Some said they have been following the election since at least the Iowa caucuses in January. Their excitement about voting for the first time increased in the past months during a campuswide push to register new voters. “I was definitely more involved than previously because I can vote, and it will actually count,” UI sophomore Daniel Campos said. He voted two weeks ago but said he had seen a lot of students inside Precinct 3 — the humid, wood-paneled room off the Quadrangle Residence Hall lobby. “We’re considerably lazy, but [the polling place] is right here,” Campos said. UI junior Brian Carroll said he had to “stop procrastinating” and get out to vote when he discovered his stock portfolio dropped 40 percent in the past 40 days. “It’s pretty important to vote,” he said outside Precinct 20 at the Senior Center. “If you don’t vote, you can’t complain, and I like to complain.” UI Main Library precinct worker Richard Tiegs was so busy he could only manage a five-minute lunch break. The number of voters bending over their ballots had almost reached 700 by 5 p.m., he said. “Student turnout has been very good,” he said. “We’ve been busy, but we’ve enjoyed being busy.” DI reporter Adam Sullivan contributed to this report. |