Strong turnout reported in primary vote

Before the polls opened at 7 a.m. Tuesday, more than 1,400 Stutsman County citizens had voted early or used absentee ballots and about 100 more citizens were already waiting outside the Jamestown Civic Center to vote.

“It’s going very well,” said Casey Bradley, auditor/chief operating officer for Stutsman County.

By 2:15 p.m., 1,794 people had voted at the Civic Center, with the largest rush between 10:30 and 11 a.m. Bradley expected another rush after 5 p.m., as people finished their work days.

For the most part, voting had gone smoothly through the morning and early afternoon.

Early on, a few people received the wrong ballots as a result of a change in the voting software — instead of printing J for Jamestown precincts and P for rural precincts, the machines were printing 0s and 1s.

Anyone who brought the issue to the attention of election officials before they voted received the correct ballots — probably three people, Bradley said. But two or three people brought the issue up after their ballots had been placed in the counter, when it was too late.

On the ballot Tuesday were primary elections for four parties, including the Libertarian and Constitution parties, as well as local primaries and four statewide measures.

“Measure 2,” said Geoff Lauinger of Jamestown, when asked what he felt was the most important thing on the ballot Tuesday.

Alice Laber, also of Jamestown, also felt Measure 2 was the most important issue, as did Nancy Pfaff of Jamestown.

“It’s been the hottest topic, I think,” Pfaff said as she left the Civic Center Tuesday afternoon.

Election Clerk Skip Olson reported voters had been “wonderful” so far, and though the election was a long day, it was also “very enjoyable.”

Sun reporter Kari Lucin can be reached at 701-952-8453 or by email at klucin@jamestownsun.com

Tags: local news, news, updates, election