Tuesday, April 7, 2009
7:23 PM
Polling places run out of ballots on Madison's west side
Five polling places on Madison's near west side ran out of ballots this afternoon.
Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy said voters at those polling places were still able to vote. But some had to use photocopied ballots, which would have to be counted by hand.
Kennedy said the polling places -- in areas around West High School, Midvale, Van Hise and Odana -- are all normally high turnout sites.
Dane County Clerk Bob Ohlsen said he was not aware of any ballot issues in the city of Madison, and turnout was at just 15 percent for the city around 4 p.m.
Kennedy said the election was running fairly smoothly otherwise, other than a few minor glitches.
In Racine, there were reports of a film crew taping at various polling sites. After checking things out, city officials learned it was a Japanese film crew that was shooting a documentary because of some tie to one of the 11 candidates in the primary. The candidate was leading the crew to the various sites to shoot.
"Hopefully, we put a stop to that, at least his involvement in that," Kennedy said.
There was also a slight problem at a Stevens Point polling place in a public housing project. The doors automatically lock at 6 p.m., and poll workers didn't realize it until 6:10 p.m., when the problem was taken care of.
Kennedy also said he believes the state is going to come close to the 20 percent turnout that the GAB projected going into today.
-- By JR Ross
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