Polls open in some towns
Tuesday November 4, 2008
Melody Bodette
Colchester, VT
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(Host) It's Election Day and polls are opening in many locations across the
state at 7 a.m. Vermont's election officials are expecting a heavy
turnout of voters.
Deputy Secretary of State Bill Dalton says it's unclear whether polls will be busy because many voters have already cast ballots. Dalton says voter turnout may break a record:
(Dalton) "The mark, so to speak, that was set for early voting was around 20 percent, and that was in the 2004 general election. I know that we're also looking at whether or not we will get towards 70 percent of the registered voters. "
(Host) But elections officials expect polling places will be able to handle all voters. The state prints as many ballots as there are registered voters. And Dalton says town election workers have been training for today since the summer:
(Dalton) "The key crunch for those folks and for the secretary of state's office is that we have very late primaries in early September. So we don't know who's on the ballot; Those things don't get firmed up until September and then it's a real rush to make sure everything is in shape, and is set up in a way that will be available for the voters."
(Host) All towns will open their polls by 10 this morning, and they close tonight at 7. You can tune in at that time for VPR's live election coverage.
AP Photo/Toby Talbot
© Copyright 2008, VPR
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