A top elections official said San Benito County is headed toward eclipsing a 50 percent turnout and “maybe well over 60 percent” based on returns so far.
Deputy County Clerk Angela Curro told San Benito Live on Tuesday, Election Day, that more than 11,000 ballots are either verified or tallied at the polls as of Tuesday out of just over 30,000 registered voters.
And those numbers include mail ballots just through Sunday that have been verified along with 1,459 “check-ins” at the polls (not include votes at the elections office) as of about 2:30 p.m. today.
“We’re anticipating that will go well over 50 percent, maybe well over 60 percent,” Curro said of turnout.
Turnout in the November 2014 mid-term election locally was 40.6 percent. Turnout in the last presidential election in 2016 was just under 80 percent.
She went on: “The turnout is really good. For a mid-term election, this is a really good year.”
Polls close at 8 p.m., after which the elections office will release initial results.
Other than the busy turnout, the day is running smoothly outside of some inpatient voters at the elections office, Curro said. She said San Benito County doesn’t have long lines like in other areas of the state or country.
“We don’t really have lines that bad,” she said. “But at our office, people aren’t willing to wait five minutes. We can have you voting in five minutes, and that is too long and they storm out.”
Elections official: Turnout ‘really good’ and might eclipse 60 percent
