It is going to be almost a week before voters in Eau Claire know who won yesterday’s elections.
The state’s Election Commission says local clerks cannot count their votes until next Monday. There may not be that many votes to count. Turnout in many places in the Chippewa Valley was light yesterday. In Eau Claire, the city’s clerk said yesterday afternoon’s turnout was just 34-percent.
Wisconsin’s National Guard commanders say their work on Election Day was a success. Over 24-hundred troops manned the polls in 71 of Wisconsin’s 72 counties. Florence County was the only county to not need guardsmen. Barron County Clerk DeeAnn Cook said turning to the troops to help was the smoothest part of Election Day.
There were other places in our state where things weren’t quite as smooth though.
Cities and counties that closed or consolidated their polls saw longer lines on Election Day. Voters in Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay, and Waukesha saw the longest lines. Some people waited for more than an hour to cast a ballot. Local election managers combined polls in those cities. Milwaukee, for example, went from 180 normal polling stations to just five.
