Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Tuesday afternoon that the state is on track for 44% to 45% of registered voters to vote in the midterm elections by the end of the day.
Merrill said that, as of Tuesday, there are over 3 million registered voters in Alabama. In October, he anticipated that 45% to 50% of them would vote in the general midterm elections, which began Tuesday morning and will end Tuesday at 7 p.m.
Merrill said that Election Day is going well, with the exception of a few minor hiccups, which are typical for any election.
“We always have a few bumps and a few potholes that are out there that we’ve got to navigate around, but overall, things are going extraordinarily well,” Merrill told 1819 News.
Merrill said he’s only been informed about minor hurdles in three to four counties.
He said a poll didn’t open on time in one county because there was confusion about proper protocol.
The poll had to delay opening for one hour, but Merrill said that the poll would remain open for an extra hour at the end of the day. He said this had been approved by order of a circuit court judge, which has been issued.
In another county, some people were incorrectly directed to vote using provisional ballots. Provisional ballots are given to voters but not counted until officials determine that the voter is properly registered.
“You have minor hiccups like this in every election, whether it’s a municipal election, whether it’s a municipal election for the school board, or whether it’s the presidential election,” Merrill outlined. “What you want to do is you want to mitigate those and make sure they don’t rise to the point of causing any real confusion or any real concern for anybody that might be on the ballot… None of these things have done that.”
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