By Kim McDarison
Steady lines of traffic, sometimes as many as 20 voters deep, moved across the gymnasium floor Tuesday at the downtown Armory building, the city of Whitewater’s only polling place.
Around 4:30 p.m., Whitewater City Clerk Michele Smith said voter traffic moving through the polls was more than she expected as compared to a typical spring election.
While other ballot issues, such as a race to fill three seats on the Whitewater Unified School District Board of Education, were of interest to voters, she believed the race to fill an open seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court was a factor which was contributing to the increased traffic.
She described traffic at the polls as “steady” throughout the morning and early afternoon, with a spike coming around 2:30 p.m., noting that the spike was particularly noticeable in lines serving wards within the city where University of Wisconsin-Whitewater students lived. In particular, she said, they are Wards 9 and 10 in the Walworth County portion of the city and Ward 13 in the Jefferson County portion of the city.
One of six polling site chiefs, Kay Sparling, said that even with the lines, she observed that everything was going smoothly and poll workers were able to keep lines moving swiftly.
Smith said that about 700 absentee ballots had been returned to the polling place Tuesday. The city issued more than 700, she said. Most had been returned by 4:30 p.m., but some continued to trickle in.
She, too, noting that things were running smoothly thanks to a full staff of 32 poll workers who were manning shifts throughout the day.
Looking at numbers, Smith said there are some 6,042 registered voters in the city of Whitewater. A breakdown is as follows: in Wards 11, 12 and 13, which reside in Jefferson County, some 1,157 voters are registered; in Wards 6, 7, and 8, some 1,469 voters are registered; in Wards 4, 5, 9 and 10, some 1,909 voters are registered, and in Wards 1, 2 and 3, some 1,507 voters are registered.
By 4:30, she said, some 2,128 voters, or 35% of those registered, had cast their ballots.
Lines at 4:30 p.m. continued to wind across the gymnasium and into the vestibule where poll greeter Jeanine Fassl, looked up the names of each voter and directed them to the appropriate line.
Looking at trends, Smith said that older voters, defining them as age 50 and older, have continued to vote using absentee ballots. The trend began during the COVID-19 pandemic, and within that age group, she said, the number of people requesting absentee ballots is increasing.
Smith, who will be retiring next week after 29 years serving as the Whitewater city clerk, said that over the course of her career, the largest voter turnout she’d experienced in Whitewater was in November of 2008 when Barack Obama ran for his first term as president.
In 2008, voter turnout was high, she said, noting that more than 7,000 ballots were cast by city of Whitewater voters in that election.
Christine Geiger, at left, and Tyler Smith, both University of Wisconsin-Whitewater sophomores, wait in line Tuesday afternoon to vote. Geiger is from Waunakee and Smith is from Janesville. Geiger said she was mainly interested in casting her vote for a Wisconsin Supreme Court justice candidate, while Smith said he had done some reading in preparation of voting for candidates running for seats on local boards.
Waiting in line at the polls Tuesday afternoon, Jessica Grunewald, a UW-Whitewater junior from Sun Prairie, said she was mostly interested in the race to fill the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice seat, but she would vote for candidates in local races if she recognized any names.
Waiting in line with her four children, ages 7 to 11, Karen Notstad said she homeschools her children but was still interested in all the races on the ballot. She said she was a math teacher for 10 years, and while she was educated about the local candidates, she believed the race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court justice seat was the most important on Tuesday’s ballot.
Poll workers Jim Olm, from left, Carolyn Behrens, and a poll chief Carrie Oster greet voters standing, sometimes as many as 20 deep, in the line for the city’s Wards 4, 5, 9 and 10. Wards 9 and 10 contain a large number of student housing units, City Clerk Michele Smith said.
A table where poll workers help myriad voters register is in full swing Tuesday afternoon.
A line stretches across the gymnasium floor in the downtown Armory building which served Tuesday as the city of Whitewater’s only polling place.
Whitewater polling place greeter Jeanine Fassl helps a voter determine his ward.
Whitewater City Clerk Michele Smith, at left, and poll chief Kay Sparling take a moment to reflect on Tuesday’s election and elections past. After serving as city clerk for 29 years, Smith will be retiring next week.
Kim McDarison photos.
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