CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Kanawha County Clerk Vera McCormick says it’s possible election day could get off to a slower start in the state’s largest county Tuesday because of new touchscreen voting machines and the state’s new voter ID law.
“It may be slower for the early start of the morning because they are booting up equipment and they’ll have to get a routine down but after that I think they will be okay,” McCormick said.
Kanawha County for the first time is going with touchscreen voting machines instead of the ‘fill in the oval” optical scanner ballots. McCormick said any time lost during a slow start at the polls would probably be made up when the votes are tabulated Tuesday night.
“The new machines will be tabulating during the day and our supply people will bring those back and we’ll be running those through and we won’t have any ballots to run through. So I think (the tabulating) will be much faster,” she said.
Kanawha County has 174 voting precincts with more than 800 poll workers. McCormick isn’t expecting a significant turnout of voters.
“I think no more than 30 percent. I’d say closer to 24 to 30 percent,” she said.
McCormick is encouraging voters to bring a form of ID with them to the polls to comply with the new law. There are a number of acceptable forms of ID. She said residents should vote even if they don’t have an ID on them.
“They can vote a provisional ballot and then at canvass they can show ID,” she said.
Polls open Tuesday morning at 6:30 and close Tuesday night at 7:30.
West Virginia MetroNews will feature live coverage of the statewide election starting at 7:06 p.m. Tuesday.