Racine County residents heading to the voting booths today for the spring 2023 election. Here is a look in pictures from around the county.
Caledonia voter turnout
Grace Church
Nearly 1,000 voters, including absentees, cast ballots by 10:30 a.m. at Grace Church on Highway 31. Approximately 3,500 voters are registered to vote in the precinct.
Chief Poll Inspector John Barnes said voters lined up steadily from the moment polls opened at 7 a.m. Because the village uses Badger Books to check in and register voters, residents moved through both processes more quickly.
“We move voters through effectively and efficiently at a fraction of the time it took us with ledgers,” he said.
Badger Books is a closed electronic system that involves one unit as the server and a number of additional screens, or clients, attached only to the server.
Neither the server nor the clients are connected to the internet, so voting integrity is maintained throughout.
“These can’t be hacked because they’re not on the internet,” Barnes added.
In addition to moving voters more quickly to the booth to cast their ballots, the Badger Books units also help reconcile any issues. For example, if a voter is assigned more than one number, the problem is rectified at the end of the night in a matter of minutes instead of hours.
St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church
At St. Mesrob Armenian Apostolic Church there are 3,596 registered voters.
By 3 p.m. on Election Day, 1,340 ballots had been cast, up from 840 at this same time last year.
Chief Poll Inspector Joan Rennert told the Racine County Eye that she takes her duties very seriously to preserve the integrity of every election she works, but the job isn’t without some stress.
“I want things to go smoothly, and I am picky about following the law and what’s best for protecting the chain of custody for the ballots,” she said. “It’s stressful but I love it.”
She explained there was a short delay of one or two minutes when the polls opened because the Badger Books at her site didn’t boot up correctly right away.
“We had a line of people waiting, but they were patient and understood,” Rennert added.
She volunteered that one voter actually had two records that would be merged into one but assured Racine County Eye this person’s vote only counted once based on their name.
“When this resident registered, they were assigned a voter number, but then they re-registered and were given another voter number,” Rennert explained. “Their records will be merged, and their vote will only count once. They did not cast two ballots.”
With the inclement weather on Election Day, Rennert said the village provides paper ledgers should polling locations lose power.
“We’re ready to handle just about anything,” she said.
Election weather
City of Racine voting
Fratt Elementary
Fratt Elementary School had a steady stream of voters this morning.
Racine County Eye will update this story throughout the day, including results as soon as possible after the polls close.
Election coverage
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