Marshall County voters continue to cast ballots early in this year’s November General Election.
As of Tuesday, October 27, the absentee workers have assisted 4,904 walk-in voters. Of those voters, 255 people voted early in Bremen this past Saturday and 259 voters cast a ballot in Culver. The total number of mail-in ballots is 2,972 and all but a few hundred have returned to the Clerk’s Office waiting to be counted on Election Day.
In 2016, there were a total of 5,724 early voters and there are nearly 8,000 early voters so far in this election.
There are 29,642 registered voters in Marshall County.
Marshall County Election Board President Sean Surrisi said there were long lines at the satellite vote center at the Culver Community Schools Administration Building on Saturday and a lot of people were complaining about only having two machines available to vote.
“We assign those machines just for the satellite Saturdays and if we were to assign more than that to there then we have less to use on Election Day,” stated Surrisi.
Marshall County Clerk Deb VanDeMark added, “The thing is we cannot reuse those machines. So, once we’ve used them for early voting they’re locked up. They’re not used anymore for Election Day voting. I just can’t compliment our absentee workers enough. My gosh they’re working hard and working long days. They’re just amazing!”
She said the rest of the machines are used at the 12 Vote Centers on Election Day.
VanDeMark also commented that with precautions taken in light of the health pandemic, the absentee workers are cleaning the machines after every use which adds to the length of time a voter stands in line at an early polling site.
Walk-in absentee voting continues through Friday at the Clerk’s office from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Voters may also vote Saturday, October 31 from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. at The Pines building at 1754 W. Plymouth Street in Bremen, the Culver Community Schools Administration Building on School Street in Culver, and the Marshall County Clerk’s Office on Madison Street in Plymouth. The last day to vote absentee is Monday, November 2 from 8 a.m. to noon in the Clerk’s Office.
