KENT COUNTY — This was the first year of early voting in the state - and it changed the experience for those voting in person.
We caught up with Kent County Clerk Lisa Posthumous-Lyons — to get more details on how election day went.
“It's not just Election Day anymore. It's election season. We had a great nine days of early voting,” she told FOX 17.
When paper jams and other small issues reared their heads, voters were able to make use of the ballot machine’s auxiliary bins— a locked and secure container only to be opened by the election officials. The same poll workers who would be tabulating and ensuring the security of votes stored in the main bins— using those same steps and policies to ensure a fair and secure count— when it came time to add them up.
“We want to make sure that we're uploading the results that we have efficiently, but we're, we're not going to sacrifice accuracy and security for speed,” she added.
“We had a very smooth process. We were able to get our results reported out to the public by 2:30 this morning,” said Posthumus Lyons of what can be a long slog for election workers and voters waiting for those results. “It takes time to count votes. And so that's not a delay in the process. It's part of the process”
A smooth process, though voter turnout was down—albeit just slightly— to its lowest turnout numbers in over a decade in Kent County.
“You know we're talking 68% here,” explained the Kent County Clerk. “Here, this election, we had a high water mark of 72% in 2020 and then 69% in 2016.”
However, she says there are a lot more registered voters this year, which may impact that number.
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