State voting going smoothly so far

An afternoon press release from the state Board of Elections says there have been few problems or issues around the state today.

All 140 legislative seats and many local constitutional offices and board positions are on the ballot.

“While there have been some isolated issues, they have mostly been the normal Election Day issues,” said the release. “Some of the normal Election Day issues include properly booting up electronic pollbooks and making sure voting equipment is operational.”

One polling place in Chesterfield County reported early-morning electricity issues, while in Henrico, nearly 1,000 voters in 19 precincts were not listed on the pollbooks at their polling places. Those polling places switched to paper pollbooks and the voters were allowed to fill out provisional ballots.

Political volunteers are supposed to stay outside a 40-foot perimeter around polling places, and the SBE reported some complaints of violations, but said those issues were resolved locally.

The state Board has been getting some calls from voters; it seems many do know if their polling place changed, but don’t always know how to get there. The SBE has a Google map on its home page that lets you put in your address, then shows you where your polling place is. That’s at www.sbe.virginia.gov.

The last time all 140 General Assembly seats were up for election was in 2007. That year, voter turnout was about 30 percent. It’s expected to be low today as well, but the SBE said it was receiving reports of higher turnout in hotly contested districts.

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