Voters in Pottawatomie County set at least one new record in Tuesday’s General Election with heavy early voting and Lincoln County’s early turnout was significantly higher over four years ago as well.
Lincoln County Election Board Secretary Melissa Stambaugh said at the end of Saturday’s early in-person voting, “We had a total 1,837 who voted between Thursday and Saturday.”
She noted four years ago that 1,398 voted during those three days. “That 439 less than voted this year.”
Stambaugh further stated, “We mailed out 1,519 ballots to voters who requested them and already we’ve gotten back 1,132. We’ll get more back on Monday and Tuesday in the mail,” she figured, “and voters could hand deliver ballots to us on Monday at the County Election Board.
“They had to go to their precincts on Tues day though,” she commented. Jeannie Stover, Pottawatomie County Elec
Jeannie Stover, Pottawatomie County Election Board Secretary, said on Saturday, “We had a total of 3,749 who voted in-person Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Two years ago we had 2,999 and 3,198 four years ago.”
Stover also said, “We’ve mailed out 6,022 absentee ballots to voters. We’ve received back 4,409. I haven’t counted today’s (Saturday’s) mail yet and we still have Monday and Tuesday’s mail to come in.”
Stover added, “It’s a record for Pottawatomie County, especially the 6,022. She noted that in 2016 they only mailed out 1,719 ballots.
As of late Tuesday night, these were the numbers available in area races:
Pottawatomie County:
Court Clerk: Valerie Ueltzen 21,359, Bud Jeffrey 5,397.
District 2 County Commissioner: Randy Thomas 7,123, Norman Smith 2,103.
House District 26: Dell Kerbs 9,879, Bryce Barfield 4,436.
State Senate District 17: Shane Jett 16,886 Greg Sadler 6,72.
House District 28: Danny Williams 9,590, Yasminda Choate 3,523
5th District Congress Kendra Horn, 110,552. Stephanie Bice, 105,220
In Lincoln County, voters had no local races or state legislative contests to decide, but they did vote in the 3rd District Congress:
Frank Lucas 223,187, Zoe Midyett 61,104.
Statewide:
SQ 805 yes 486,569, no 753,898.
SQ 814 yes 502,758, no 722,574.
U.S. Senator: Jim Inhofe 837,201, Abby Broyles 420,442, Robert Murphy 27,112 Joan Farr 17,316, A.D. Nesbitt (correct numbers not available,) Corporation Commissioner:
Todd Hiett 967,433 , Todd Hagoplan 300,583.
Stover related, “We know the Coronavirus impacted that.”
Stover mentioned, too, like Stambaugh, “They had to go to their precincts on Tuesday though.”
Stambaugh, talking about the three days of in-person voting, stressed, “Everyone was super good. Very respectful of one another, they didn’t mind waiting a few minutes and no one had to wait more than 10-15 minutes.”
Stover’s comments were similar about the three days of in-person voting. “We’ve had some good help here trying to get everything done. This is going to go down in history,” she believes.
“Overall, everyone was pretty patient. I’d say 99.9 percent of the people were very good. Most everyone was pretty nice and we had 1,364 vote on a rainy day, Stover said.
Stambaugh remarked, “This morning, Saturday, people were lined up waiting for when we opened at 9. But they were patient,” she said.
She expected a good turnout on Tuesday when voters went to the precincts to vote as was Stover.