Almost half of registered voters cast ballots early on The Murfreesboro Post

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Almost half of registered voters cast ballots early

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By: MICHELLE WILLARD, Post Staff Writer

Posted: Wednesday, November 5, 2008 1:36 pm

The sheer number of early votes cast should make Election Day easier, an elections official said.

“We do expect some lines, but with 48 percent voting early it should cut down on the lines a bit,” Elections administrator Hooper Penuel said

68,093 Rutherford countians cast ballots early this year. That’s almost half of the nearly 144,000 registered in the county and almost twice the more than 37,000 who voted early in 2004, Penuel said.

Almost every day of early voting broke attendance records.

“It seems like daily we’re setting records for daily early voting turnout,” Penuel said.

The final record was set Thursday with 7,133 votes cast. During the final week of early voting more than 25,000 registered voters cast ballots.

With the large number of early votes, Penuel expects Election Day to run smoothly, especially with most of the kinks worked out during the first days of early voting.

Voters can help the process by bringing their voter registration card or other signature-bearing identification and going to the polls as early as possible Tuesday.

Michelle Willard can be contacted at 615-869-0816 or mwillard@murfreesboropost.com.

Tagged under ELECTION

Member Opinions:

By: acdsrool on 10/31/08
Okay, someone help me here. I voted yesterday (Oct. 30th) at SportsCom. While standing in line I heard a poll worked tell a young man his signature on his driver's license didn't even come close to matching the form he had just signed. He explained the license/signature was from his high school days and that he no longer signed it that way but she could see that his picture was indeed him. Here's the part I need help with...She said they don't compare pictures, they compare signatures. Now, I don't know for sure but I'm betting neither she, nor any of the other poll workers, are handwriting experts. She then proceeded to tell him the way to make sure everything was okay was for him to sign his name again. That way they had two verifiable signatures that matched. WHAT?!? How does that verify anything?

I'm sure the guy was who he said he was and that everything was legal and above board. I just found it odd that the poll workers, who are not handwriting experts, were asked to compare signatures as verification. Is this normal procedure?

Thanks!

By: barrettbear on 11/1/08
IT COULD BE A POSSIBLE SITUATION THAT SIGNATURES DID NOT MATCH AND THE PERSON WITH THE I.D. CLOSELY RESEMBLED THAT OF THE PICTURE. THEY COULD HAVE BEEN TRYING TO VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE,THE LICENSE COULD HAVE BEEN STOLEN. IF IN DOUBT, SIGNATURE MATCHES CAN BE USED. JUST AS WHEN YOU USE A CREDIT CARD. POST 9/11 YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO CAREFUL. I AM NOT SAYING THE POLL WORKERS SIGNATURE EXPERTS, HOWEVER , YOU CAN PRETTY WELL DISTINGUISH SIGNATURES.