COUNTY — Town clerks throughout the county noted a steady showing of voters at the polls Tuesday, Nov. 6 for the 2018 midterm election and referendum.
Wilton Town Clerk Diane Dunham at 12:30 p.m. said voting had been steady, one right after the other.
“We had an incredible amount of voters registering at the polls,” Dunham said Wednesday. “Much more than usual.”
Clockwise from left Doug Rawlins waits to receive his ballots from Chesterville ballot clerk Linda Grippe while Glenda Barker, also a ballot clerk, looks on. (Pam Harnden/Franklin Journal)
Sixty voters were added to the list of registered and enrolled voters in Wilton, Dunham said. Overall, 65 percent of voters cast ballots, either at the polls or by absentee ballot.
Dunham said 429 absentee ballots had been taken out, but not all returned.
“That is close to past years,” she said.
Pamela Griswold, Town Clerk of Chesterville and New Sharon said about 140 absentee ballots were taken out in Chesterville and 165 in New Sharon. Almost as many were requested in the 2016 Presidential election.
She thought it was interesting that at least half of those requesting absentee ballots were voting that way for the first time.
Griswald said Tuesday almost all absentee ballots had been returned, which she’d expect in a Presidential election.
Farmington Town Clerk Leanne Dickey said voter participation was typical of a midterm election.
Dickey said 800 absentee ballots were cast Tuesday compared to 730 in the 2016 election. She also noted there were 460 new registrations filed on Election Day, compared to 533 in 2016.
“It was not my busiest election,” she said.
Nearly 50 percent of Farmington’s 6,840 voters, including on–site registrants, cast ballots, she said.
“Today’s turnout has been tremendous and much heavier than in other midterm elections,” said Kingfield Town Manager Leanna Targett.
“I had voters waiting at the door at 6:30 a.m. We had 50 people right off the bat when we opened the doors at 8 and it’s been non–stop all day,” she said.
Targett said 155 absentee ballots were returned. She believed new registrations were typical of an election but did not have a final tally available Wednesday. More than 60 percent of voters registered in Kingfield participated in the election process.
Local unoffical results of the 2018 election and referendum are as follows:
- Farmington Walton’s Mill Dam project: Yes – 2,031; No – 1,195
- Probate Judge: Margot Joly – 6,871; Ronald Aseltin 6,381
- County Treasurer: Pamela Prodan – 7,131; Quenten Clark – 6,580
- House District 112: Thomas Skolfield (R) – 2,422; Cynthia Soma–Hernandez (D) – 1,270
- House District 113: Scott Landry (D) – 2,373; Paul Brown (R) – 1,686
- House District 114: Randall Hall (R) – 2,234; Cherieann Harrison (D) – 1,433; Maitland David Lord (I) – 119
- House District 117: Frances Head (R) – 2,346; Stephanie LeBlanc (D) – 2,261
- Senate District 17: Russell Black (R) – 9,550; Jan Collins (D) – 8,150
Send questions/comments to the editors.
