Galesburg residents have been voting all day and so far nothing unusual has been reported, at least from the various precincts WGIL has visited.
There has been some national discussion of voter intimidation and rigging that had increased tensions around polling places ahead of Election Day.
Jan Hipple and Mary Schroeder voted at Northwoods Community Church today and said they had no problems. Around the noon hour there was no sign of any kind of unsanctioned poll watchers and lines were minimal.
Hipple and Schroeder not only said they did not see any such thing but that but they’re skeptical such a thing would happen locally.
“Not in Galesburg,” Hipple says. “Not here.”
They heard judges giving explanations of the ballot and how to vote.
Ray Rambo also voting at Northwoods said there didn’t seem to be anything out of the usual from his perspective. When asked if there was anything confusing about the ballot and voting itself he did make one admission.
“It had a few things on there that I hadn’t heard about,” Rambo says.
There’s always the question of what to do when coming across races voters aren’t familiar with. Is it better to skip over that part of the ballot or simply vote for a candidate that’s aligned with a particular party?
Rambo says he did the latter.
None of the three had to wait in line but Schroeder came prepared to stand as long as it took.
“I would’ve waited on line forever,” Schroeder says. “I would’ve stayed here all day.”
Polls close at 7 p.m. when WGIL’s coverage of Your Choice 2016 begins with results from around the nation, state and region.
