Published: November 02, 2008 01:52 am      

Marion County early voting goes smoothly

About 4,000 participate; no trouble with machines

FAIRMONT — When early voting polls closed Saturday afternoon, Marion County Clerk Janice Cosco expected that about 10 percent of eligible voters — 4,000 — will have taken the stylus to the voting machine and registered their choice of candidates.

“It’s been a wonderful turnout early on,” Cosco said Friday afternoon. “As of 1 p.m. today, we had 3,700 people since it started.”

She anticipated the number to go up to about 4,000 by the end of the day Saturday when early voting ended. Marion County has more than 42,000 registered voters, she said.

And unlike other counties, no one registered any complaints about the voting machines, which in a few counties, including Putnam and Jackson, reportedly had switched the choices of some voters from the Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, to the Republican nominee, John McCain.

“We have not had one complaint, not one problem with the voting machines,” Cosco said. “They are functioning very well.”

Secretary of State Betty Ireland had asked voter officials to calibrate the voting machines each day in an effort to keep them functioning well, but Cosco said her employees had not needed to take such measures.

“We calibrated the machines prior to early voting and as we speak, we have not had one problem,” she said.

In addition to the machines working well, voters also did not encounter long lines, Cosco said.

“We anticipated a very large turnout, so we have nine people working in early voting and eight machines set up.”

Early voting ended at 5 p.m. Saturday. Those who want to vote who did not participate in early voting can do so at their local precincts from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday on the regular Election Day, Cosco said.

If someone does have a problem using a machine, Cosco said, a poll worker can help them.

“The poll worker will know what to do,” she said. “They can review their ballot and go back and vote for their candidate. If it still doesn’t work, the machine will need to be calibrated.”

E-mail Mary Wade Burnside at mwburnside@timeswv.com.