LANSING – Clerks across the state are gearing up for higher than anticipated voter turnout in the election, by trying to get more poll workers to precincts and adding additional voting stations.

Although final voter registration figures for the state are not yet available, the intense interest in the presidential race is driving the anticipation of higher turnouts, a spokesperson for Secretary of State Terri Land said last week.

Additional voting stations have been ordered and polling places are being reconfigured to handle more voters at a time, said Kelly Chesney. The additional resources should help avoid long waits at the polls, she said.

In Kent County alone, the clerk said more than 300,000 people may vote on November 4. While that figure is only some 10,000 more than voted in the 2004 election, it’s enough for the county to be prepared with additional ballots to ensure they don’t run out.

Chesney also said that across the state clerks are advising voters to try to cast their ballots at times other than the heaviest voting periods at the beginning of the day and after work. Chesney noted that anyone who is in line to vote when the polls close at 8 p.m. will be allowed to cast their ballot.

Clerks have to date received some 700,000 requests for absent voter ballots, which typically constitute about 20 percent of total votes.

Kent County City Clerk Mary Hollinrake said, “We are absolutely prepared for any number of turnout. We have the ability to create additional ballots on Election Day… no precincts will ever, in Kent County, turn away a voter because of turnout.”

For local or school elections, four to five workers are present at each precinct, she said. However, this year, Kent County recommended eight people per precinct.

Meaghan Armstrong, deputy city clerk for Allen Park, said she is still receiving 20-30 voter completed registration forms a day from Wayne County for her city.

Armstrong said 54 extra booths were ordered for Allen Park to accommodate the anticipated additional voters, and instead of four or five workers at each precinct, Allen Park is having seven.

Issues of potential voter fraud have topped the news lately, but Chesney said most problems with newly registered voters have to do with duplicate registrations. Trying to clear those has delayed the tally of this year’s number of registered voters.

Allegations of registration improprieties have surfaced around the country as a result of registration drives by groups such as ACORN, and Chesney said anecdotal stories in Michigan indicate that duplicate registrations in some areas are as high as 50 percent.

Voter registration duplicates has occurred, Armstrong said, but no more than 10 percent of the forms Allen Park receives have been duplicates.

Hollinrake said in her area, the confusion of college kids is mostly to blame for voter registration duplicates, as some students register in their home county and also in the county in which they attend school.

Democratic Party Chair Mark Brewer, speaking to reporters about the campaign in general, acknowledged some problems with voter registration, but said attempts to characterize those problems as an indication of widespread voter fraud are wrong.

“It’s something that Republicans have done in the past,” he said. “It is an attempt at voter intimidation and suppression. We don’t condone fraud by anybody, be it voter registration or activities in polling places.”

This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com

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