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Voter Turnout In Md. Expected To Be Heavier Than Normal

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (WJZ) -- The polls have been open for hours and if the interest is anything like what we saw in early voting, there will be a good turnout Tuesday.

Mary Bubala has more.

Election judges say voting has been steady. There were some reports of minor problems with people getting used to the return to a paper ballot. The races for mayor, council, senate and president are the reasons for such a good turnout.

At precinct 1 near Johns Hopkins, by mid-morning, all the voting stations were filled. We're now back to using paper ballots and some voters need a refresher course on how to properly fill in the blanks.

The city's election chief tells of minor problems slowing the vote at some precincts.

"Well of course, any time you implement something new, I think you have some hiccups here and there," said Baltimore Election Director Armstead Jones.

The polls are marked by campaign signs and workers. At one, a candidate for mayor personally asked for votes.

"We have been hitting every polling place in the city, as many as we can fit in, and it's really exciting. The response has been terrific," said Elizabeth Embry.

Some 31,000 Baltimoreans early voted---that's around 10%---and the election chief says he expects somewhere between 40 and 45% turnout Tuesday, which is strong.

What's motivating the voters?

"Mayor," said Mark Zivkovich. "Mayor, basically."

"The president one is obviously important; that's the most important one, I'd say. I'm a pretty new Baltimore resident so that's the most important one," said Eric Tollerud.

"Mostly I'm just looking for someone who is going to be honest in politics and someone who is actually going to get something done without creating too much controversy within the party," said Taisha Rodriguez.

The election chief says that the first numbers to be released at 8 will be all of those 31,000 ballots from early voting. Then the precincts will start coming in. The city had 3,600 absentee ballots. They will only be counted in the case of a very close contested race.

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