Butler County election bureau reports 36% voter turnout
Voter turnout for Tuesday’s general election exceeded the Butler County Bureau of Elections director’s expectations, but not by much.
According to Chantell McCurdy, 36% of registered voters turned out to cast a ballot in Tuesday’s election.
Tuesday’s total does not include 154 provisional ballots and 30 absentee/mail-in ballots, which will be calculated before the count is finalized.
“For the last several municipal general elections, the turnout is in the lower half of the 30% range,” McCurdy said.
That’s up from May’s primary, where 22.37% of voters participated. The primary elections always have a lower turnout, McCurdy said.
It’s the national races that bring in the most voters, she continued. She anticipates a larger showing in the November 2024 election.
According to McCurdy, Tuesday went smoothly at the polls and at the office. She said there were no major issues and cited some minor complaints regarding campaigners and poll watchers.
“But no one was impeded from voting,” she said.
Franklin Township was the first precinct to deliver its results to the bureau.
“The judge of elections, Laura Duncan, is often the first to report. She does a great job,” McCurdy said.
The last to report its results was the precinct in Winfield Township.
“The precincts from the southern end of the county often take longer to come in with their results,” McCurdy said.
She said the county’s poll workers work to make sure all of their items are in order before arriving at the building.
“Doing this in advance allows the drop off to go smoothly,” she said.
The bureau begins to count mail-in and absentee ballots before polls close on Election Day, as allowed.
“We have a great group of envelope openers that work very diligently with the registrars. They keep the mail in and absentee envelopes and ballots in order,” McCurdy said. “As long as we get those opened before the close of polls, the results really load in quickly.”
Once provisional ballots are reviewed by the computation board, the results from the Tuesday election will be submitted to be made official by the Department of State on Nov. 14.
“Please keep in mind that all results on the website are unofficial and are subject to change as the computation board evaluates the remaining ballots,” McCurdy said.
