Slow, Yet Steady Election Day Turnout

Despite the fact that this year's elections are all local affairs, around Port Jefferson, voter turnout has been quite steady in many places and exceeded expectations in others, according to coordinators at various polling places.

“The day went quick,” said Annemarie Slocum, a voting coordinator at the in Port Jefferson Station. “The traffic is nothing like a presidential race but better than the primaries.”

Slocum said that the word to describe the voter traffic was “steady.”

That sentiment was repeated in polling place after polling place around the area.

“It’s been constant,” said Bob Strong, who was at the polling place in in Port Jefferson.

Strong, who is a former mayor of the village said that by around 6 p.m. he thought that they had about 25 percent of the registered voters come through to cast their ballot.

At the turnout was at about a third of eligible voters with three hours left until the polls closed, according to a voter coordinator who asked not to be named.

“I’m thinking we’ll end up at 30 percent,” she said.

The coordinator at the polling place in the on Main Street in Port Jefferson said that estimated about 500 people voted by 6 p.m. Down the road in the the word of the day was the same as almost all of the others.

“It’s been surprisingly steady,” said Rob Villard, an assistant coordinator there.

While he estimates 30 to 35 percent of the voters came out in that district, he said that they usually get 20 percent for this type of very local election.

“For this kind of election it’s not that low,” he said.

Another coordinator standing nearby one-upped his estimate.

“It’s kind of surprising,” he said. “I’d say it’s fairly energized.”