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Voters in Kosciusko County took to the new voting machines without skipping a beat Tuesday; presented photo ID cards without a hitch; and turned out in less than average numbers for the primary election.
Rick Keevan, the Warsaw 4th Ward, 2nd Precinct election inspector, and Democrat judge Nelle Heiman were first in line, and Keevan said the process went smooth as silk.
The Warsaw 4-2 polling place is right across the street from the Justice Building, in the First Christian Church, 202 W. Main St.
"Voting on the machines was smooth," Keevan said, "and everyone had an ID."
That was the word in polling places across the county.
No one seemed surprised to provide a government-issued identification card. Most people had them on hand when they walked in the door, poll workers said.
Voters also seemed to like the electronic voting method.
Voter turnout was a bit down with 20.46 percent of the 49,936 registered voters participating in the election.
During the 2004 primary, the rate was 21 percent of 47,587 registered voters. In the 2002 primary, 27 percent of the registered voters cast a ballot.
"There were a few questions," said poll worker Pam Kennedy, "but they were from people who always have a lot of questions. Otherwise it was smooth."
Voter Sally Hogan thought the process was a snap. "That was easy," she said as she left Warsaw's Ward 1, 1st precinct.
Republican Central Committee Chairman Aaron Rovenstine wasn't happy with the amount of voters participating in the primary. He put the condition down to several factors besides the rainy weather.
"I'm disappointed in the voter turnout," Rovenstine said. "I hope the machines didn't scare anyone away because they were easy to use. It was a tough year with the machines and a change in the polling places though."
Soon after Keevan's arrival, the poll workers began arriving in earnest. Printouts of individual city and township precincts followed shortly thereafter, punctuated with regular election summary reports.
The first printout was available around 6:33 p.m. and the final summary was printed at 9 p.m.
At total 10,223 voters cast ballots. There were 9,744 machine ballots, 479 absentee ballots and no provisional ballots.
