Today is election day. Polls are open until seven tonight. So far there have been no issues in voting in Marion County and those who normally vote at the Marion County Fairgrounds Exhibit Building are finding their way to the emergency voting location at the First Christian Church Gym at West Boone and Hawthorne Roads in Salem.
Contested elections in Marion County include Republican races for Marion County Clerk and for an at large circuit court seat in the 4th judicial circuit. Statewide, on both tickets there are elections for Governor and all statewide offices as well as a Senate race to replace retiring Dick Durbin.
Marion County Clerk Steve Fox isn’t expecting a large turnout.
“I think with a primary election coming up like this, just the parties voting, it’s already a lower turnout than what we see for the general elections. I think we’re going to be right in line with what we saw in the 2022 primary, which would be the similar races locally. I think we’re going to be around 25% total voter turnout for that election.”
Fox says you can still vote if you are not registered or registered at an old address. However, there are only two locations in the county where the grace votes can be cast on Tuesday.
“You do need to bring a photo ID with you and a piece of mail showing your complete new address where you live. We have two facilities in the county where you can do that. The courthouse is one of those, and the other facility is the Centralia Township offices in downtown Centralia. The staff there will also be taking care of those grace period situations.”
Fox says if you failed to get your mail in ballot in the mail, you can bring that ballot to your polling place to surrender and then vote as normal on Tuesday.
WJBD will provide complete election returns beginning around eight Tuesday night.
