WHITEWATER, Wisc. — A circuit court judge granted an extension for voting in Whitewater due to long lines on Tuesday.
Polling locations will remain open until 10:30 p.m. to accommodate voters. Polls closed at 8 p.m. across Wisconsin.
A court order says "polling places located at Whitewater - Armory and University of Wisconsin Whitewater - University Center located in Walworth County experienced significant delays due to inadequate staffing and insufficient numbers of BadgerBooks due to unprecedented turnout."
Brianna Cusimano and Airrianna Villarreal are UW-Whitewater students and first time voters. They waited over four and a half hours to cast their ballots. Despite the delays, they were still in good spirits. They said they had plenty of games and food to pass the time.
Watch: Judge extends voting hours in Whitewater:
Caleb Radmer and Jack Bell are also UW-Whitewater students and waited over four hours to vote. The first-time voters were not expecting the process to take this long. However, they are not discouraged to vote in the future.
“It was pretty crazy,” said Jack Bell, a first time voter and student. “We first came here at 4:00 p.m. and they said it was going to be a five hour wait so we came back after dinner and it’s just as busy.”
Lynn Binnie is the Chief Election Inspector at the UW Whitewater polling location on campus. He told TMJ4 there were a few reasons for the delays.
“We’re serving about 1,400 voters, and well over 1,000 of those just registered today at the polls, which is quite time consuming,” said Binnie.
Binnie added that Whitewater made the decision last year to switch over to the electronic poll book system, Badger Books. This was their first election using the system.
“To register an individual on that system takes quite a bit longer than if you were just doing it on paper,” said Binnie.
He said the advantage to having this system is having an updated poll book.
“The clerk staff doesn't have to spend weeks of time entering manually the information that was provided on paper,” said Binnie.
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This extension came at the request of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).
All voters who are in line by 10:30 p.m. were able to "cast their ballots in the same manner as those cast during regular polling hours," the court order says.
The final voter finished just before 1:00 a.m.
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