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City, county contribute to record vote totals
2018 primary election
Luke Johanson, Monroe, casts his ballot for the Wisconsin primary election at the Monroe Fire Department Aug. 14. - photo by Marissa Weiher

MONROE — Voter turnout in Monroe and Green County was in line with the state level during Tuesday’s partisan primary election.

Monroe City Clerk Arianna Voegeli said Wednesday that the city had 1,396 votes cast within the city. By contrast, the 2016 primary saw a total of slightly fewer than 1,000. Voegeli said the number of candidates within the gubernatorial race could be a likely reason for the influx of voters. She noted that citizens may “understand the importance of voting” given recent current events.

Voegeli also said young people were showing up, and as a more informed electorate than past generations, may be contributing to the higher numbers. 

Voters streamed into the westside fire station steadily throughout the day Tuesday. By 12:30 p.m., the tally machine reflected nearly 600 ballots cast. Just before 6 p.m., that number had reached nearly 1,200. Waves of people continued to arrive to vote without much lull to the day, Voegeli said. There were no issues with machines and the poll workers did not have any write-ins to count at the end of the day.

Throughout Green County, voters turned up to cast nearly 6,000 ballots. Over 99 percent were cast for either of the two main parties. The August 2016 partisan primary had U.S. and state congressional races as well as local candidates. The total vote in Green County that year was just over 3,500. 

In a release by the Wisconsin Elections Commission, officials noted unofficial results from the Associated Press found nearly 994,000 votes cast in the primaries for governor on either the democrat or republican side. 

The release stated that the turnout was the highest within the state since 2002, when it was 22.5 percent. The 2016 partisan primary saw 14.5 percent of the electorate at the polls. In what may indicate numbers are going to increase even more for the fall general election, the WEC noted that this year’s spring primary attracted 22.3 percent of the population eligible to vote.

“It was super steady throughout the day,” Voegeli said. “It was a really great turnout. I am expecting a huge turnout for the gubernatorial election in November.”