By Rick Kennedy, first update
Amidst pleasant November weather, 2018 Election Day arrived Tuesday morning with line-ups already at Hope’s Fair Park Coliseum, and a mid-term election record 2,024 early ballots cast.
Within the first 45 minutes on Tuesday morning, 104 votes had already been cast in what was expected to be a busy 12-hour day. Doors opened at 7:30 this morning, and voting will be open until 7:30 tonight.
Voters came into the Fair Park Coliseum seeing a whole new and streamlined look with two long tables, able to take anyone, and computer touchscreens instead of big voter registration books.
Against the back wall of the Coliseum were the usual line of voting machines, only these were the brand new ones, featuring an inserted paper ballot with a printer, and a computer-ballot deposit box.
Among the early voters on Tuesday morning at the Coliseum was Steve Montgomery, the current Hope Mayor and Hope’s Ward 6 Director, and over 100 -feet outside the Coliseum doors, sat Hempstead County Judge candidate Allen Flowers in a lawn chair, right at the entrance of Fair Park.
Within his district in Hope, Montgomery is facing a challenge from Carla Bryant, while countywide, Flowers is running against Jerry Crane, the former longtime sheriff.
Back in 2016 election cycle, the two-week early voting period in Hempstead County saw a then-record 1,845 votes cast as of Nov. 2 that year in a Presidential election.
Editor’s Note: SWARK Today will have periodic updates throughout the day as well as Election Day coverage tonight as the votes come in at both the Hempstead and Nevada courthouses.
