Wednesday, November 9, 2016

Election Day sees record Knox turnout

Tuesday capped what has proved to be a record turnout in Knox County elections, according to county election officials.

At least 190,000 voters cast ballots - and that number could top 200,000 before all votes are counted, according to officials.

Few problems were reported Tuesday. Early voting, which ended last week, saw some 135,000 people cast votes in Knox County. Another 6,000 or so absentee and paper military ballots must be counted as well, a task that's expected to continue until at least midnight Tuesday.

Election Commission board member Bob Bowman said Tuesday was "probably the smoothest we've ever had."

It helped that so many people cast early ballots, he said.

Bowman credited the county's 725 election workers who helped at polling places Tuesday.

"A vast majority of the returns should be in by 10:30, but the absentee and military ballots will take until about midnight"

Tuesday marked the end of a long and contentious road to the White House for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In addition to the presidential race, there are a number of important local and state issues on the ballot across East Tennessee.

In most counties, the polls were open 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., except for those in the central time zone, where the polls closed at 7 p.m. You can check with your local election commission to confirm the hours where you live. You will be able to find election results here.

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