83 percent of Crow Wing voters go to polls

Crow Wing County experienced an 83 percent voter turnout in Tuesday's general election, a high turnout for a non-presidential election.

Statewide voter turnout was 69 percent Tuesday, according to the Secretary of State's Web site today. As of 7 a.m. today, 2,221,766 Minnesotans had cast ballots in Tuesday's election.

Crow Wing County Auditor Roy Luukkonen said early today it is unusual for more than 80 percent of the county's registered voters to turn out to vote for a non-presidential election. A similar state general election held four years ago had a 78 percent voter turnout in Crow Wing County. County voters experienced an 85 percent voter turnout in the 2000 presidential election.

This year, 26,883 votes were cast out of a total of 32,233 registered voters in the county.

Luukkonen said there are several factors that contributed to the high voter turnout, including a greater awareness of the issues by voters and the uniqueness of the supplemental ballot used because of the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Luukkonen said the canvassing board will meet 10 a.m. Friday to canvass the votes.

The first precinct to report to the Crow Wing County Courthouse Tuesday night was Crow Wing Township at 9:19 p.m. But it took until 5:03 a.m. Wednesday before the votes for the final precinct -- the city of Crosslake -- were counted and tallied. Luukkonen said the hand counting of the supplemental hand ballots and other delays were the reason voters had to wait until just after 5 a.m. to find out county election results.

The Brainerd Dispatch's Extra Access election results hotline registered 1,250 calls between midnight and 8 a.m. today.