Interest in today's Democratic presidential primary could draw a record number of voters to the polls, Westmoreland County Election Bureau Director Jim Montini said Monday.
Projected turnout among Democrats could top 70 percent, which far exceeds typical numbers in primaries and could equal or even surpass totals from the 2004 presidential election, Montini said.
"It's all the interest in the presidential race," he added.
Turnout in the presidential election four years ago neared 70 percent. Turnout in the primaries that year, when the nominees had long been decided before the Pennsylvania races, was about 24 percent.
There are nearly 135,000 Democrats and more than 85,000 Republicans registered to vote in Westmoreland County.
In Fayette County, which has 61,408 Democrats among its 89,226 registered voters, the election bureau director declined to predict voter turnout.
"I have no idea," Laurie Lint said yesterday as she and employees from her office distributed electronic voting machines to poll workers from the county's precincts. "I never have (made predictions on voter turnout), and I never will."
Westmoreland County officials are preparing for a repeat of the 2004 general election, when long lines at the polls left many voters frustrated.
Montini yesterday cautioned voters to expect to wait before voting.
"There are going to be long waits, and there are going to be long lines," he said.
The county has put 767 electronic touch-screen voting machines in 306 precincts. That is a slight increase over previous years and is just one way the county is preparing for the expected onslaught of voters.
Many of the larger precincts and those that have seen an influx of new Democratic voters will be stocked with more provisional ballots than are usually sent out to the polls.
First-time voters are required to show identification before being allowed to vote. Those without identification will be permitted to cast a paper provisional ballot that will be counted if it can be proven it was submitted by a registered voter.
While no technical glitches are expected with the touch-screen voting machines, a team of computer technicians will staff telephones today in a makeshift office at the courthouse.
The election bureau has enlisted 14 employees from throughout the courthouse to answer telephone calls from voters and from the precincts.
"We're prepared," Montini said.
Lint said her Fayette office will operate the same as it has in past elections.
Six employees will staff the main office to take phone calls and tend to any matters that arise throughout the day. Lint said callers typically want to know whether they are registered or where they are to go to vote.
One change this year will be the number of hours the county must have common pleas judges available to address disputes. In the past, judges had to be available until 8 p.m. For this election, a judge must be on duty until at least 10 p.m., said Karen Kuhn, Fayette County court administrator.
The extended hours are the result of a change in the state's election code. Lint said judges must be on hand to hear requests for emergency absentee ballots or to address election-related disputes.
Kuhn said Fayette's five judges each will work a three-hour shift to meet the new requirement.
The Fayette courthouse and prothonotary's office will remain open until 10 p.m., as well.
If past experience is a predictor, the judges likely won't be called upon. Lint and Kuhn could not recall any instance in recent memory that required a judge's ruling.
"The prothonotary's office said that in all the years they've stayed late, they've never even had anything filed in their office," Kuhn said.
Polls in Pennsylvania will be open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
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