GREEN BAY (NBC 26) — Many eyes watched Green Bay Tuesday night, where previous elections have been criticized by some members of the Republican Party.
Election inspectors began processing absentee ballots just after 7 a.m. Tuesday inside Green Bay's Central Count, located on the fourth floor of City Hall. A public notice was posted on the building doors.
There were consistently five to six observers in the room. Sam Munger, an observer from Madison who watched Central County Tuesday, said that's about twice the amount he's seen at previous primary elections.
“There are observers at almost every polling site I’ve been to, and for an August primary - at least in my experience - that’s not typical," Munger said. "There’s often polling places where there’s no one observing the elections."
Most observers NBC 26 spoke with said they felt things went smoothly at Central Count, despite a couple of challenges that resolved quickly.
One woman said she didn't trust the voting process and wanted to see the count unfold first hand. She said in her time observing, nothing seemed out of the norm.
Some observers watched the entire process, which took election officials more than 14 hours from start to finish with Green Bay's 47 wards.
There were also reports some Green Bay polling sites ran out of ballots Tuesday and had to be brought more throughout the day. According to City Clerk Celestine Jefferys, the Clerk requested additional ballots in 15 of the 59 wards of the City. The additional ballots were promptly delivered to wards that needed them.
