Madison County keeps voter poles busy

REXBURG, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - A bigger wave of voters than expected hit polling places in Madison county.

There has been a steady flow of Rexburg voters all day.

They braved their COVID-19 fears and came out to determine the future of Idaho and Madison County and the surrounding communities.

Madison County voters lined up as early as 7 a.m to cast their votes at their local polls.

One of them tells us he's cast his ballot in the last six elections and doesn't plan to stop now.

"It's something that people fought for so that we can keep our country free and keep it ran well. It gets really important to carry on that tradition," said Ethen Widdison of Salmon.

This pandemic may have stopped us from doing a lot of things, but fulfilling our right to vote won't be one of them.

Poll workers in Madison County are taking on the challenge of keeping everyone safe.

"First of all we're wearing masks, social distancing, we're using disposable pencils to vote, and we have a sanitation crew that comes in every half hour to help with not spreading germs," said Cindy Hill Chief Judge Salem precincts.

For the most part, polling stations seem to be running smoothly.

The only problem reported some people are coming in to vote in person with absentee ballots.

"We've had a few people that have been pretty upset about it, but they can still vote. They just have to take it to the county building to turn it in," said Hill.

Chief Judge Cindy Hill tells us more voters turned out than expected after a historic wave of mail-in ballots in recent weeks.

"It's been very busy I think it's a pretty heated election and so we've got a lot more voters I think than we have had in the past," said Hill.

The doors at polling locations in Rexburg are officially closed to voters.

The 12-hour window to cast ballots, has past.

Those who had the chance to cast their ballots are eagerly waiting to hear the final results nationwide.

"I think the outcome of the elections is really going to determine how our countries going to end up. I would like it to remain free and with a good economy," said Widdison.

Madison county poll workers tells us they will be sending the ballots to county office where they will be tallied.

Counting the mail-in the ballot will slow down the tally prosses and can't tell us when to expect final numbers.