A third of the city expected to vote in Eau Claire

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Posted: Tue 5:21 PM, Apr 03, 2012

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Reporter: Jenny You Email

Updated: Tue 5:57 PM, Apr 03, 2012

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A third of the city expected to vote in Eau Claire

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (WEAU) -- Voters are casting their ballots at polling stations across Wisconsin Tuesday.

As of noon, the city has seen a 9 percent turnout among voters.

Based on that number and past trends, clerks are looking at a 30 to 35 percent turnout among voters Tuesday.

Eau Claire City Clerk Donna Austad says that's around 10,000 voters who are weighing in at the polls in Eau Claire.

She says the spotlight is hot in the state because this is one of few times when Wisconsin is playing a part in the presidential nomination, where as many times in the past, the nomination had already been locked up by the time it got to the Badger State.

Austad says voters may also be eager to vote locally because there's direct impact on their wallets.

"We have contested school board races and local levels are the ones that hits everyone in the pocketbook because those are the ones that decide the tax rate. Those are important races as well," says Austad.

So far, Austad says everything has been going well at the polls in Eau Claire.

However, over in Milwaukee County, election officials say a printing company cut the ballots too wide so they would not fit into recording machines.

They caught the problem before the election, but the change came too late for some absentee voters and workers had to copy over the votes.

Polls are open until 8 p.m. Tuesday.

After that, workers will finish up paper work and results should start rolling by 9 p.m.

Austad says at the earliest, the city will have all the results by 10:30 p.m.

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