Rockland: 69-Percent of Voters Hit the Polls

In the week before Election Day, Sandy's impact on the polls was looking ominous—well over half of Rockland County's polling places were without power.

But when Tuesday came around, the county didn't have to shutter a single voting station, and witnessed a voter turnout that was on par with Presidential elections of years past.

115,794 voters cast ballots, or about 63-percent of the county's eligible voters, officials said.

"And that doesn't include affidavit voting and absentee ballots," said Lou Babock, one of Rockland County's two election commissioners. "When you include those, about 69-percent of Rockland voted."

"For a Presidential election year, that number is about right," Babcock added.

By comparison, 68-percent of eligible voters in Putnam County turned out on Tuesday.

The number likely comes as no surprise to Rocklanders following the race and issues. Nanuet resident and school board member Ed Dingman said the economy and national security brought him out to vote.

“My civic duty is done," he told Patch Tuesday. "I came this morning around 9 a.m. and it was mobbed. There were so many people here to vote. I came back [at noon] and it’s still pretty busy. It [was] a good turnout; it’s an important election this year."

Babcock said he did not receive reports of excessive lines at polling places, a dilemma that plagued other states throughout the nation.

"Lines were around 15 to 20 minutes in some places," Babcock said.

Due to this, some polling stations closed at 9:20 p.m. Tuesday night, instead of 9 p.m.

The National Guard also pitched in to help the day run smoothly, Babcock said. The Guard lent generators to power polling places without juice.

Despite having all results in by 9:20 p.m., however, the Rockland Board of Elections website experienced a slight hiccup.

"We had some protocol issues on the server," Babcock said, noting preliminary results were not posted until about 10:45 p.m.

Babcock said election officials put in a call to the webmaster, who was able to make the website more responsive; by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, the complete results were published online.