FERRISBURGH — Ferrisburgh officials have taken steps to prepare for the first-ever Presidential election for which balloting will be held in Ferrisburgh’s eight-year old town office building.
They expect a turnout that could be up to 50 percent higher than any previous election held at the town’s Route 7 offices.
In 2012, 71.3 percent of the town’s registered voters (minus about 320 absentee voters), then around 2,100 strong, cast ballots for president in the Ferrisburgh Central School gymnasium, as had been the case for decades.
Now, according to Town Clerk Gloria Warden, the town’s checklist includes 2,169 voters, 433 of whom as of Tuesday had either already voted early or requested absentee ballots.
If turnout is a comparable 70 percent next week, that leaves 1,518 voters to either cast ballots on this coming Tuesday or come in for early voting this week. In 2014, only about 900 Ferrisburgh residents cast ballots in mid-term elections.
Warden said the town has hired two Addison County Sheriff’s Department deputies to handle the traffic flow, while the town has also recently added a third parking lot to the rear of the building. Ferrisburgh road foreman John Bull estimated the three lots can hold about 60 vehicles. Warden said a few spaces will be also available at the church next door to the town office building — election workers will be taking up room in that small lot.
Warden also noted the new traffic lights at the nearby intersection of Route 7 and Little Chicago Road are now working, although she was not sure if they would have any impact on the traffic flow at the town office building.
As always, voting in Ferrisburgh will run from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. on Tuesday.