INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — With turnout on the high side, 10 polling places opened on time Tuesday morning and have not experienced any equipment glitches as of lunchtime.
Twelve Vero Beach precincts, 12 Sebastian precincts and two Fellsmere precincts are voting in municipal elections and ballot questions.
As of noon, 754 people voted on election day in Sebastian, 949 in Vero Beach and 34 in Fellsmere.
Supervisor of Elections Leslie Swan said it’s tough to tell how that compares with midday 2009, which is the last time a municipal-only election occurred, because her office only keeps totals for the whole day.
In Vero Beach, for example, 1,471 people voted on election day in 2009, electing Councilmen Brian Heady and Charlie Wilson. That election followed a summer of record-high electric rates of 58 percent higher than Florida Power and Light.
The ballot question facing Vero Beach voters, asking whether or not they want to give the City Council permission to lease the power plant property for the purpose of selling the electric utility, was expected to increase interest in this off-year election slightly.
Swan said her office had received “very few calls, which is surprising, considering the consolidation (of polling places).”
About 90 poll workers are staffing the 10 remaining voting spots. Only voters within the municipal boundaries can vote in these elections, which Swan said has caused some confusion in the case of Vero Beach.
“There have been quite a few callers who were upset that they can’t vote in the city election because they don’t live in the city but they are on Vero Electric,” Swan said.
Polls close at 7 p.m. and Swan said she expects an early night.
“We’ve put some new procedures in place so I expect to have returns back pretty quickly,” she said.
