MOLINE, Illinois -- The polls opened early Tuesday morning, for the 2018 November election. Hundreds of voters lined up at the polling locations in both Iowa and Illinois.
Election officials in Rock Island County have said that this year's voting tally is on track to surpass that of the 2014 midterm. In 2014, Rock Island County had more than 15,000 early voters. As of Monday, November 5, early-voter numbers in Rock Island County tallied at more than 20,000 voters.
In 2014, Rock Island County had more than 30,000 voters on Election Day and project they will surpass that number this year.
"We could very possibly, even surpass the presidential totals," Rock Island County Clerk Karen Kinney said. "People are turning out. I think there are a lot of issues on the table that they want to get their say on."
In 2018, Scott County had over 33,000 early voters. Scott County Auditor Roxanna Moritz said each polling place has seen hundreds of people Tuesday, November 6, and that they are right on track. Mortiz reports that as of 4 P.M., 55,615 votes have been cast in Scott County. This number includes early votes, Election Day votes, and absentee votes. This is only 43.66% of 125,000 voters registered in Scott county. Mortiz said she expects the number to grow as people get off of work.
Chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, Troy Price, said every polling station he has seen is full of Election Day voters.
" We have more votes heading into Election Day," Price said. "We know people are energized and we've seen places across the state with huge numbers of people voting, even just yesterday."
