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Thousands vote early in Rock County

JANESVILLE--Thousands of area residents already cast their ballots over the past two weeks, but some clerks say it’s not as many as the last presidential election.

A handful of area clerks say they have seen about the same number of people voting absentee or voting early in person as in the 2008 presidential election.

“I think the vast majority of people who voted absentee in person were excited to cast their ballot,” Beloit City Clerk Rebecca Houseman said. “Some people were going out of town, but that wasn’t the majority.”

In Janesville, 8,900 people had voted through Friday, the last day of early voting when about 1,150 people showed up, Janesville City Clerk Jean Wulf said. That compares to about 8,700 absentee votes in 2008.

The longest wait over the past two weeks was about an hour, she said.

“Really, it was very similar to 2008,” she said.

The difference, however, was voters had about a month to vote absentee in 2008, while that period was changed by law to two weeks this year.

The shorter time period might be one reason why numbers stayed the same, said town of Fulton Clerk/Treasurer Connie Zimmerman. She had 686 ballots returned of the 691 absentee ballots she issued. That’s down from about 800 in the last election.

In the town of Janesville, 1,120 absentee ballots were cast, which is about 100 fewer than in 2008, town of Janesville Clerk Linda Fewell said.

“I thought it was going to be a lot more,” she said, but noted she had limited hours.

For a full story, read Tuesday’s Gazette, read online in the Gazette’s E-Edition or check back at GazetteXtra.com.