Town Clerk Reports 'Pretty Good' Voter Turnout

The bitter chill apparently isn't keeping as many voters from the polls as one might expect.

Municipal Clerk Yancy Wazirmas has had a busy day traveling to polling places around Parsippany to see how the vote is progressing in Tuesday's special Board of Education referendum on its proposed $7.7 million package of athletic improvements for Parsippany andParsippany Hills high schools. And she told Patch that poll activity is brisk all over the township.

"The turnout is pretty good," said Wazirmas.

She said she did not encounter any major problems at the polling sites beyond some residents registering displeasure over not receiving sample ballots in the mail or being confused over where they were supposed to cast their votes.

"One lady confused her garbage pickup district with her voting district," the clerk recalled.

Wazirmas said the votes would be counted at Town Hall after the polls close at 9 p.m. with a Board of Education representative on site. People are expected to gather at the BOE's administrative building at 292 Parsippany Road to hear the news after the counting has been completed.

Regarding the sample ballots, Wazirmas noted that sending them was the responsibility of the Morris County clerk's office, and that those ballots were mailed out Jan. 3. Numerous residents in the Morris Plains section of Parsippany, which includes the Brooklawn Drive and Powder Mill areas, reported that they never received sample ballots.

The ballot has been available online, on the Board of Education website and on Patch.

But four hours into the voting, Wazirmas and clerk's office staffer Cara Fox, who accompanied her boss on the rounds, said they were pleased with what they saw in the field.

Polling place activity was "busy," according to Fox.

"I didn't know what to anticipate," said the clerk. "But it was good. There's been a good turnout."

'Whatever happens, at least people are turning out," said Fox, "Yes, no or indifferent, people are having their say, which is good."