November 9, 2012
The hotly contested piece of legislation, signed by Governor Bob McDonnell, requiring voters without proper identification (ID) at the polls to cast a provisional ballot, may have contributed to record breaking voter turnout in Charlottesville and Albemarle County.
Voter registrars say they are surprised by the small number of provisional ballots based on improper ID.
"For ID provisional, we only had 3 and I'm so pleased. I feel like we did such a good marketing job and such a good job getting the information out to people about the id's that they needed," said Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta.
Iachetta says almost 22,000 residents voted in the city. Albemarle County reported almost 54,000 votes. Between both areas, they're only 5 provisional votes total.
"When we looked at the number 5 we were just scratching our heads and we though, I guess we got the word out," said Albemarle County Registrar Jake Washburne.
There was a concern that the new legislation would cause problems on election day.
"We were fearful that the ID was really going to be an issue on election day and it wasn't at all," said Iachetta.
Those casting provisional ballots had to show ID by noon on Friday. The city reports that only one voter did not meet the deadline, while the county reports three.
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