Turnout likely to exceed 40 percent, Virginia elections secretary says

Virginia State Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues predicted that turnout in Tuesday's congressional elections will probably exceed 40 percent.

In an evening conference call with reporters, Rodrigues said turnout exceeded 50 percent in some areas of the state. She said the lowest turnout spots in the state hit 31 percent. She called turnout "very good" for a midterm election with no statewide race on the ballot.

She also said elections officials had dealt with what she described as routine issues during the day's vote. She confirmed, however, that about 600 voters in Montgomery County, Va., were allowed to vote on electronic voting machines even though elections workers were not able to log onto electronic poll books and they had no paper backups to check whether voters were qualified to cast ballots. Instead, they took down names and addresses of voters.

She said that the state board has requested that the county turn over all documentation of the issue for further review. However, she said a check of the names of all 600 voters allowed to vote without proper check-in revealed that all were, in fact, qualified to cast ballots at their precincts.