Updated at 10:05 p.m. (note appended below)
Minneapolis officials are making staffing decisions for Election Day based on the possibility of a 75 percent voter turnout to ensure there are enough election judges at the polls.
The city's elections director, Grace Wachlarowicz, asked the City Council Thursday to approve a list of election judges for the city's 117 precincts. Their expected number of judges, 1,700, is based on a turnout of 75 percent.
She said in an e-mail Thursday night that 75 percent turnout is not a prediction, but a guide for determining the number of judges needed. "We are using a 75% turnout to ensure to the best of our ability to have enough judges in the polls to serve the voters better" and overstaff rather than understaff, Wachlarowicz wrote.
The high estimate is based on "on trends, on what's on the ballot," Wachlarowicz said in an interview Thursday morning. "And because we have an open seat for mayor, that's why I went to the turnouts of past elections where we had an open seat for mayor."
While turnout reached 81 percent in 2012's presidential and state elections, no municipal election in recent city history comes close to 75 percent. The nearest was 46 percent in 1997. It was 45 percent in 1993, the last year with an open mayoral seat.
In 2009, the last city election, turnout was a paltry 20 percent.
Of course, it is wise to over-estimate in these areas -- a lack of election judges could create mayhem on Election Day.
