Sunshine on Election Day? 'I hope that means that more people will go out and vote'

The long-range forecast called for a sunny Election Day in Washington County.

"Currently we're looking at temperatures in the mid-60s, and sunny," Jeremy Geiger, meteorologist with the Baltimore/Washington forecast office of the National Weather Service, said Friday.

That suited Barry Jackson just fine.

"I hope that means that more people will go out and vote," said Jackson, deputy elections director in Washington County.

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Many more Washington County people are still eligible to go out and vote Tuesday.

According to the Maryland State Election Board website, 99,137 people are registered to vote in Washington County.

Of that total, 7,384 people cast early ballots at the county's two vote centers.

Another 11,516 people requested mail-in ballots, and 7,816 had returned those ballots.

By those numbers, more than 80,000 people have yet to cast ballots in the gubernatorial election.

Good weather might help encourage them to head to the polls. But Jackson, the county's deputy elections director, said turnout might not hinge on clear skies and mild temperatures.

"It's one of those things that's kind of hard to say," he said.

He recalled that a downpour hit during one day of early voting in 2020. Yet hundreds of people were lined up outside.

"It didn't scare them away in the least," Jackson said.

The Election Day forecast is much the same for voters in Franklin County, Pa., according to the National Weather Service office in State College, Pa.

The forecast called for sunny skies and a high in the low 60s on Tuesday.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Washington County to see sunshine, mild temperatures on Election Day