Did You Vote Yet?

Are people hitting the polls in this non-national election year in Hatboro and Horsham?

It depends on who you ask.

Horsham Judge of Election Peter Choate told Patch 50 voters who trickled through in the first hour and 20 minutes after the polls opened in a section of the Horsham Township Community Center was "not as many as I expected."

Even with a shortage of two poll workers, Choate said he and his crew were able to handle the pre-work crowd of voters coming to decide the fate of the Hatboro-Horsham School Board and Horsham Township Council. 

Horsham Republican Party Chairman Bill Donnelly said the turnout at the community Center was more than expected because of the prospect of plans changing for the 862-acre former Willow Grove air base with potential new leadership. 

"These people all live in the flight path," Donnelly said.

Republican Committeeman Andrew Johnson said he thinks people are concerned that a commercial airport could come into play.

"The fight for Horsham is a fight for Lower Moreland, for Upper Moreland," Johnson said of neighboring communities impacted by planes flying in Horsham. "Let's develop it and get it done."

Veronica Hill-Milbourne, one of three Democratic contenders for the Republican-controlled Horsham Township Council, said she'd seen a "mixture" of voters turn out since the polls opened at 7 a.m. and that she was "very confident" of the results.

"We'll be here all day," Hill-Milbourne said. 

In Hatboro, where the borough council, mayor's race and school board are all contested, Toni Kistner, Democratic contender for Hatboro Borough Council said the turnout at Enterprise Fire Co., one of four Hatboro polling locations, had been "steady" in the first two hours.

Hatboro Republican Organization Chairwoman told Patch that 36 people had voted in the first two hours. 

"For municipal elections it's always a little slower," Zygmont said.