SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO) — Voter turnout has been steady through Election Day in Sioux Falls. Counties outside of Sioux Falls have also reported good turnouts.

Minnehaha County started running absentee ballots through one of the tabulators as of 4:25 p.m. Tuesday.

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In Brown County in Aberdeen auditor Lynn Heupel said as of 5:10 p.m. Tuesday, 60% of the county’s registered voters, including active and inactive, had voted.

“My goal was 80% for this election,” Heupel said. With about two hours before polls close, Brown County could hit that percentage.

Heupel said the county had received more than 8,710 absentee ballots. As of about 5:10 p.m., the county had about 7,525 in-person voters. Brown County has 25,780 registered voters, according to the South Dakota Secretary of State’s Office.

Heupel credits the turnout to the presidential election but also to the interest in the seven ballot measures.

At around 5 p.m. in McCook County, auditor Geralyn Sherman said the voter turnout was good.

The county has six precinct sites. Sherman said there were 762 absentee ballot requests which is a record. The record does not include the requests do not include the COVID pandemic voting year of 2020, which was unusual, Sherman said.

McCook County has 3,987 registered voters, according to the Secretary of State.

At noon, Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson told KELOLAND News she expects arounds 30,000 absentee ballots to be processed Tuesday and workers hope to start counting absentee ballots mid-afternoon Tuesday.

“First we have to run one more test on the tabulators,” Anderson said during Midday in KELOLAND.

She said she is expecting “a very long” night at the county administration building.

“We’ve had a lot of long nights leading up to today,” Anderson said. She reminded voters to check voting information on the Secretary of State’s website.

KELOLAND News was at multiple polling locations throughout Sioux Falls Tuesday. There were waits as long as a half hour at some polling locations.

At the Faith Baptist Fellowship church near 57th Street and Minnesota Avenue, find three different precincts and it has been busy.

More than 225 people had voted by 9 a.m. at the Eastside Baptist Church in eastern Sioux Falls, while there were more than 160 voters at the Eastside Lutheran Church by 11 a.m. Tuesday.

There were more than 450 voters at the Westminster Presbyterian Church by 11 a.m. Tuesday.

There were more than 900 voters voting at precinct 01-10 at Life Change Church as well as an additional 1,129 voters from precinct 01-17 as of 5:30 p.m.

Line for Precinct 01-17 at Life Change ChurchLine for Precinct 01-17 at Life Change Church

Sunnycrest United Methodist Church saw more than 500 voters for precinct 01-06 as of noon.

Parish of St. Michael saw more than 525 voters as of 12:30 p.m. for precinct 03-09

Trinity Baptist church saw more than 350 voters as of 12:30 p.m. for precinct 05-21.

There were more than 366 voters out of around 2,300 voters for precinct 05-02 at the downtown as well as 750 voters for precinct 05-01 at First Lutheran Church by 5:30 p.m.

Secretary of State Monae Johnson told South Dakota Searchlight she estimated up to 75% voter turnout this election. 

As of Nov. 1, more than 141,500 absentee ballots had been turned in with more than 113,895 absentee in-person ballots being cast.

This story will be updated throughout Tuesday with voter turnout information and reaction.