More than half the voters at San Francisco City Hall registered on Election Day

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Hundreds of people in San Francisco voting today are conditional voters meaning they just registered today.

The Director of San Francisco Elections says he predicts this will be the highest voter turnout here in a midterm election since 1974.

As of 12:30 Tuesday afternoon, approximately 1,200 people had voted at San Francisco City hall. More than half those people, close to 700 hundred of them are conditional voters who registered today.

"It's an option that people have wanted for a long time," said John Arntz, Director of SF Elections.

Harry Carson is one of those conditional voters. He's in his early 20s and says this is the first election he's ever voted in.

"I went online last night and I was like am I registered am I not registered? Came on saw you could come right here to city hall and just registered and now I can vote it feels great, very exciting," said Carson.

"What California is doing is trying to extend the access to vote to as many people as possible," said Jason McDaniel, Associate Professor of Political Science at SF State.

McDaniel says conditional votes and mail-in ballots while good could also mean we won't know election results right away.

"It is possible because we're making it easier for people to vote that it will take some time to know," said McDaniel.

"It's a new dynamic what we're experiencing here in San Francisco and certainly at City Hall," said Arntz.

One that conditional voters at SF City Hall say they are thrilled about.

This is the first statewide General Election with conditional voter registration.

"When I could register to vote today I was really excited to be able to do that," said Ashley Foster.

"It means a lot to me, it means a lot," said Rebecca Laparde.

Conditional ballots are green instead of blue.

Take a look at full coverage on the 2018 election here.

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