Election officials Tuesday confirmed the positive effect of a decentralized vote-counting system that was installed this year.

The final results for the townships and small cities came out around 10:30 p.m. According to Auditor/Treasurer Dennis Distad, it took almost two hours less than prior elections.

Using a state grant accompanied with local matching funds, the county furnished counters for 29 of the county’s 40 precincts. Previously, there were only seven precinct counters, which imposed a tremendous burden on the headquarters at the courthouse for counting.

Turnout for the election was at around 46.5 percent for the city and 41.3 percent for the county. Countywide, 7,525 people voted out of 18,236 registered voters; in the city of Albert Lea, 4,655 voted out of 10,803 registered voters.

The precinct counter tallies the votes in a precinct, and separates ballots with write-in votes from the rest, making it easier for election officials to total the votes.

More importantly, the system is also expected to reduce discarded ballots, where voters made a mistake.