Heavy turnout, minor confusion jostle local polls

There were a few glitches.

Sometime during the middle of the day Tuesday, Bangor’s city clerk instructed all eight of the city’s polling places to start registering voters on the spot, a move intended to simplify the process for unregistered voters but one that created new challenges for local precincts. Other years, only City Hall registered new voters on Election Day.

Bangor’s recent redistricting prompted some confusion as well, as residents attempted to vote at their familiar polling stations only to find they’d been reassigned across town.

In Hampden and Brewer, the ballot-counting machines got overstuffed and had to be emptied and reset. And by 10:30 Tuesday morning, election officials at the American Legion Hall in Orono had given out all 500 of their “I Voted Today” stickers.

But overall, voters, volunteer poll watchers and election officials agreed that the area’s voting system handled the unaccustomed load of Tuesday’s overwhelming turnout well.

“This is the busiest I’ve ever seen it,” said Leona Hatch, warden of the polling station at the community center on Davis Road in Bangor. Hatch said about 50 people lined up to vote immediately after the polls opened at 8 a.m. By 11, almost 700 of the approximately 2,100 registered voters for that precinct had cast their ballots.

Before the on-site registration decision, Hatch had instructed several would-be voters to go to City Hall to register and then return to Davis Road to vote. Twenty-seven-year-old Jeremy Tracy, clearly frustrated, said he doubted he’d have time to drive downtown and then get back to the polls to cast his ballot.

“I came out mostly to vote against the tax cap,” Tracy said, referring to state ballot Question 1, which would limit municipal property tax to 1 percent of assessed value.

“I’ve got four kids in school,” Tracy said. “I want them to have gym and music and basketball. I played for the Orono Red Riots in high school, and I know what it felt like to be part of a football team. I want my kids to know that feeling, too.”

Tracy, who recently moved back to Maine from Texas, said he also wanted to vote for Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry.

“I hate Bush,” he said. “The war in Iraq is really pissing me off. It’s been handled all wrong. I’m not sure it can be fixed – we’ve caused too much damage.”

Also casting ballots at Davis Road were first-time voters James Little and Alicia Esparza, both in their early 20s. Their decision to participate in this year’s election was made easier by a “get out the vote” volunteer who dropped by during a recent family cookout and registered them.

“Bush isn’t doing his job as president,” Little said. “He jumped to conclusions about this terrorist thing.”

Little and Esparza said they felt confident Kerry will win the White House.

“There are too many young people voting this time,” Esparza said. “The young people will vote Bush out.”

In Glenburn, 53-year-old Darrell Vigue said he’d voted “a straight Republican ticket” – Bush for president and Brian Hamel to replace incumbent Mike Michaud for Maine’s 2nd District congressional seat. He also voted yes to the tax cap and no to the second referendum question, a proposal to prohibit bear hunting with bait, hounds or traps.

Vigue, a “never fail” voter, said gun control was his biggest concern and the main reason he wanted to keep Bush in the White House.

But Vigue’s ballot was completely neutralized by that of first-time voter Megan Soderberg.

“I don’t agree with what’s happening in this country [under Bush],” the 18-year-old said as she left the Glenburn polls. “I have the right and the capability to make a difference, and it would be a shame if I didn’t take advantage of it.”

Ruthena Brazlette, Glenburn’s town clerk for the past 30 years, said 200 residents voted in the first hour the polls were open. By 11 o’clock, nearly 700 had cast ballots and more than 30 new voters had registered. Glenburn has about 3,000 registered voters.

In Hermon, 36-year-old homemaker Andrea Blakeway voted for Bush and Hamel, supported the ban on bear baiting and opposed the tax cap. Blakeway said Bush has done a good job with the war in Iraq while Kerry has failed to offer a consistent alternative.

“I’d rather vote for something I know than what I don’t know,” she said.

A cap on property taxes sounds like a good idea, Blakeway said, “but where would [towns] get the money they need? They’ve got to pick it up somewhere.”

By noon, 1,500 votes had been cast in Hermon, including about 400 absentee ballots. About 100 new voters had registered at the polls. Before Tuesday, approximately 3,500 Hermon residents were registered to vote.

Voting sites in Bangor, Hampden and Brewer were active all day but swamped in the morning and again in the early evening.

Patty DuBois, city clerk in Bangor, said she made the decision to allow registrations at the city’s polling sites after her office and the secretary of state’s office received voter complaints about the inconvenience of having to register at City Hall and then go stand in line to vote.

Lovern Stockwell, warden at the busy Bangor Auditorium site, said that despite the unfamiliar task of registering voters on site, only a handful of ballots were challenged and the process of voting went smoothly.