Long lines greet area voters for "biggest" election

Bigfork Eagle

Election officials had a one-word answer " when they could spare a word at all " to describe polling places on Tuesday morning: Busy.

At polls from Lakeside to Bigfork, an early crush of voters led to some long lines as citizens waited to cast their ballots.

In Lakeside, the mast broke off a boat outside the ReMax office while being moved and knocked out the community's power for a short time. That led to a bottleneck both on Highway 93 and at the Lakeside Elementary School gymnasium, where votes were being cast.

"This is an important election, no matter who wins," Leslie Nyman of Lakeside said immediately after casting her ballot. "We could have an African American president or a woman vice president. That's pretty exciting in itself, aside from the issues."

Election officials at Bethany Lutheran Church in Bigfork said 648 voters had cast their ballots by noon, some enduring up to a 40-minute wait in line before getting their chance.

"I thought with early voting being so popular there wouldn't be as many people," said Bigfork election judge Gil Couts.

Volunteer judges in Somers and at Swan River School north of Bigfork said much the same. Both locations reported having large numbers of voters all through the morning.

About 260 votes had been cast in the first three hours in Somers.

"We've been very busy," said Karen Richardson, an election official in Somers. "We already had quite a line at 7 a.m., and it has been nonstop since the minute we opened the doors. I've never seen lines like this for an election."

Regardless of which way voters cast their ballots, nearly everyone was anxious to learn the outcome.

"I'm very excited," Brian Brown said as he left Somers Middle School. "I don't know if I'll be able to sleep tonight until I know what happens. I think this is an important election. It's the biggest one in my lifetime.