Subscribe
4:42 p.m.:
Voting picks up in Augusta
AUGUSTA -- Voters planning to hit the ballot booths this evening are likely to have plenty of company but not enough to create long delays, according to one Augusta poll worker.
Pat Doten, constable for Ward 1, said voting at the Lou Buker Center picked up shortly after 4 p.m., but voters were still moving quickly.
"We had people lined up around the corner (when the polls opened at 7 a.m.)," Doten said. "Now we're getting another surge."
Doten said the high level of absentee voting helped alleviate the pressure on voting day, but another clear trend developed on Tuesday.
"We've gotten an awful lot of new people registering," Doten said. "People we've never seen before and young people, which makes it even nicer I think."
3:37 p.m.:
Hot vote, warm voters
By Craig Crosby, Kennebec Journal Staff Writer
Voters planning to hit their town's polling place after work should encounter relatively balmy temperatures, even if they are forced to wait in line outside.
The temperature in Augusta was projected to be 58 degrees at 4 p.m. and AccuWeather.com was predicting the thermometer will remain above 50 through 7 p.m.
The forecast for 8 p.m. when most polls close calls for temperatures around 48 degrees.
Forecasters predicted Waterville would be at 57 degrees at 4 p.m. and AccuWeather was predicting 50-plus degree temperatures through 6 p.m
Temperatures will likely fall to around 48 degrees when the polls close at 8 p.m.
2:31 PM:
Lively voting in Kennebec County
By Craig Crosby, Kennebec Journal Staff Writer
Ballot clerks and other town officials in Kennebec County reported steady voting Tuesday morning, but few voters encountered lines.
A handful of voters made their way to the polls at the Besse Building in Albion shortly after they opened at 8 a.m.,
Officials at the West Gardiner fire station were seeing steady traffic in early voting, but no lines.
The Hall Dale elementary school gymnasium was bustling, but a number of ballot clerks were able to quickly process voters.
2:14 PM:
Voting continues despite bomb threat at Standish school
By David Hench, Portland Press Herald Staff Writer
Officials chose not to evacuate a Standish elementary school and polling center after a bomb threat was found today.
The note, which appeared to have been written by a child, suggested there would be an explosion early this morning at the George E. Jack Elementary School on Northeast Road, police said. The note was found behind a door at about noon today.
Officials chose not to call off school or close the polling place because the time mentioned in the note had already passed and the note appeared to be the work of a child, police said.
Voter turnout in the rural Cumberland County town was heavy with lines forming throughout the day, police said. Neither voters nor students were alerted to the discovery of the note.
11:19 AM:
Parade from Unity College
ORONO - Unity College students formed a parade from campus to the polls at the Unity Community Center late this morning.
House District 45 Rep. John Piotti, D-Unity, said that turnout was good when the polls opened at 8. Piotti is opposed by Matthew Evans, R-Palermo.
"The energy's high and it's great," Piotti said at 11:15. "There will be a line again once the Unity College students arrive."
9:09 AM:
Voters in Portland line up to vote
By Giselle Goodman, Portland Press Herald Staff Writer
PORTLAND -- It wasn't a chance to buy Rolling Stones tickets that brought these Portlanders out to Merrill Auditorium so early on a weekday morning.
It was the chance to vote for a president. The line at Merrill, where the polls opened at 7 a.m., started forming around 6:30 a.m. More than 30 people, young and old, waited quietly and patiently for the doors to open.
Grace Hopkins-Lisle was at the door on Myrtle Street at 6:30 a.m. with her husband Andrew and 1 1/2 year old daughter. But she's been eager to vote for days. She, like many, have been sparked by this election that poll watchers say could bring out voters in record numbers.
Grace said she's never waited in a line to vote before. Usually, she just walks right in. But she wasn't surprised there were others like her eager enough to cast a ballot that they made the effort to get to the polls before they had to be at work.
"There's an excitement about this election we haven't ever seen before," she said. "I think this time everyone knows their vote actually counts."
Like many in the line behind them, Grace and Andrew both had to be at work soon after voting began. And when they emerged from the building, they were ready for the day.
"I got to be one the first voters," she said with glee, not at all trying to hide the fact that she cast her ballot for Obama. "He rocks my world. He's going to be amazing. I get chills when I listen to him talk. He's very inspiring."
9:01 a.m.:
Obama wins in Dixville Notch
By The Associated Press
DIXVILLE NOTCH, N.H. -- Barack Obama came up a big winner in the presidential race in Dixville Notch and Hart's Location, N.H., where tradition of having the first Election Day ballots tallied lives on.
Democrat Obama defeated Republican John McCain by a count of 15 to 6 in Dixville Notch, where a loud whoop accompanied the announcement in Tuesday's first minutes. The town of Hart's Location reported 17 votes for Obama, 10 for McCain and two for write-in Ron Paul. Independent Ralph Nader was on both towns' ballots but got no votes.
"I'm not going to say I wasn't surprised," said Obama supporter Tanner Nelson Tillotson, whose name was drawn from a bowl to make him Dixville Notch's first voter.
With 115 residents between them, Dixville Notch and Hart's Location get every eligible voter to the polls beginning at midnight on Election Day. Between them, the towns have been enjoying their first-vote status since 1948.
Being first means something to residents of the Granite State, home of the nation's earliest presidential primary and the central focus - however briefly - of the vote-watching nation's attention every four years.
Town Clerk Rick Erwin said Dixville Notch is proud of its tradition but added, "The most important thing is that we exemplify a 100 percent vote."
Dixville Notch resident Peter Johnson said the early bird electoral exercise "is fun." A former naval aviator, Johnson said he was voting for McCain, but added, "I think both candidates are excellent people."
Voting was carried out in a room in a local hotel festooned with political memorabilia from campaigns long past. Each voter gets an individual booth so there are no lines at the magic hour. The votes were quickly counted, announced and recorded on a posterboard that proclaims, "First in the Nation, Dixville Notch."
The tradition drew spectators, including Tim McKenna, who drove with his wife 16 miles from Cambridge, N.H., to witness the event.
"Living in New Hampshire, you hear so much about it in the news," said McKenna. "I think it's a very historic election this year."
Click here to view or add comments on this story