Many expected this year's election to have a large turnout, and people stood in long lines at some Valley polling places Tuesday.
Those Election Day voters' ballots joined more than half a million early ballots in Maricopa County alone that had already been sent in.
Alan Anderson, a worker at the polling location on Mill Avenue and 13th Street in Tempe, said that it was very busy in the morning, but the lines died down around lunchtime.
“I expected continuous steady traffic throughout the day,” Anderson said. “It was totally busy from 6 a.m. when the polls opened to probably 11:30 a.m.”
Though the lunch hour was slow, Anderson expected traffic to pick up in the afternoon after people left work.
Downtown, voter Derek Cline waited for only about three minutes when he went to vote at the Phoenix Citadel Corps Community Center at Third Avenue and McKinley Street at around 11:30 a.m.
“I was expecting a little bit longer of a line,” Cline said. “I think early voting is a big part of it.”
Early voting - both by mail and in person - was available throughout the Valley from early October through Friday, according to the Maricopa County Recorder's Web site.
Regardless of when or whether people cast their ballots, it is certain that the number of potential voters has risen.
According to a press release from Arizona Secretary of State Jan Brewer's office, the total number of registered voters in Arizona increased more than 188,000 from the primary election putting the total number of voters in the state close to 3 million.
This number makes 79.8 percent of eligible Arizonans now registered to vote, compared to 70.6 percent in 2004, according to the state's official canvass.
“My office, the county recorders, the political parties, and the candidates themselves have all focused on voter efforts in the last few months, and apparently these efforts have paid off,” Brewer said in the press release.
Though the official turnout percentage will not be available until later, almost all Arizonans expect the number to be higher than the 2004 election's 77 percent of registered voters.
Many citizens, including Cline, said that this election is extremely significant and want to have a say in it.
“I think it is the most important [election] in my lifetime, and I'm in my early 30s,” Cline said.
Poll volunteer Toni Edwards said she was very happy with the public's interest in the election. Edwards worked at the polling place in the First Congregational Church of Tempe on Sixth Street just east of Mill Avenue.
“It's wonderful,” she said. “So many people under 30 [are] voting. I haven't seen a turnout like this in 30 years.”
Reach the reporter at jolie.mccullough@asu.edu.
