Local voters hit the polls

On Election Day, many Mesa County voters rushed to the polls to cast their ballots.  We hit the streets to hear their reaction.

More Mesa County voters than ever mailed it in this year which had an impact on polling locations.

"We really tapered back the number of polling locations we were going to
have open today and I was a little concerned about that but it seems like
everything is going going well," said Sheila Reiner, Mesa County's Clerk &
Recorder on Tuesday morning.

Many still showed up to vote in person, however.  Some lucked out and didn't even have to stand in line like Robert Suveland who voted at the Mesa County Fairgrounds. 

"Easy in and out.  You're not in here more than five, six seconds maybe,
if you had pre-filled out your ballot," Suveland said. 

"So far at the Fairgrounds, things have been running really smoothly," said election monitor Scott Aker.  "We had an initial surge of people before work this morning between seven and a little bit after eight as you would expect.  Since then, it's been a
fairly steady stream of people and they've been getting in and out very quickly with no problems."

Some voters did endure the lines however like at the Clifton polling station. 

"It was hard to find the polling place which was a little stressful but
the lines were long but they went pretty fast, straightforward," said voter Janelle Thietje-Dunn. 

The Goodwill location had the longest lines in the county with wait times of more than an hour at times.  CMU lines were also quite long.  But despite the wait, everyone we talked to was happy to have the right to vote.  And some were doing it for the first time like Selina Najar. 

"I just turned eighteen in July," she said.  We asked what she thought about her first voting experience.  "I think it's really empowering. I was so stoked to vote for the first time."

We also spoke with Jeremy Franklin who endured a wait of more than a half hour. 

"Voting in general, it's our right," he said.  "It's wonderful.  I think even with a
thirty five minute wait, I didn't hear a lot of complaining around me.  It
could have been worse.  We could have been standing in the snow and
waiting for hours or have someone standing over us telling us how to vote.
It was wonderful.  It was our opportunity to stand up and speak."