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Long Lines Form To Vote Early In Final Hours

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Oct 31, 2008 7:27 pm US/Mountain

Long Lines Form To Vote Early In Final Hours

 Colorado Voting Numbers As Of Oct. 31

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DENVER (CBS4/AP) ― Long lines were visible at some locations in Arapahoe County from Copter4 Friday evening on the final day of early voting in Colorado. A record number of voters across the state had already cast ballots ahead of Election Day.

"I'm surprised to see them here today but like I say, I'm just really really glad," said Carol Gianfransico, a voter. "I hope Tuesday the line is ten times this long."

Early polling locations close Friday evening. The polls won't reopen until 7 a.m. on Tuesday.

"It's going very very well even though it looks like it might be a bit long," Arapahoe County Clerk Nancy Doty said earlier in the day. "And by the end of today I expect we'll have over 25,000 people that have voted early in Arapahoe County."

Arapahoe County also received 155,000 mail-in ballots as of Friday for a total of 175,000 voting early in some fashion. Arapahoe County has 344,182 registered voters.

Officials hope that the high number of early voters during the past two weeks will ease lines on Election Day at polling places across the state.

As of early Friday morning, the Colorado Secretary of State's Office reported that nearly 1.3 million registered voters had cast ballots already, either in person or by mail-in. That's 40 percent turnout.

"I think this is going to be the highest turnout in this state's history in terms of numbers," said Secretary of State Mike Coffman.

Of those who voted early in some fashion, 488,575 were Democrats, 465,869 were Republicans and 336,551 were unaffiliated.

Coffman said when it is all said and done, he expects half of registered voters to have cast ballots before Tuesday.

"I'm pretty glad that there's this many people out because there's some important issues on this ballot and so I think it's good that we see people from the community come out and vote," said Jefferson Velasco, a voter.

All ballots, including mail-in ballots, must be received by 7 p.m. on Election Day. So election officials are advising people who haven't returned mail-in ballots yet to consider dropping their completed ballots off in person at their county clerk's office by Election Day.

(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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