Voters headed to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots throughout the region.

Dave and Michelle Scott of Lehighton were among those who voted at the Lehighton American Legion Post 314 during the lunch hour Tuesday.

“The economy’s bad, the borders are bad, groceries, gas,” Dave Scott said. “Something has to change.”

His wife, Michelle, also voiced her frustrations and explained the reasons why she wants to see change.

“We’re taking care of illegal immigrants, and we’re not taking care of our homeless veterans,” Michelle said. “Our veterans fought for our country, why should they be living on the streets?

Heavy voter turnout was reported outside the precinct, according to Bernie Krebs, majority inspector.

“Especially in the morning,” Krebs said. “There were very few problems; most of the problems were people not knowing which wards (to come to).”

Krebs added that there quite a few voters who came in with their driver’s license readily available.

“Which made life easier,” he said. “It also helped with moving the lines along quicker.”

High turnout

Francine Affourtit wouldn’t be surprised if all 546 voters registered in District 61, Weatherly Borough-East, came into the American Legion Post 360 to cast their ballot for the next president of the United States on Tuesday.

Based on her calculations they were on track to do so, the district’s judge of election for the past three years said.

By 10:25 a.m., 111 voters had cast ballots, or a little better than 20%.

She had a line out the door at 6:30 a.m. — a half-hour before the polls opened, and it continued to be steady since, Affourtit said.

“People are courteous and kind, and there are no issues like they talk about on the news,” she said. “We’re all neighbors here.”

They were watching their numbers carefully, because Carbon County provided the district with 550 — just shy of the total number of voters.

A few older voters with difficulty seeing the areas to fill in on the ballot made mistakes, which meant they’d be cutting it close on ballots available if all registered voters did turn out, she said.

Affourtit said that the county would provide additional ballots if they did get low, but they were still counting.

Across town at Weatherly’s other polling place at Eurana Park voting had also been constant through the morning, said Barbara Cunnius, judge of election, who described balloting as “very busy.”

The numbers at District 58, Weatherly Borough-West were hovering at around 19% at 10:30 a.m., when a half dozen more voters showed up.

They actually had a line out the door and up the sidewalk to the parking lot before 7 a.m. when Constable Richard C. Giordano Sr. pulled in, he said.

“I said, ‘Oh, boy, this is going to be a day,’” he said, but it continued to be just a steady flow.

In Summit Hill, turnout was nearly 30% at District 53, and it was pretty much the same steady stream of voters in District 52, which are in the borough building, said Joe O’Gurek, judge of election in District 53.

“From the time the door opened, it’s been busy,” he said.

That’s saying something when during the primary they weren’t sure they had much more than 70 to 100 voters all day come out in their district, O’Gurek said.

By 11:15 a.m. Tuesday, 160 of the 533 registered voters passed through the doors, he said.

Only for president

At the American Fire Co. No. 1 in Lansford, Judge of Election Daniel J. Wynn in the borough’s Middle District 24 has seen three presidential elections, and it’s the only time he really sees voters turn out, he said.

“A lot of people don’t come out,” he said. “They don’t care about state offices, they don’t care about who their commissioners are or who is on their borough council.

“The only thing they’re interested in is the President of the United States,” Wynn said.

About 18% of the 670 registered voters came out before noon on Tuesday, he said.

His district had a hiccup right from the start when their machine, which scans and collects the ballots, wouldn’t click on at 6:30 a.m., Wynn said. They got the wrong machine, he was told.

So, they allowed people to continue to vote, and were collecting the ballots in a box to be scanned when they got a working machine or the county would have to scan the ballots, Wynn said.

On the other side of the American Fire Co. No. 1, where all of Lansford’s three voting districts cast their ballots, Judge of Election Jesse Durning said they were seeing a lot of first time voters in Lansford’s West District 25.

They were seeing the same number of voters they’d have in other elections in just the first few hours, Durning said.

Just over 130 of more than 600 cast ballots before noon, he said.

“Usually, that’s our total number,” Durning said. “I’m seeing a lot of people I’ve never seen before.”

On the opposite of the fire house, Antoinette Petko, judge of election in Lansford’s East District 23, said that people were lined up first thing in the morning, and it had been steady with no one standing or waiting.

Her district had seen 214 of the 1,060 voters by noon, or about 20%.