New Smyrna Beach has 3rd highest turnout behind Daytona and Deltona

Headline Surfer photo by Serafina Frederick / The lines were long with waits of up to an hour or more Saturday at the New Smyrna Beach Library, the second heaviest of the five early voting precincts across Volusia County.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Voter turnout was intense today on the first day of early voting for the 2012 general elections with people standing in line for more than an hour waiting to vote at the New Smyrna Beach Library, which was second among the five voting precincts.

The first day drew 6,862 voters.

Voting was heaviest at the Volusia County Library in Daytona Beach with 1,656 votes cast. Deltona Library area voters were second with 1,463 vtes cast.

The New Smyrna Beach Library, the smallest of the five precincts had the third heaviest turnout with 1,326 voters.

There were 1,233 votes msde at the Ormond Beach Library and 1184 at the historic Volusia County Courthouse in DeLand where the Board of Elections was operating.

Headline Surfer photo by Serafina Frederick / New Smyrna Beach City Commissioner  Jim Hathaway stands outside the New Smyrna Beach Libraruy on Saturday holding his campaign signs for County Council dist. 3 during the first day of early voting for the Nov. 6 general elections.

Jim Hathaway, a candidate for the dist. 3 County Council race was ecstatic with the turnout. "If it continues like this, there won't be any voters left on elction day," Hathaway said facetiously.

Jim Hathaway, a candidate for the dist. 3 County Council race was ecstatic with the turnout.

"If it continues like this, there won't be any voters left on elction day," Hathaway said facetiously.

He had another reason to be happy.

Though his race with Deb Denys for the council seat is non-partisan, Hathaway had another reason to he happy: Fifty percent of the voters Saturday were Democrats. Another 31 percent were Republican and 19 percet were listed as other.

Deb Denys, shown here at left, former elected Vo;lusia County School Board member, finished as the runner-up in the Aug. 14 primary to Jim Hathaway in the race for dist. 3 County Council, forcing a run-off in the Nov. 6 general elections.

Denys, a registered Republican, said she wasn't worried because there's a long way to go with lots of voters still to cast votes.

But for those casting votesearly Saturday there were hassles, at least in New Smyrna with ballots jamming in he scanning machine, forcing workers to manually scan them. The problem was fixed by mid-day, an elections official there said later in the day.

Headline Surfer graphic by Serafina Frederick / Early voting totals for day 1 on Saturday are shown here.

And more than two hours after the polls closed, Supervisor of Elctions Ann McFall hadn't postd the results on the county elections website.

Headline Surfer had to call McFall directly to get the results e-mailed to the 24/7 Internet newspaper.

Early voting continues 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sunday.