Word of the day -- heavy voting

People are voting and they are voting in heavy numbers.

The other thing that was agreed by everyone -- no matter what party they are backing is the weather is simply beautiful.

Blue skies greeted voters on this unseasonably warm and very sunny day.

"It's going to be a good day for voters," Democrat Party Chairman Jeff Lehman said while standing outside the Roy Clark Community Building in Linton.

Superior Court Judge candidate Jacob Fish, a Democrat agreed, "You couldn't ask for much better than this."

By noon, the temperatures had climbed to near 70 and at least one Democrat County Commissioner candidate from rural Switz City was smiling because he showed up at 6 a.m. dressed in a t-shirt and shorts. Needless to say the first hour of campaigning was a little chilly for him.

From Worthington to Owensburg to Little Cincinnati to Linton reports show there have been voters waiting in lines -- some more than an hour -- to cast their ballots in this presidential year election.

There were reports of people lining up before the polls opened at several Stockton Township precincts as well as in Jackson, Center and Fairplay township voting locations.

The only areas were voting was reported to be slow or not steady was in the Jasonville precincts, according to party workers at a couple of polling sites.

"We have had very heavy turnout and things are just going as planned," Greene County Clerk Jackie Winstead reported about 12:30 p.m. -- 6 1/2 hours after the polls open.

Today's election has had one thing different.

A provisional ballot was cast by a female in Highland Township precinct -- the first time one has been accepted in a local election in recent memory, according to Winstead.

"We will have at least one provisional ballot," she said. "She must not be on their poll book and we are not able to find her on the computer system."

This and any other provisional ballots will not be counted with the rest of the votes when the polls close at 6 p.m. Instead it will be set aside until verification of registration status can be confirmed.

"They have until noon on Nov. 14th to get the information in here to use. She has to provide proof that she is actually registered, her receipt from registering or something. That will be interesting," Winstead said.

"It's the first one I ever remember us doing," she added.

Expect another big rush at some of the larger polling sites some time after 4 p.m.

Don't forget the polls will close at 6 p.m., but if you are in line by that time you will be able to stay and vote, election officials promise.