Big Crowds at Laguna Beach Polls

UPDATE: Up-To-The-Minute Return Results On Our Facebook & Twitter Pages. Click here: facebook.com/LagunaBeachPatch and click here: twitter.com/LagunaBchPatch.

Also, LIVE results from the OC Registrar of Voters here.

-----

Several of the 24 voting precincts in Laguna Beach have reported long lines of people waiting to vote, especially in the morning.

At the Unitarian Universalist Church in North Laguna, precinct inspector Curt Alderson tells Patch that there was a line outside the front door going back to the sidewalk from the time polls opened at 7 a.m. until around noon.

"There's been a bit more of a turnout than there was back in 2008," Alderson said. "I think the media really pushed this election."

By the afternoon, the crowd at the church had leveled off.

That wasn't much the case at the city fire station at Top of the World, which, at 3 p.m., had about eight people waiting to pick up their ballots before each headed into a voting booth. The crowd there was smaller at the time, though, compared to what it was like in the morning.

"It was a monster!" said poll worker Christopher Keane. "The most I've ever seen. We've had non-stop action."

The afternoon mood was quieter at the Neighborhood Congregational Church. But again, the morning throng was 20 people deep.

"Some had been waiting since 6:30 a.m.," said poll worker Shelby Rothman. "For about two and a half hours, we had a 30 to 40-minute wait to get into a booth. People seem to be more passionate this year."