Few Lines at Colorado Springs Polls

Colorado Springs -- Colorado is one of the battleground states that will decide this election. Colorado Springs has been named ground zero of the Colorado fight.

With the anticipation of long lines and heavy turnout, El Paso County was prepared. There are approximately 60 different polling locations in El Paso County. Churches, schools, Centennial Hall, Chapel Hills Mall and Ballot Drop Off Location at the Motor Vehicle's Dept on Powers/Airport Rd.

I went to 15 of the 60 to check the situation. At each one of those, I discovered there really weren't many lines. Audubon Elementary School is one of the polling places in Colorado Springs. In the central area, it is located in the middle of several neighborhoods. The election official I spoke with told me there had not been over a 5-minute wait since they opened early this morning. He said that it had been steady and they may have had about 300 voters so far. This was around 10 am.

A local TV Crew for Channel 11 News was stationed outside of the downtown location. They weren't seeing much activity it appeared. They also had crews at several other polling locations. They seemed to be going from place to place checking the smaller polling centers.

I went by the DMV on Powers and Airport. This is a drop-off Location only. The election official there told me they had been steady as well and had gotten well over 1,000 ballots -- just in drop-offs. The traffic was continuously coming in while I was there. They were efficient and kept them moving quickly.

My polling location is Pike Elementary School. Their turnout has been great, according to sources there. No lines yet, but they anticipate a bigger crowd after 5 p.m. today. They also have been fairly steady. Officials at this location say they had a line starting this morning, but have just continued to see a stream of people vs the long lines they had been warned of.

One of two main polling locations, Centennial Hall in Downtown, started out slow this morning, but has been building each time I have been back. At 8 am it was just a trickle in and out. Curbside Drop Off Collectors were collecting some but there wasn't any lines inside or out. The Drop Off Collectors are anticipating about 30 thousand Drop Off Ballots to be collected at that location alone today.

When I checked back at 1:50 this afternoon, there was a line that had formed almost the entire length of the waiting area inside. If the flow continues, there will be a line outside very soon. One gentleman had just come out and I asked him how long he had waited. He told me about 45 min to an hour. I let him know about the other places that were not so crowded. He jokingly thanked me for telling him too late. Overall to this point, it appears Coloradans have either voted early or just haven't made it to the polls yet.

Colorado Springs has been a center point for the campaign. All of the candidates have been here more than once. They encouraged early voting and mail in ballots and it appears that folks in Colorado Springs, have heeded that advice. If the lack of lines is any indication of that, then whatever the decision for Colorado may have been made already.

We will see how the afternoon into the evening progresses. Many people may have to wait until they get off of work to vote. It appears El Paso County is prepared for a huge turnout, so either way, Colorado Springs is voicing their preference for president in this historic election.

Polls close at 7 p.m.... Go Vote.