Some went to the polls to tackle the casino question.

Others went to voice their opinion on tax reform.

And others went, they said, because it simply was their duty.

“You vote on the second Tuesday in November. That’s what you do as a citizen.” said Randy Small of Lewiston.

Voters may have had different reasons for going, but the results were the same: a possible record day at the polls.

“Usually we don’t have this many,” said Paula White, deputy town clerk in Kingfield, where half of registered voters had been to the polls by 4 p.m. “So hopefully we don’t run out of ballots.”

It was a busy election day throughout the region, unusual since there were no presidential, gubernatorial or congressional races on the ballot. On such “off-years,” Secretary of State Dan Gwadosky said, between 20 percent and 44 percent of Maine’s voting age population head to the polls.

State officials won’t know exactly how many Mainers voted for a few days. But Gwadosky said the controversial ballot questions and extensive media coverage of election issues could lead to the highest voter turnout Maine has ever seen in an off year.

In southern Maine, so many voters showed up at the polls that some towns feared running out of ballots. They asked the Secretary of State’s office for permission to start photocopying ballots or use absentee ballots in place of the official sheets.

Although Gwadosky knew of no western Maine towns that had run out of ballots, area election officials were kept busy.

“This has got to be a record day for Auburn,” said City Clerk Mary Lou Magno.

In Auburn, 63 percent of active voters went to the polls. That’s not as high as presidential election years, which can run between 70 percent and 80 percent, Magno said, but “for just a referendum year that is very high.”

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