RUMFORD – Following the trend of the rest of the state, the towns in the River Valley were seeing long lines, lots of absentee votes and double and triple the usual number of newly registered voters.

In Rumford, early evening totals had more than 3,000 voting with more than 300 new voter registrations.

More than two dozen voters were lined up outside the Mexico polls before the doors opened at 9 a.m., said Town Clerk Penny Duguay. She was busy throughout the day, particularly registering new voters.

In Mexico, 65 had registered by midafternoon, more than double the usual amount. And many of those were first-time voters like Lisa Phillips.

Phillips, 18, a recent graduate of Mountain Valley High School, came to the Mexico polls with several young friends.

“I want to change the way things are,” said the Kerry supporter, who is concerned about the Iraq war, the economy and gay marriage rights.

She also opposes bear baiting and trapping.

“It’s wrong. It’s cruel. Most of them don’t do anything to us,” she said.

In Dixfield, dozens of people were waiting for Town Clerk Vicki Carrier to open the doors to the Dixfield fire station Tuesday morning. By early afternoon, 650 people out of 1,800 registered voters had cast ballots. Nearly 200 had voted early or by absentee, quadruple the usual number.

People had lined up at the Rumford polls at the American Legion before the doors opened, and by midafternoon, the lines hadn’t subsided.

Many people stood in the rain waiting their turn to get in, while several local candidates stood under umbrellas greeting voters as they approached the door.

People at the voter registration table were busy signing up new voters. More than 150 had been registered by 4 p.m.

Town Clerk Jane Giasson said about 850 absentee ballots had been completed, and nearly 2,000 votes cast by midafternoon. During the 2000 presidential election, just under 500 people had cast absentee ballots, she said.

Young people, most first-time voters, came in droves. Some had been bused from Mountain Valley High School to the Mexico or Rumford polls. If there were 18-year-olds who wanted to vote in the district’s other two towns, Byron and Roxbury, high school social studies teacher Debbie Carver said a way would be found to get them to the polls.

Many older voters, including some in nursing homes, also had a chance to cast ballots.

Jim Thibodeau, an election warden, said many people he hadn’t ever voted were voting on Tuesday.

Standing at the entrance to the polls was Wilton lawyer Pam Prodan. She is one of many throughout the state keeping a close watch on the election process.

“We’re concerned that everyone who wants to vote, can vote,” she said.

In back of the hall, one man was collecting signatures to place a proposal on the November 2005 ballot that would tax bottled water, while another one was collecting signatures on a petition that he hopes will force the governor to call for a new trial for Dennis Dechaine, a man convicted of murdering a young girl more than a dozen years ago.

There was a pollster, too, who was gathering information for many of the national networks.