JAY – Voter turnout around the region exceeded expectations of town clerks and may have set records in some towns.

Thousands of voters cast ballots Tuesday on the gubernatorial race, state, county and other contests.

Absentee ballots were at a record high and ballot clerks saw more young people registering to vote.

At 6:45 p.m. more than half of about 3,600 registered voters in Jay had cast ballots.

“I expected about 1,900 – that was my estimate,” Jay Town Clerk Ronda Palmer said.

The number had hit 2,150.

Jay voter Beverly York said as she waited for someone that “I hope Question 1 goes through. I think we need a little bit more control of what’s going on in how the money is spent.”

Chesterville Town Clerk Patricia Gordon said the town has about 900 registered voters. About 500 of those had cast ballots by 7:20 p.m. and there were about 70 or so absentee ballots.

“Oh my gosh. It’s been wonderful. I expected a big turnout. I think people are looking for change in government,” Gordon said.

Over in Livermore Falls, Town Clerk Kristal Flagg was trying out the state’s accessible voting solution. The machine with a telephone is expected to help those who are visually impaired, cannot read and others that may face challenges with the ballot.

No one had used the machine all day, Flagg said, and state officials asked that any of the poll workers who hadn’t voted to use it to vote to make sure it worked.

Flagg said absentee ballots cast at 250 by 6:30 p.m. was five times more than normal.

“We normally have 50,” Flagg said. “It has been heavy all day.”

About half of Livermore Falls’ 2,400 or so registered voters had turned out to vote with a long line still waiting to cast ballots.

“We’ve been very busy,” New Sharon ballot clerk Terry McManus said about a half-hour before the polls closed. “We’ve had 62 percent voter turnout.”

The town has 1,177 registered voters with more than 700 of those casting ballots.

“I think its a record,” ballot clerk Jim Smith said, who is also chairman of the New Sharon Board of Selectmen. “New Sharon always has a good turnout. I think a large number of young people voted.”

“Interest is picking up,” Alberta Currier, another New Sharon ballot clerk, said.

New Sharon Town Clerk Rose Mary Eller said the town received 136 absentee ballots.

“We’re lucky we have six,” she said of other years.