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A record number of Maine Democrats took part in the presidential caucuses on Sunday.They gathered at hundreds of locations across Maine and chose Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders by a 2-1 margin over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Party officials said more than 46,000 people took part in the caucuses.The turnout was overwhelming, especially in Portland.At Deering High School, the line to get inside stretched around the athletic fields.In response to the huge turnout and long waits, Sen. Justin Alfond, of Portland, said he will introduce a bill on Monday to go back to the primary process.38374118Some estimated the line to get inside the school was at least a half-mile long.Officials delayed the beginning of speeches at the caucus to accommodate the crowd.To help alleviate the crowd, Democratic officials are letting caucusgoers cast ballots and leave to get people in and out of Deering High School.The process was moved outside to ease congestion inside the school."You would probably have to do it outside, quite frankly. We'd probably be moving it outside to one of the sports fields to try to make it happen," Maine Democratic Party Chairman Phil Bartlett said.People in line expressed their frustration about the long wait."It's sort of survival of the fittest. I think about all the people with young kids who got on line that clearly can't still be on line; elderly people who are wrapped around the block, so it's sad that there wasn't better foresight," of Portland said.One man said he had been in line for 3 hours and still hadn't voted.Two others told WMTW News 8 political reporter Paul Merill they waited in line five hours to vote.Many questioned whether it was time for Democrats to rethink the caucus process, but said they will wait it out in order to vote.Democratic U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree delivered pizza to people waiting in line for hours. Deering seniors were selling pizza by the slice to raise a little money as well.At one point, the crowd was doing the wave to pass the time.Much of the enthusiasm appeared to be for Sanders."He speaks from the heart, and he speaks to my heart," Robert Barden of Portland said."I'm a Bernie fan, and I support his campaign ,and I think it's important for young kids my age, and I want everyone to know just because you can't vote. I still think that we can have an opinion," Kendall Garland of Windham said.Clinton supporters said they hope she is the one who will represent Democrats in November even if Sanders wins Maine."I think that he has done a good job of poking the side of the establishment but has little to present as accomplishments," Lee Nicoloff of Portland said.The last person in line cast their vote just before 6 p.m., and only a handful of people stuck around for the caucus speeches.Sanders rallied his supporters this past week in Portland, telling them he'll win if there's a large turnout.Unlike Saturday's GOP caucuses, the results are not binding.The votes will be used to select a slate of delegates to the state convention, where national delegates will be elected.Maine will send 25 delegates and five super delegates to the national convention in Philadelphia.Get the WMTW App