Staff reports

In what appears to be the busiest New York primary day in recent memory, Lower Hudson Valley voters were already waiting at many places when the polls opened at 6 a.m., and election officials reported an unusually high number casting ballots throughout the day.

"We've been consistently busy all day," said Lesly Sandoval, an election inspector at New Rochelle High School. "There were tons of people when we opened this morning. ... There’s been a consistent stream the rest of the day. We’ve had more voters than usual and that’s without the super busy time which will be around 5 to 9 tonight. I’m glad people decided to get up and vote.”

Similar reports came from Mount Kisco, Yonkers, Nyack and throughout the region, as many people made their pick for the Republican or Democratic presidential candidates before heading off to work, school, or whatever else they had planned for the day.

And while Nyack reported a few incidents of people not being registered or not listed as living within the voting district, for the most part, election officials said, things were running smoothly.

"It's early, but we're off to a good start," said Joseph Leechack, an election inspector at St. Ann's School in Yonkers, where 21 votes had been cast by 7 a.m.

The polls were to remain open until 9 p.m.

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At Chappaqua's Grafflin Elementary School, where Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, voted shortly after 8 a.m., turnout was "huge," said Paula Kurth, elections chairperson for New Castle District 1. In what she described as "a very high turnout," more than 180 people voted in the first two hours.

"People were here at five minutes to 6 (a.m.) waiting to vote. One man was tapping his watch," Kurth said. "It's exciting."

The state's presidential primary could play a significant role in determining the presidential nominees for the first time in decades, with contested races in both parties.

There are 291 Democratic delegates and 95 Republican delegates up for grabs. It is not a winner-take-all primary, so the delegates will be divided among the candidates based on the ballots cast by registered party voters.

In Nyack, poll workers said turnout was larger than in previous years. By 8:30 a.m., more than 60 people had voted at Grace Episcopal Church and Living Christ Church — almost double the usual number.

"I was surprised at how many people came right at 6 a.m. — it was way more than usual for a primary," said Gladys Najara, a poll inspector at Rochambeau School in White Plains. "To be honest, I like it. It's better when we're busy."

Poll Inspector Olga Klimak, also at Rochambeau School, said she expected "a larger turnout than we've had in previous primaries. Both parties are having controversial primaries, which raises voter interest."

Klimak, who's worked as a poll inspector for 15 years, said "we get about 50 voters in most primary elections. "We've probably had close to that already, and it's only 10 o'clock. It was very busy between 6 and 8 a.m. We're in a lull now, but it will get busy again at lunchtime, and again between 5 and 8 p.m., as people get home from work."

At Tarrytown Village Hall, election inspector Karin Arduino said residents who haven't voted in previous primaries were turning out this year.

"There are a lot of new voters — voters I'm not used to seeing," Arduino said.

It was busier than usual at the Village Hall polling place when it first opened at 6 a.m., and the turnout was steady most of the morning, said Julia Young, another inspector.

"There's a lot of people coming out," she said.

At the Mount Kisco courthouse, 141 people had voted by 1:30 p.m.

"People are encouraging people to vote — that's pretty clear," said election inspector Perry Wootten.

At Chestnut Ridge Village Hall shortly after 4 p.m., poll workers said turnout throughout the day was on par with previous primaries. After the morning rush before voters headed off to work, traffic died down significantly but poll workers expected it would pick up after dinnertime.

The Republican table had been much slower than the Democratic side of the room, one poll worker said, which wasn't surprising in the heavily Democratic district.

In New York, only registered voters enrolled as a Republican or Democrat may vote in the party primaries.

On the Democratic ballot, the candidates are Clinton, a former U.S. Senator and Secretary of State, and Bernie Sanders, a U.S. Senator from Vermont and native of Brooklyn.

On the Republican ballot, the candidates are billionaire developer Donald Trump, who lives in Manhattan and is a Queens native; Ted Cruz, a U.S. Senator from Texas; and John Kasich, the governor of Ohio.

While voting was going without a hitch in the Lower Hudson Valley, that was not the case in New York City, where voters took to social media to report polling places opening late and broken ballot scanners. Michael Ryan, executive director of the city's Board of Elections, said he was aware of complaints at two sites in Brooklyn.

"The polls that opened late were as a result of poll site coordinators not showing up on time. We have 1,200 poll sites throughout the city and over 3,000 poll workers,” Ryan said. “Some might not show up on time, it is not an unprecedented or entirely unexpected event.”

He said that there are issues with scanners during every election and that backups are available at each polling site.

How to vote

Polls are open today in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.

You may only vote in a party's primary election if you are registered with that party.

You can find your designated polling place by searching this New York State Board of Elections database.

If you believe you are legally registered to vote in a party's primary but are not listed as eligible you may file an affidavit ballot. The ballot will not be counted immediately, but a judge will later review it and rule whether it is valid and may be counted.

New York State Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has a telephone hotline set up at 800-771-7755 for anyone encountering problems at the polls.

U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara's office will also be operating a voter complaint hotline, at 212-637-0840.