After a strong turnout in early and absentee voting, polling places in Ocean County remained busy on Tuesday. Ocean County ranked third in the state for the highest number of early voters, which may have helped keep the lines shorter but steady on Election Day.
"I came early because I was expecting there to be a lot of people waiting here," said Kellyann Scully, of Toms River.
The shortened wait time gave her a chance to teach her 7-year-old brother Christopher a valuable lesson in democracy.
"It is exciting. It's important I don't think he quite grasps everything yet but we are getting him to understand," she said.
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Around Ocean County, wait times on Election Day were only a few minutes.
"I saw a big difference today being able to get in and out as quick as we did," said John McKeon, of Brick.
"No lines, which is great. We don't have to worry about my daughter running around touching things made it a lot easier for us glad everybody's coming out to vote," said Michelle Wickner, of Brick.
Voters said they were mostly focused on the presidential election with some down-ballot races also a strong motivating factor.
"There are one or two local elections that are making a difference why people would want to vote over here. The biggest reason is the presidential election," said Shalom Kimoni, of Lakewood.
"Definitely for the president I wanted who I wanted to win hopefully it'll come through," added McKeon.
