GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — West Michigan saw steady traffic at the polls as people showed up to cast their ballot Tuesday, but long lines were not a problem — something poll workers and clerks attributed to many having voted early.

Poll workers around Kent County noted that there seemed to have been longer lines during the nine-day early in-person voting period, which wrapped up Sunday.

For example, in Grand Rapids Township, there are about 15,900 registered voters. About 3,750 of those cast their ballots during early voting. Nearly 500 people had voted on Election Day as of about 4 p.m.

Among those Election Day voters was Brianna Christenson, who was voting for the first time. She said she wanted to come to the polls with her parent.

“I came right after school actually and we just kind of walked in and out it was about 20 minutes. It was kind of quick. There was no line, really,” Christienson said. “There’s a lot of talk on social media, so I wanted to be able to voice my opinion.”

“Today was little faster than normal. It’s usually more crowded with people I think with early voting it wasn’t so bad at all,” said Grand Rapids voter Sheree Baskain.

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In East Grand Rapids, the clerk said about 2,627 people took advantage of early voting. About 400 people had turned out to a polling place at the East Grand Rapids Community Center as of about 5 p.m. Workers said they had a bit of a line Tuesday morning but it tapered off to a steady stream.

Kentwood voters also noted short lines.

“Almost none,” voter Andrew Wener said. “There was one person in front of me and it only took two minutes, so it was actually pretty quick.”

Ottawa County Clerk Justin Roebuck told News 8 Tuesday was a “relatively smooth day overall,” with “pretty consistent turnout across most of our precincts.”

“I think we were helped quite a bit by the 42% turnout that we had really at the beginning of the day through early voting and absentee voting,” he said. “And that helped alleviate some lines in the precincts and made things go easier and more smoothly for our voters.”

He had expected between 70,000 and 75,000 voters to cast their ballot on Election Day, which is typical for a presidential election. He said it had been a good day with no major issues and short lines.

“We’re expecting, again, a fairly smooth day and hoping for that and planning for what we need to do to take care of our voters today. But I think it’s gone better because of early voting,” he said.

He said that more than 33,000 people took advantage of early in-person voting across four different sites in the county and 71,000 absentee ballots were received — a 93% return rate.

While counting ballots during the August primary, the county’s forward-facing unofficial election results website crashed because of high traffic. Roebuck said changes have been made since then, so it shouldn’t happen again.

Wyoming City Clerk Kelli VandenBerg said she had not seen any major issues at her precincts and the mood at polls was positive, though a few people did have to be reminded of election laws.

VandenBerg, the Wyoming city clerk, noted voters may see election challengers at the polls. Those challengers, typically representatives from political parties or other organizations, are allowed to inspect the process as long as they do not interfere with voters.

“I think overall, they have a role in the elections and we’re here to support them. Sometimes they can provide some very valuable feedback to help us improve,” VandenBerg said.

She said turnout was looking strong, with about 20,000 people in her jurisdiction having already voted absentee or early in person before Election Day.

“Throughout the early voting, it was almost carnival-like. I think people were quite surprised to see how many of their neighbors and community members were turning out to vote. So it was very positive, every now and then we get someone who might not be aware of the requirements in election law and for the most part we’ve been able to resolve those without issue,” Vandenberg said.

The exception for lines was DeVos Place in downtown Grand Rapids at the very end of the day. A final few people ran through the lobby to get in line for same-day registration and voting before the polls closed. The about 100 people already in line at 8 p.m. were allowed to register and vote and everyone had done so before 10 p.m. for a total site turnout of 679.

Holding a news conference shortly before 10 p.m., Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson praised an Election Day full of “confidence, celebration and, yes, pride.”

“We know that the eyes of the nation are on Michigan once again and we have shown the country that we are determined, enthusiastic and full of grit,” she said. “The country can again be assured that our elections are safe, secure and accessible.”

She added that statewide, any issues at the polls were “minor,” “resolved quickly,” and were “not widespread, but isolated.”

“Polling places were by and large calm and efficient, and energetic. People were excited to vote today,” Benson said.

Benson said Michigan was “on track for record-breaking turnout.” According to the Secretary of State’s Office, more than 2.1 million ballots had been cast absentee as of Tuesday morning.Laws that went into effect this year allow for early tabulation of absentee ballots, but county clerks have explained that no vote totals are generated before the polls close. Early in-person voting, new statewide this year, was required to start Oct. 26 at the latest and wrap up Sunday. About 1.2 million voters took advantage of that option, state data shows.

Michigan’s total voter turnout in the 2020 presidential election was more than 5.5 million (about 70% of the voting-age population), with about 3.3 million ballots cast absentee.

Benson said she expected results to come in more quickly this time than in 2020.

“While we are always going to prioritize accuracy and security above all, we will be working to improve and we have worked to improve the efficiency of the process. We are optimistic we will have results sooner than we did in 2020, which was Wednesday afternoon. We will keep everyone updated throughout the day,” she told News 8 Tuesday morning.