John Scheibe 
Lines may have been long in much of the nation on Tuesday as voters waited to cast their ballots, but not so much in Ventura County.
"One of the longest lines I saw was in Oxnard," said Miranda Nobriga, a spokeswoman for Ventura County Clerk and Recorder Mark Lunn, estimating that people waited 20 minutes there before voting around 8 a.m.
Not bad, considering a record 442,951 people were registered to vote in Ventura County as of Oct. 24, Nobriga said. One reason for the shorter lines is that ballots were mailed to close to 290,000 voters, accounting for 59 percent of those registered to vote, she said. Ballots will be accepted until Monday, provided they were postmarked by Nov. 8, she said.
As with many elections, a few problems were reported Tuesday, Nobriga said.
A voting machine at the Glenwood Elementary School polling site in Thousand Oaks broke down, and a technician was sent to fix it, county election officials said. A voter also complained that a precinct worker in Oxnard demanded identification before the voter was allowed to cast a ballot, even though there is no such legal requirement. Nobriga said poll workers were advised they were not allowed to ask for identification.
Overall, voters expressed relief that the election was near an end.
“I’m sick and tired of all the battles, and today is the day everything will be settled and Hillary will win and America will have a woman president for a change,” said Nadine Llanas, 40, who voted at the Moorpark Active Adult Center.
Denis Silver, 65, said it was important to vote because it was a divisive presidential election.
“I think the country is a little in trouble right now, and I don’t think it’s going to get much better with either one of these people," the Moorpark resident said. "I’m hoping Congress can do something because they’re going to make the difference, not the president this time. The country is so polarized.”
This was an important election for Robert Rodriguez, who cast his ballot at Thousand Oaks’ Colina School library.
“I have never disliked a candidate this much in my life; the person has a Y chromosome," said Rodriguez, 27. "I think it’s important to choose someone who will have the competence to do the job right.”
Greg Ramsey, of Oxnard, said he, too, was looking forward to the end of the election season.
“This election is one of the ugliest I’ve ever been through. I can’t wait to get rid of the robocalls and TV ads,” Ramsey said.
At De Anza Academy of Technology and the Arts in Ventura, voters also were happy to see an end in sight to the election season.
“I’m glad it’s over. We need to make our decision and move on,” said Alexandra Turk, of Ventura, who thought she’d be fighting long lines but ended up sailing through in 10 minutes tops.
Correspondents Robyn Flans and Anne Kallas contributed to this report.
Join the Conversation
To find out more about Facebook commenting please read the Conversation Guidelines and FAQs