Superior, Douglas County voters head to the polls

Voting was brisk in Superior Tuesday, with some people waiting more than an hour in line to cast their ballot.

“I like it busy, but not this nutsy busy,” said Carole Tyson, chief inspector of polling site four at the Billings Park Civic Center. With 14 workers, she said, it was still hard to get any breaks in. Voters were outside the building before the polls opened at 7 a.m. and it was still busy by 1 p.m., as they were handing out ballot number 1,151. The site has a total of 3,300 registered voters.

“We’ve been really, really busy,” Tyson said.

Preston Ciocarelli stopped by shortly after 1 p.m. to cast his vote, intent on keeping Mitt Romney from becoming president.

“Everything I’ve seen and heard from him, he’s flakey,” Ciocarelli said of the Republican candidate.

Gordy Mossberger voted for Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan at the civic center.

“I believe in the honesty, integrity they have,” he said. “I think they’re good people, good Americans.” They’re for all Americans, he said, not just a select few, and they will earnestly try to bring the far left and far right sides of Congress together to compromise.

“They’re not dividers like Obama has been,” said Mossberger, whose top concerns included the economy, lack of jobs and the national debt.

He said he also supported Rep. Sean Duffy, R-Weston, for a second term.

“I believe he’s doing a good job,” Mossberger said. “I think he’s got a lot of vision and he’s fair.”

Tommy Thompson also got the Superior man’s vote.

“I believe Tommy Thompson has the experience and ways of getting things done,” Mossberger said. “And he’s used to that environment in Washington D.C. He’s been there before. I have confidence in him, I trust him.”

Dale Monsaas, too, cast his vote for Thompson to take the senate seat left vacant by retiring Democrat Herb Kohl.

“I think he was good as governor even though he’s a Republican,” said Monsaas, a Vietnam veteran.

“I just think it’s really important to vote,” he said. “It’s just something you always do, I guess. And I think Obama did a lot for the veterans where Bush really tried to take us down.”

Bush, he said, cut down on the veterans quite a bit and Obama did add to it.

“I just don’t like Romney,” said Monsaas. “I just don’t like him at all.”

Voters had a number of key issues on their minds.

“Our costs are going up, unemployment is going up and health care is a big concern,” said Denise Guerra, who cast her ballot at polling site 4.

The presidential race is the most crucial, said Joe Molenda.

“That governs the whole United States and that affects the economy plus the war,” he said, and those were the two main concerns he had. “The other thing about the election is managing the budget. I think the budget is so far out of whack.”

The future was on Paige Ciocarelli’s mind as she stopped by the Billings Park Civic Center.

“Just the world that my kids are going to grow up in, that’s important to me,” she said. “I want better for them than what I’m seeing now. I grew up better than my kids are growing up and it kind of disappoints me, so.”

At polling site 3, located in the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College of Superior, lines were long. Jerry Moe said he had to wait more than an hour in line to vote. By 1:42 p.m., 1,083 ballots had been cast at the site.

Polling site 5 at the Salvation Army has 2,416 registered voters. By 12:42 p.m., election officials had received 667 ballots and people kept filing in.

“It has never been quiet,” said election official Nancy Carriar. “Starting at 7 a.m. it has been just like this.”

Guerra said she was glad to see people stopping by the polls.

“I’ve always been raised that every vote counts,” said Paige Ciocarelli.

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