During an election, typically there are times when poll workers have to find something to do to keep them busy during their 12-hour shifts.

Reading books, working crossword puzzles, doing needlepoint and just talking with fellow poll workers top the list of chosen activities.

Poll inspector Marla McNabb said she always uses downtime to cast her own vote, but she was finding that difficult to do Tuesday morning at Zion Lutheran Church in Seymour.

“I haven’t even been able to vote yet,” she said. “But that’s OK, I’ll find the time.”

A constant stream of people made their way into the church to help elect their party’s representatives for the general election in November. For the first time, the church served as the polling site for two precincts, Jackson 3 and 4 South.

By 10:45 a.m., 238 people had voted, and that number kept creeping up as time ticked by. Polls opened at 6 a.m. and closed at 6 p.m.

“We’re at about 10 percent of voters, and that’s before the lunch crowd,” McNabb said. “It’s wonderful, how busy it’s been.”

The same was true at polling sites across the county as people came out to vote in the presidential election, along with other important national, state and local races.

Another reason poll workers believed more people were voting Tuesday is because of the importance of Indiana’s primary this year in deciding the presidential candidate. The state’s primary is usually too late in the season to make any difference in the national convention, where presidential nominees are formally chosen.

Presidential contenders typically have earned enough delegates to ensure their party’s nomination before the Hoosier primary, but that’s not the case this year.