Mainers hit the polls today in force: Early estimates are that turnout is pushing 70 percent. Between local, state, and national races, plus a citizen's intiative that could legalize same-sex marriage, voters had many reasons to cast their ballots. But as Patty Wight reports, some races and issues in particular were the real motivators.

Voters pack booths today at a polling place established at the Lewiston Armory.

Polls were busy this morning - busier than usual. When voters were asked what brought them out in the cold and wind, most had answers like Andrew Olson's of Freeport: "Well marriage equality is absolutely the most important to me, besides the president," he says.

While the possible legalization of same-sex marriage and the presidential race may be priorities voters can agree on, the desired outcome of those questions is not. Freeport resident Laurie Larmon says she was driven to the polls by one thing: "Christian values. I think Romney stands for those more than Obama does," she says.

Larmon says Mitt Romney won her vote as soon as President Obama declared support for gay marriage. The issue of same-sex marriage is so important, it drove Bates students such as Marit Wettstein to register to vote in Maine, rather than her home state.

"I'm from Minnesota so they're doing the same sort of thing, but it's more liberal, so I'm planning on it's going to be 'yes' there," she says. "And I feel like my vote makes more of a difference here, so I registered here."

Her friend, Olivia Jacobs, from New York, says she thinks her vote can make a difference on Question One, but she also thinks it will do the same for the presidential election in Maine. "Because New York is going for Obama, and hopefully Maine will too, and I feel like my vote can actually make a difference here," she says.

Presidential elections, of course, are always a big draw for voters - as are citizen initiatives, says Megan Sanborn. She's special assistant to the Secretary of State. Sanborn says while the turnout this year is expected to be similar to the last two presidential elections - around 70 percent - there's a notable difference in this election: the number of absentee ballots. In 2008, there were 240,000. This year, there were 196,000.

"It could be that people wanted to actually go the polls, it could be that the parties didn't do as much absentee efforts as before," Sanborn says.

Despite all the attention the U.S. Seante race got during teh campaign, voters we spoke with didn't mention it as a priority. When asked, most voters said they just hoped the next senator would carry on the legacy of retiring Republican Olympia Snowe to work across the aisle.

Lewiston voter David Hughes says he's not even voting for that race - or for the president. "I'm actually only here to vote for a local legislative race. That's it," he says.

Hughes says as far as he's concerned, one person's vote in close local races can really make a big difference. "I mean, it's not that my vote doesn't count in the larger issues, it's just that it's pretty much already decided," he says. "Barring a huge surprise somewhere along the line, you knew back in the beginning how these were going to go."

Many voters expressed cynicism about the negative tone of the elections and the slim chance that will ever change. Still, there was hope for what the future may bring. Elyse Corbett of Freeport says she came to vote with womens rights and civil rights in mind.

"I really hope that this is the beginning of conversations that will continue," she says. "I fear that regardless fo the outcome of this election that some of these conversations might kind of be put to bed for awhile, and I think we have a long, long way to go for true equality in the country. So I really hope that these conversations keep growing."

The polls in Maine close tonight at eight o'clock.

Photo by Patty Wight.