Long voter lines and longer waits have the newly elected Eldorado Area Water and Sanitation board rethinking how future elections should be run.

"I admit, we didn't know we'd have this turnout," said Nancy Dayton, a volunteer election judge. The reasons for the long lines were that only one person cross-checked a voter's residence against the precincts in the district; and just two took the ballots. In the past, up to six people took votes, while fewer presided in smaller elections.

Adding to that was the confusion about eligible precincts. Of the five county voting precincts, only one is completely within the water district — precinct 69. The others, 63, 65, 71 and 17, only partially reside. In fact, Dayton said she "didn't know 17 had any part of it."

Nate Gentry, attorney for the district, said the most common problem concerned registered voters who are water-district customers who live outside district boundaries. In past elections, water customers outside the district were barred from voting. But a change to the Water and Sanitation District Act in 2006 allows them to vote, and that contributed to the larger turnout.

Former presiding election judge Pat Lavengood, who has assisted in county primaries and all of the past Water and Sanitation District elections except this one, called Tuesday's election process "kind of a muddle. It would have been easier if they had more people to help and if it had been held in a larger building like we did in the past."

Lavengood said she tried to vote three times during the day but left because of the long lines. She returned at 6 p.m. Tuesday and the lines were just as long. "I thought, well, I better stay or my vote won't be counted," she said. "There were a lot of processes that were not thought out."

Lucian Niemeyer, who challenged James Jenkins for a seat on the board and lost, said the election was poorly run.

Those in line by 7 p.m., when polls closed, were allowed to vote. All the ballots were cast by 8:30 p.m. Tuesday.

"A lot of people were turned away because it was such a mess," he said. "The long lines turned people away. They should have had backup people in case we were inundated, which we were. These are the things I've been struggling against with the current board — poor planning."

The Water and Sanitation District acts as its own bureau of elections. Secretary Stephen Wust, who was out of town during Tuesday's voting, suggested that an election advisory committee be organized to avoid repeating the mistakes.