Election inspectors in Vestal voting districts were nearly unanimous by mid-afternoon Tuesday: the day had been one of the busiest they’d seen so far.

Norman Stewart, an inspector working at Vestal Volunteer Fire Station Company No. 4, which hosted voting for Districts 16 and 17 in the town of Vestal, arrived at the polls at 5:30 yesterday morning to get the machines ready, and planned on staying until a half-hour after they closed at 9 p.m.

“There’s a lot more interest in this election than in a normal election,” Stewart, a Vestal resident, said. “It’s one of the biggest days I’ve seen in this district.”

Stewart, who has served as an inspector for more than 12 years, said around 4 p.m. that he hadn’t gotten a chance to vote yet between the influx of people and the different activities required of him and the other inspectors, like checking voters in and keeping the paperwork in order, but that he planned on doing so.

For another one of the inspectors, the day just couldn’t go fast enough.

Alfred Weiner, also of Vestal, said that recently when he comes across political commentators and pundits on television, he switches to the Science Channel.

“It’s useless discussion,” he said.

According to Weiner, there are a lot of factors that contributed to the high volumes of voters — which he said was unlike anything he’d ever seen — namely the crash of the market and the war.

While both inspectors acknowledged that the race was going to be close, Weiner said he thought one vice presidential candidate had picked the wrong way to portray herself.

“This particular vice presidential candidate killed it for herself, the way she labeled herself a pit bull with lipstick,” he said. “I don’t think it sounds like vice president material.”

Other officials also agreed that opinions like Weiner’s were common for this election.

“People aren’t as wishy-washy this year; they’re either for or against the candidates,” Stewart said.

The increase in voter commitment was clear to other election inspectors too, like Susan Hoyt, who was working in District 6 at the Town Hall in Vestal. Hoyt, who served as election chairman for 25 years, said that by 4 p.m. 265 voters out of 470 for the district had showed up to vote.

“We’ve had a lot of adults who are first-time users that didn’t know how to use the voting machine,” she said. “It’s very unusual.”

Hoyt also said that a number of young voters actually came home from college, like State University of New York at Cortland and University at Buffalo, to vote in their home districts.

Dan Kozarski, also a resident of Vestal and a first-time inspector, said there had been “sporadic rushes” since the polls opened that morning.

But officials expected to see a big turnout as the day went on, especially as people got out of work, which they said would be the busiest time of the day.

“It’s a long day, it’s been busy,” Hoyt said. “When it’s busy, it’s more fun.”