MISSION ? Kansas voters turned out early and in large numbers for Tuesday’s election, even with President Bush expected to win the state easily.

In Wyandotte County, Democratic poll watchers reported shortages of materials for voters casting provisional ballots at three precincts, said Mark Simpson, the party’s state executive director. Such ballots are cast when election workers aren’t sure someone is eligible to vote at a particular polling place.

Pat Rahija, the Wyandotte County election commissioner, said the issue was whether precincts had enough envelopes to seal provisional ballots.

She said she had workers dispatch extra envelopes to the precincts. Rahija said Wyandotte County was seeing an unusually high number of provisional ballots, though she did not have any figures.

“We’re having more provisional ballots than we’ve ever seen in our lives,” she said, noting that she distributed about 4,000 envelopes around the area and had 2,000 more available.

Ellis County Clerk Alberta Klaus predicted at least 75 percent of that county’s 17,895 registered voters would cast ballots.

Despite predictions of cold, wet weather in western Kansas, Klaus said Tuesday was a beautiful day, which she thought also would boost turnout.

In Dodge City, voters were lined up an hour before polls opened at 7 a.m. because of a mistake by Wichita television stations that gave the wrong opening time, Ford County Clerk Vicki Wells said.

She said some of those who showed up early decided to wait until the polls opened, while others left and said they would be back.

Many voters in Thomas County, one of several in northwest Kansas in the Mountain Time Zone, also lined up early at the polls in Colby because of radio broadcasts that gave the wrong opening time, County Clerk Tracey Perkins said. But she said that didn’t cause any major problems for her office.

Perkins estimated that about 83 percent of the county’s 5,727 voters would turn out.

Overview Unofficial election results Douglas County precinct map Election Day 2004 feedback Kids Voting ResultsCounty Democrat unseats D.A. of 8 years Former mayor defeats Buhler in Senate race Embattled district judge stays on bench McElhaney survives short-lived deficit Record number of voters cast their ballots in county Douglas County kids choose Kerry Politicians, supporters share ‘crazy’ election-night revelry Voters approve Perry-Lecompton bond issue Township lacks candidatesState Moore fends off another challenge Ryun wins contentious 2nd District Congress seat Brownback easily defends his U.S. Senate seat Holland inches past GOP challenge Pine takes 3rd District Senate seat Wagnon wins State Board of Education race Seven incumbents lose; GOP pads majority in House Voters deny sales tax for K.C. arena Bush wins Kansas handily Kansans show they’re satisfied with Bush Counties see high voter turnout Election briefsNational Too close to call President ‘upbeat’ on election returns Kerry sentimental as race nears end Analysis: Emotions guided presidential voting Networks use care in reporting results New media throw caution to the wind Presidential race prompts late selloff State by state results: Midwest State by state results: West State by state results: Northeast State by state results: South California backs stem-cell research Voters in 11 states approve gay-marriage bans GOP wins key states in South World riveted by U.S. electionMultimedia Photo Gallery: Election Day 2004 6News video: Dennis Moore wins in a ‘landslide’ 6News video: Dennis Moore victory speech 6News video: Bob Johnson wins 2nd District County Commission position 6News video: Paula Gilchrist presumed Douglas County Treasurer 6News video: Ken McGovern wins sheriff’s office 6News video: Jere McElhaney on the 3rd District Commissioner seat 6News video: Penrod optimistic about Douglas County Clerk position 6News video: Ermeling hopeful in 3rd District Commissioner race 6News video: Francisco likely to win 2nd District Barbara Ballard talks about younger voters and their importance in this election. Barbara Ballard talks about being in Lawrence and Kansas on election night. Paul Davis talks about the importance of this election to the Kansas Democrats. Paul Davis chooses his most important race in Kansas. Paul Davis talks about the feeling among other Democrats in Kansas. Gov. Kathleen Sebelius addresses the crowd at Abe ‘N Jakes Landing.