DENVER -- Balky, unreliable computers, the longest statewide ballot in decades, high voter turnout, new centralized vote centers and unfamiliar new voting machines have frustrated thousands of voters who found themselves waiting at least an hour to cast their ballot Tuesday.

The problems were most severe in Denver and Douglas counties, with lines that extended out of the buildings and sometimes down the block.

At 7 p.m. when polls closed, hundreds were still waiting in line in both counties and were told to expect to wait a couple more hours until they reached the front of the line. The last person to vote in Denver was expected to vote at 9:30 p.m.

Both Democrats and Republicans were worried that voters were turned off by the long lines, and leave without casting their vote. Denver County leans Democratic while Douglas County is a Republican stronghold.

"We're slammed," said Carole Murray, Douglas County clerk and recorder. "It's just a big turnout and a long ballot."

Of the 12 machines at one Douglas County vote center, only a few of the machines were working throughout the day, 7NEWS reported. That led to lines that were four hours long at 7 p.m. Carol Conner, 69, waited in line for two hours to cast her ballot at a public recreation center in Highlands Ranch. She said she's lived in Douglas County for 13 years, and has never waited so long to vote -- but she'd do it again if necessary.

While the problems in Douglas County dealt with not enough working voting machines, the biggest problem in Denver was the laptop computer system used to verify voter registration.

The server that the computers were operating went offline or got bogged down a couple of times during the day and there weren't enough machines to meet the need, 7NEWS reported.

Also, the volunteers who were inputting the information in the computers were slow, election officials said.

A Denver Election Commission officer called the voting problems "embarrassing" but said it was an important learning lesson.

The lines were at a standstill until those computers were back online. Unlike voting in precincts, where volunteers could check paper registries to see if the voter is registered to vote in the precinct, Denver voters were all listed in voters rolls that could only be accessed through the laptops.

If the laptops went down, or were having problems, there was no way to see if a person was registered to vote in Denver County.

It was the first general election in Denver since it switched to 55 regional voting centers from scores of precincts. Denver was one of 21 counties in Colorado that were using voting centers instead of precinct polling locations.

Elections officials in the state's biggest city were already planning to hand-copy as many as 30,000 absentee ballots because of a printing mistake on a proposal to change the handling of recall elections.

One Denver voter said she waited in line for almost two hours in downtown Denver while nearby voting machines stood idle.

"The problem was waiting for people to pass through the screening process, of residency and registration," said Lisa Marie Ledesma.

Ledesma took pictures of unused voting machines sitting idle while people were waiting in line to vote.

She said election officials at the Webb Municipal Office Building encouraged those standing in line to contact Denver election officials to let them know that they need more laptops and officials checking for registrations.

In Westminster, almost 4,000 Xcel customers were without electricity Tuesday morning and the power outage was affecting voting there. Power was restored about an hour later. Power failures slowed voting at some Denver locations, but voting machines had backup power and weren't affected, a spokesman for the Denver Election Commission said.

Kevin Caffrey, a 43-year-old school teacher from Denver and a registered Republican, was furious after he was forced to stand in line for more than an hour.

"Every individual who put me in line, I'm voting against them. I've been waiting in line like an animal. This is a nightmare," he said.

"This is positively ridiculous," said Jack McCroskey, clutching his cane while waiting at the Washington Park polling place in southeast Denver. "At 82, I don't deserve to have to stand out here. What if it had been 10 degrees today?"

Some voters in Denver were turned away and told to come back, said Brian Mason, a spokesman for the Democratic Party. Others were given provisional ballots, which can be verified later and then counted, but those ran out, he said.

While most voters were patient, several who left the long lines said they planned to search for other vote centers with shorter lines or not vote at all.

Both Democrats and Republicans had poll watchers stations at polling places to keep an eye out for irregularities.

"Denver was a disaster and this disaster hit low-income people and people of color voters the hardest. One woman we spoke with had been to three different voting centers and with computers crashing, long lines, and general incompetence, she wasn't able to vote today. This was a disenfranchisement nightmare," said Bill Vandenberg of the Colorado Progressive Coalition.

New voting machines also made for slow going across Colorado, said secretary of state spokeswoman Lisa Doran.

"Despite the training, some of the election judges are intimidated by the machines," she said.

Jon Winterton, 66, who said he had been waiting for an hour and 15 minutes at the Washington Park polling place, didn't mind.

"I love voting. Tonight is like other people's football games. I love watching the returns," he said.

At Denver's Botanic Gardens, where the line stretched outside for quite a ways, the Gay Men's Chorus entertained voters waiting it out.

At a senior center in a northwest Denver residential neighborhood, volunteers for both gubernatorial candidate Bill Ritter and AmericaVotes were letting people know which vote centers had shorter lines. They kept in touch with volunteers at other polling places with cell phones and pointed out the locations on maps.

Lots Of Issues, Lots Of Voters

Election officials expected a 60 percent turnout, or about 1.8 million voters to participate in this election. That includes more than 600,000 who have already voted absentee or early.

The big reason for voter turnout was because of the big interest in the mid-term election. Voters were considering 14 statewide proposals and a number of issues, including whether Democrats will end up controlling the governor's office and the Legislature.

That hasn't happened in more than 40 years, when John F. Kennedy was president.

In the congressional races, Bob Beauprez's open seat in suburban Denver was being sought by Democrat Ed Perlmutter and Republican Rick O'Donnell.

GOP Rep. Marilyn Musgrave faced a challenge from Democrat Angie Paccione, while the seat given up by 10-term Republican Rep. Joel Hefley was the subject of a fierce battle between Republican Doug Lamborn and Democrat Jay Fawcett.

Fawcett received an e-mail death threat Monday night, the third of the campaign, campaign manager Wanda James said. James said the most recent threat was reported to Colorado Springs police. Police were investigating.

James also said someone sprayed a skunk odor in Fawcett's headquarters overnight. The El Paso County Republican Party said someone tried to clog the plumbing at its Colorado Springs offices.

Republicans are using the specter of Democratic control to get their voters to the polls with the argument that a divided government is better, in terms of checks and balances.

Ritter is facing Beauprez in a battle for the governorship.

Early restults show Ritter leading the race. As governor, Ritter could change the political dynamic in Colorado, particularly if Democrats keep control of the state Senate and House, something that worries many Republicans.

"I think they're very fearful of losing the governor's mansion and not being able to regain control of the state Legislature," said Norman Provizer of Metro State College.

Republicans are reminded that Beauprez, if elected, could keep the Democratic Legislature in check.

"Colorado typically has kind of enjoyed that tension of divided government, and I think that's part of what's causing this momentum to shift our direction," said Beauprez.

"The whole landscape we think is important, and it's not just our race, it's the entire landscape in Colorado," said Ritter. "We'll watch it carefully."

Republicans have pointed out Gov. Bill Owens vetoed nearly 100 bills while he was in office and many of those bills could be reintroduced if Democrats take control of the office. They said some of those bills could be anti-business and anti-family.