If at first you don't succeed...

James Zachidny walked away from voting at Eastridge Elementary around 11:55 a.m. feeling like he's just finished a scavenger hunt.

"I had hell finding the place," said the retired laborer.

He's not kidding. It took him about 90 minutes to find his proper voting precinct, which ended up less than two blocks from his home.

Zachidny initially went to the Santa Fe building around 10:30 a.m., but was told that was for early voting only. He was sent to a fire station precinct, but found out that was not right.

He was told to try the Potter County Courthouse, and that didn't work. But at least he found out from the clerk's office where he was supposed to vote. And it was a stone's throw from his own house.

"This is the fourth place I've been to," Zachidny said. "But I was watching TV and they were keeping tabs with the early voting this morning, and how it was going back and forth and about a 1- or 2-point difference. I figure I better cast my vote no matter what it took because every vote is going to mean something."