"I've been having nightmares for a week," she said. "We're going to have long lines."

As the polling station opened for business at 7:02 a.m., a group of about 20 voters filed into the long hallway leading to the voting room. Almost immediately, the electronic vote counter misfed one of yesterday's unusually long ballots.

"It's not even 7:30 and I want to rip my hair out," Lavalle exclaimed.

As Lavalle wrestled with the counting machine, Louisa D. Winters, another election staff member, answered questions and called out instructions to voters waiting in line.

"A lot of people come from out of state and they are not used to paper ballots. You have to keep them well-informed," she explained.

Winters has volunteered to help with elections since she was 18. She has also worked on campaigns for local aldermen and on the House campaign of Rep. Michael E. Capuano (D-Mass.).

An accountant at International Forest Products, Winters took a vacation day to come work at the polls.