Gene Mahoney, a retired union electrician, sat outside a Starbucks near the Cherry Creek Reservoir this morning, reading today’s Rocky and chatting with coffee buddies who came by to swap election stories.

He had more than frothy frappacinos on his mind.

“I voted because of the economy,” said Mahoney. “My pension isn’t affected. But the economy is affecting my kids — the price of food, the price of gas. This financial disaster we’re in — I can’t believe the smart people and economists couldn’t foresee this.”

Mahoney wasn’t the only one worrying about the country’s financial future. As voting continued in what appears to be a mostly smooth-running election so far, the economy seemed to be foremost on people’s minds.

At Dry Creek Elementary, trucker Brian Johnson had plenty of reason to be concerned. He recently saw his workload drop like a stone.

“This economy is in trouble,” said the 45-year-old. “I saw what it did to my business. That’s why I’m not trucking right now. We hauled scrap steel. And the price dropped 75 percent without warning in a couple of days. So we just parked our trucks and came home.”

Johnson said he has voted in elections past, but was particularly motivated to participate in this one. “We’ve got to make some changes,” he said, declining to reveal who he had voted for.

Meanwhile, in the blue collar neighborhood near the Sons of Italy Hall in Wheat Ridge, Georgia Ayon, 48, joined the chorus.

“I voted for Obama because I’m not rich!” said the 48-year-old barber.

Ayon cast her first vote ever, three decades after she became eligible. Her experience went off without a hitch, which seems to be the norm for voters so far.

Many expecting long lines were pleasantly surprised during the morning rush, as voting proceeded efficiently, with the exception of a few glitches that appeared to be quickly resolved.

Among the setbacks, South Denver poll workers opened without part of their voter registration list, causing some voters to wait and others to drive to election headquarters for provisional ballots. Election officials said the problem was fixed in 20 minutes when another copy of the missing voter registration list was rushed to the Christ Church Community Church polling place at 8085 E. Hampden Ave.

“That’s been resolved,” said Denver Election Division spokesman Alton Dillard, who noted that such problems are to be expected “when we’re going from a 22-person full-time workforce to a 2,300-person citywide workforce.”

At Manuel High School, there were reports that voters had to be issued paper ballots when some voting machines weren’t working. And there we no ballot “privacy sleeves” for voters who wanted them at Church of the Risen Christ on South Monaco Parkway. Election workers drove a bundle of privacy sleeves to the church, said Dillard, noting that they’re typically only provided at a polling place when voters ask for them.

Mostly, though, it’s been smooth sailing.

“I think they were anticipating the worst and it turned out fine,” said Wendy Boyer, an election judge at University View Church Christian Church in southeast Denver where 15 people were waiting when the polls opened.

Farther east at Cook Park Recreation Center, 25 voters were waiting for the polling place to open as the sun rose.

“They came, they saw, they voted,” joked Margaret Weiland, an election judge with 25 years of battle-tested experience.

“Voting has been steady, no big rushes,” she added. “We are handling it.”

“It wasn’t bad at all,” said V.J. Dionisio, who voted at a precinct at Campus Middle School in Arapahoe County at around 8:30 a.m. “It took me 20 minutes from the time I walked in.”

Voter turnout in Colorado already has been intense. Sensing a historic moment, 1.7 million Coloradans — 53 percent of registered voters — cast their ballots by mail or at early voting stations even before the polls opened Tuesday morning. The statewide turnout is expected to set a record, exceeding 90 percent.

Early voting has helped ease the lines, say many.

Tom Daugherty, chief election judge for precinct 263, on the west edge of Cherry Creek Reservoir at Campus Middle School in Arapahoe County, said the heavy turnout had already occurred at his precinct — on Monday.

“When I went to Arapahoe County yesterday, there was a herd of people turning in early-voting ballots,” said Daugherty, 45. “We have had a majority early voting in this precinct, maybe as much as 75 percent.”

This morning, poll workers were readying for a busy day, nonetheless.

Election judge Loretta Brown arrived before sunrise at the Campus Middle School polling center. She and other judges, who were required to be on the job at 6 a.m., were setting up voting machines and making sure polling place signs were up, as well as signs warning voters not to campaign any closer than the 100-foot limit.

Across town, Denver Clerk and Recorder Stephanie O’Malley noted that she felt confident about Denver’s ability to manage an army of 2,300 election workers and triple the number of ballot-counting machines.

“We’ve done a lot of work to plan this election. I’m feeling good going into it,” O’Malley said before the polls opened at 7 a.m.

“We had some successes during the primary – no catastrophic events. If things continue along those same lines I’m confident that we’ll be OK today,” she said.

But O’Malley chuckled as she recounted a year where Colorado election officials had to scramble to adapt to myriad voting-equipment concerns and a tsunami of new voter registrations.

“Me personally, my stomach has been in turmoil for a while now,” she said with a laugh. “It’s been a long year.”

O’Malley encouraged voters to get to their right polling place and call Denver’s 311 hot-line if they have questions about voting.

“Do your homework,” she urged voters, meaning study the long ballot before you get in the voting booth to help keep lines moving.

Traditionally, peak voting times are between 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. when the polls close, O’Malley said.

Shortly thereafter, County clerks will announce about half of their vote counts. But most Coloradans could be fast asleep before the final, unofficial results are in early Wednesday - if all goes well.

Those results are expected to be put up on most large county Web sites just after 7 tonight.

The Rocky's Alan Gathright, Bill Scanlon, Gary Massaro, Judi Villa, Julie Poppen and Aaron Lopez and The Associated Press contributed to this report.