Polling stations around Alameda County were ordered to stay open an extra two hours last night after many ran out of Democratic ballots-a move which left some potential voters confused.

The Alameda County Registrar of Voters ordered 14 of its voting stations-including some in Berkeley and Oakland-to stay open as late as 10 p.m., giving people in the county another opportunity to vote, said Guy Ashley, the registrar's spokesperson.

"There were cases where folks were there ready to vote and couldn't as ballots were not available," he said. "The turnout was unexpectedly large and I have never seen anything like it for a primary election."

The polling station at the YWCA on Bancroft Way was among those affected. Voters experienced long delays as ballots had to be delivered to the station from elsewhere, said Tara Anderson, an official at the station.

"Once we ran out of ballots, there was a lot of waiting around and while I didn't check the clock, it took hours to get more ballots ready," she said.

The decision to extend the operating hours was made after consultation with a local judge, county legal staff and a review of the state election code, Ashley said.

"We were prepared to stay open until 10 p.m. if people still wanted to vote, but in reality, the stations were all closed by 9 p.m.," he said.

Students were among those who experienced difficulties voting and were confused by the different messages that the registrar put out.

Sebastian Thompson, 19, who attends community college in Oakland, arrived at Oakland's Hillcrest High School at 8:47 p.m. after hearing on the radio that all polling stations in Alameda County would be open until 10 p.m.

Thompson said he intended to vote for Barack Obama but was turned away when the polling station told him that they were closed and not open for extended hours.

"I was planning to vote kind of late as I had school and heard that all polling places were open later," Thompson said. "When I was turned away, I was quite upset, as it was my first vote and it meant a lot to me."

Ashley apologized for the mix-up and said that initially he was told that all Alameda County polling stations would be open until later.

"It was a fairly complicated issue and we did get conflicting information," he said. "For this reason, we did put out an erroneous report that all stations were to remain open. It later became apparent that it would actually only be 14 (stations)."

According to Stephanie Chan, the California Communications Director for Students for Barack Obama, officials underestimated the voter turnout and were unable to remedy the mistakes they made in time for the elections.

She added that problems might not be unique to Alameda County, and may have affected other counties as well.

"The stories don't seem to be isolated to just one place," she said. "I really hope this never happens again and other states are able to learn from it."

According to a Field Poll conducted by the independent non-partisan Field Research Corporation, 8.9 million Californians are estimated to have cast ballots in yesterday's elections.

This number of voters is the largest ever for a presidential primary election in California and is expected to exceed any of the other 23 states that held a primary election or caucus yesterday.

Tags: ELECTIONS 2008, VOTING, SUPER TUESDAY