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Denver — A judge turned down Democrats' request to keep polls in Denver open for two extra hours Tuesday night after balky computers, the longest statewide ballot in decades and unfamiliar new voting machines delayed voting for thousands of people.

At Denver's Botanic Gardens, where the line stretched on seemingly forever, the Gay Men's Chorus entertained voters waiting it out. In heavily Republican Douglas County, the wait was more than two hours as the official polls closed.

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

Denver District Judge Sheila Rappaport said she did not have authority to extend voting hours in Denver, a Democratic stronghold. She said it was not the only county with long lines.

State GOP spokesman Bryant Adams called the request for longer hours "outrageous" and unnecessary. Adams said anyone in line by the scheduled 7 p.m. closing time would be allowed to vote.

It was the first general election in Denver since it switched to 55 regional voting centers from scores of precincts. 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.

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.

Lines stretched outside, down streets, around corners and across alleys at some Denver-area polling places on a sunny and unusually warm day. Democratic Party spokesman Brian Mason said some voters were turned away and told to come back. Others were given provisional ballots, which can be verified later and then counted, but those ran out, 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?"

State officials had predicted a relatively high 60 percent turnout for the midterm election, or some 1.8 million voters out of nearly 3 million. Secretary of State spokeswoman Lisa Doran said long lines were reported around the state, from Denver to Steamboat Springs, which she blamed on the long ballot - with 14 proposals - and new voting machines.

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

Poll watchers told Rappaport that computer problems prevented them from checking voter registration for 1-2 hours. They also said provisional ballots were either not offered or couldn't be used because voter addresses couldn't be checked.

Mark Grueskin, representing Colorado Common Cause, said telling voters to go to another vote center was not a viable solution

"The problem is, absent carrying a laptop with wireless capacity, there's no way for voters to know which vote centers have long lines and which do not," he said.

Richard Westfall, an attorney for the state GOP, said an inconvenience in voting did not warrant the "extraordinary" step of extending voting hours.

Denver Election Commission spokesman Alton Dillard blamed the slow-going on heavy traffic on a laptop computer system used to verify voter registration. He said some officials had to call the central election office for the information. Dillard, who had earlier blamed power outages, said voting machines were not affected.

Debbie Rudy, elections supervisor for Montrose County, said a large number of voters were forced to wait up to three hours to vote at two polling centers because of problems with electronic voting machines. She said voters who didn't want to wait were given paper ballots that will be counted later.

The voting machines, provided by Hart InterCivic, had to be reset after the votes were backed up on memory disks and no votes were lost, Rudy said.

"It may be operator error on our part," she said. "We're still on a learning curve. It was hard for us to go from punch cards to something new."

At least two Hispanic voters in Weld County, northwest of Denver, said they received calls from people telling them they might get arrested if they voted, according to Marcella Salazar, a spokeswoman for Democrat Angie Paccione, who was challenging GOP Rep. Marilyn Musgrave.

Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., recorded a phone message Tuesday to try to counteract any such calls after hearing about the complaints. Adams, the GOP spokesman, said the Democrats' allegations sounded like "complete hogwash" and a tactic to put Republicans in a bad light.

At a Highlands Ranch recreation center, the wait took up to 2 1/2 hours at times and some people left in search of other voting centers. Carol Conner, 69, said she has never waited so long to vote.

"I'd do it again," she said. "It's that important to me."