bANDERSON — Look at Ward 2 and you will see Anderson’s identity.

Lying directly south and slightly west of downtown Anderson, Ward 2 features street after street of residential neighborhoods, a few small businesses and more than a few community institutions.

Many of the homes were built in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate the growing number of auto industry workers, providing convenient access to Guide Lamp Co. to the west and various General Motors Corp. plants to the east. A few are showing their age.

But residents still draw pride from the United Auto Workers Local 663 Hall on 29th Street and Anderson Fire Department’s No. 3 fire station on Columbus Avenue.

And from South Side Middle School. That’s where Daniel Busby and Josh Bargo were stumping for a pair of Democratic candidates Tuesday on their first Election Day as voters.

Busby, 18, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with an enormous portrait of Barack Obama, and Bargo, also 18, handed out fliers for Madison County Superior Court 2 judge candidate George Pancol. Both were seated in yellow folding chairs outside the school, home to Precincts 7 and 8.

“We’ve had a lot of people supporting Barack Obama — he’s the man,” Busby said.

The two were on the job around from 7 to 11 a.m. and said 80 to 100 voters had passed them. At various times, Bargo said, both of them were talking up voters.

“Most people already know who they’re going to vote for,” he said. “But, maybe if they’re unsure we reassure them.”

By all accounts, voting ran smoothly on Tuesday with all precincts opening right on time at 6 a.m.

Madison County Clerk Ludy Watkins said a few precincts got a late start, but the complications were due in large part to human error.

“We had a few that got open late, but there weren’t any problems with the machines, it was just kind of human mistakes,” Watkins said. “If they don’t follow the steps to get the polls open on time.”

Watkins said a team of 13 machine technicians moved from precinct to precinct to address any complications.

The voters in Ward 2 are established, many of them traditional. Families, seniors. Middle and working class.

Tobi Jones decided to raise her family in Ward 2 and was working the election. She served as election inspector for Precinct 9, based at Meadowbrook Baptist Church, 119 E. 36th St., across the street from Meadowbrook Pizza and perhaps a mile from Meadowbrook Golf Course.