Nebraska's first caucus was a huge success based on Saturday's turnout. More than 38,000 people showed up to ensure their vote mattered, but not everyone was pleased with how the event was handled.

Overflow crowds at caucus sites in Douglas County got Gloria Andrews of Omaha fired up. "I just think it brings more enthusiasm to the whole process."

With that enthusiam came some growing pains during the state's first-ever caucus. A sampling of some opinions:

"I think it's ridiculous to have one location for the Sarpy County caucus."

"There was such a big turnout that they actually collected the cards and turned them away. They had no room for them."

"I don't think anyone expected this number of people to show up."

“The back lot wasn't even shoveled, so they weren't expecting this kind of turnout."

"It was just too many people in one building at a time."

"I was very displeased because it left out so many people."

Martha Erwin Ross worked the Fort Omaha site and says overcrowding resulted in many people waiting in the cold. Most never even got inside and that shut out many older voters.

"Our more conventional older citizens are concerned that they couldn't vote because they really revere the opportunity to vote and because of the time frame, many people worked that have been accustomed to coming throughout the day to vote."

"We underestimated the turnout,” says Nebraska Democratic Party chairman Steve Achelpohl.

“We should have more sites. We should have more planning ahead of time to get the job done, but the people that worked on the sites did a great job under the circumstances and hopefully the state party can give them more direction next time."

Achelpohl says the problems will be ironed out.

Meanwhile, the excitement created by Saturday's caucus gives Nebraska Democrats hope that their vote finally counts. Achelpohl says the timing of Barack Obama's visit last Thursday coupled with Chelsea Clinton being in Nebraska Thursday and Friday may have helped bring even more people to caucus sites.

Vince Powers, a national committeeman for the party, thought up the idea for Nebraska to caucus.

"For me, whether it was the primary or whether it was the caucus, I just wanted a presidential candidate in Nebraska and the only vehicle to do it was to be relevant in the selection process and it obviously worked."

Obama's rally at the Omaha Civic Auditorium attracted more than 10,000 people.

It's estimated more than one thousand people came out to the Metro location alone, forcing organizers to open up other buildings. In the end, hundreds had to vote absentee because there wasn't enough room for them inside.

So many blue ballots were filled out as absentee, organizers had to bring out regular paper for voters to use as a ballot. Michelle Ross waited 45 minutes in line before voting absentee.

"I don't think we really planned for this massive turnout, we need bigger buildings, but I'm amazed and I'm grateful that so many came out for it. I was impressed."

Not everyone showed up with a candidate in mind. Lamar Pringle came to Metro undecided. "It's sort of like choosing a church in a sense. I'm waiting to see whose friendlier."

Others had no doubt where they stood. Pringle got all he could handle. "I'll probably have nightmares for 30 days of crowds running up on me. It was exciting." In the end, he chose Obama.

"It's about a movement and I got excited about that. When people want to make a change and that means as opposed to waiting for one person, the people are rallying behind it, that's something I can get behind."

Sarpy County had only one caucus site, Papillion-La Vista South High School, for 28,000 registered Democrats, triggering traffic backups for miles, complaints from voters and delaying the start of the caucus.

"To only have one polling place for the third largest county in our district was certainly a mistake," said Joe Pilakowski, a 31-year-old high school teacher from Papillion. "It's kind of a mess."

Law enforcement shut down Highway 370 leading into the school and school officials opened up a gym, several classrooms and hallways to accommodate the extra people.

The influx was so massive that volunteers collected candidate preference cards and allowed people to leave. Traditional caucus procedures allow for more interaction, with supporters standing on either side of a room trying to convince the undecided and not-so-sure supporters of other candidates to join them.

Disappointment and aggravation were all part of the caucus experience says 19-year-old Karri Huismann. "This was definitely not a prime example of caucusing because no caucusing every actually took place. If anything it became a poorly run primary as they just kind of started having people just turn in your slips, so it was kind of frustrating.”

Huismann says she was enthusiastic, initially, to support Clinton. "Hillary has my vote ‘cause I think she has the experience needed to help solve the international problems. I like her health plan and some of her economic plans.”

Sarpy County Democratic Party officials admit their plan to handle the state's first Democratic caucus failed.

"In Sarpy County we were overwhelmed by what happened,” says Burke Summers of Sarpy County Democrats. “It was a mistake I made. I never in my wildest imagination imagined we could turn out this many Democrats in Nebraska in Sarpy County."

Huismann says her caucus experience is unforgettable for a totally different reason, but she's not totally turned off from voting. "I'm still gonna be voting in the primary, in the general election and voting in the future. Hopefully next time it will be better."

Huismann was able to hand in an absentee ballot, but several people did not even get that chance and unfortunately there's nothing anyone can do about it now.

Destini Howard of Bellevue came to vote for Obama and said the wait was worth it to be part of electing the first black president. "I'm willing to stand here as long as it takes."

"People are threatening to leave and we didn't want anyone to leave without being counted," said volunteer Marea Bishop of Bellevue. "The turnout is so far above all our wildest dreams."

Eric Fought, the state party spokesman, said it was up to each county's party leaders to adjust plans in the best way possible without drastically deviating from the procedures. "We had no ability to imagine anything. That was part of the challenge here because we've never done this before."

Suzanne Nolte of Bellevue was a Republican, but changed parties Saturday to vote for Obama, saying she's sick of the same old politics and wants something new, including a process that lets her have a say in the national race.

"How can you pass this up?" Nolte said. "This is great."

In Cherry County, county chairman Bud Pettigrew let each of roughly 100 people speak if they wanted to. Caucus-goers drove to the church in heavy snow, as much as 60 miles from neighboring Brown and Keya Paha counties.

Pettigrew said he felt bad asking people to stay because the weather was so bad. "I had to ask these people to stay and wait and for everyone have their peace and say what they wanted. There's people wanting to leave and I didn't blame them there."

Pettigrew said he also received complaints from older citizens who didn't want to participate in the caucus because their vote would not be anonymous.

"I like the fact that Nebraska's important this year, but I think we need to figure out moving our primary to an earlier date in the year if it's that important."

Obama was the winner with 67.5% of the vote (26,126) to Hillary Clinton's 32.2% (12,445). Ninety-nine voters were undecided (0.3%).

Anyone with comments or suggestions regarding how the caucus was handled is asked to call the Nebraska Democratic Party at 402-558-5912.