AUBURN - While hitting the polls, voters had some big decisions to make on Election Day, from the presidential race to local and state elections.

But after they left, voters were presented with another big decision - where to eat.

All around the local area, luncheons and dinners were taking place in churches and firehalls to celebrate Election Day.

All across Cayuga County and neighboring Onondaga, voters had their choice of a little bit of everything.

From hot turkey sandwiches at First Baptist Church in Jordan to ham and oysters at the Scipio Volunteer Fire Department.

These gatherings have been a staple of Election Day for many years, offering people the chance to gather, discuss the election and its topics and at the same time enjoy good company and good food.

The year marked the first such dinner at the United Methodist Church on South Street in Auburn.

Patti Lewis, organizer of the chicken and biscuits dinner, said that this was the first time since the two churches, including United Methodist, came together to host such a dinner, but there is a long tradition of church dinners that helped pave the way.

“At Trinity we had ham dinner for 50 plus years,” Lewis said. “So we just thought this would be a good way to keep that going.”

Guests were treated to a spread of homemade treats, from chicken and biscuits to green beans and a plethora of homemade desserts.

Lewis said that all of the work for the meal, which was expected to feed at least 250 people, began a day ahead to make sure that everything would be ready. Volunteers began cooking at home and bringing food into the church dining hall.

It is this attention to detail and the home cooked feel that Lewis believes helped line up people out the door well before the 5 p.m. start time.

“It is just good old-fashioned home cooking,” Lewis said. “And everybody really seems to like it.”

Lewis said that she was anticipating a busy night with such an interesting election going on and that money raised would go toward the church's outreach program, with a percentage going to hurricane victims in the South.

Not far from United Methodist, The United Church of Auburn was hosting its third annual pork roast election night dinner.

Tina Barry, a church member and volunteer for the dinner said that 120 pounds of pork, enough for 200 dinners was cooked, with volunteers working throughout the past week in preparation for Tuesday night.

Over the past few years, the dinner has grown steadily.

“It started at 4:30,” Barry said. “People were already here waiting at 4. We are fortunate to be right near the polling place at Seward Elementary School, and this is just something nice to get people together. For us it is an outreach, it is not really about the money, it is so people will notice that we are here and that we are part of the community and this lets us do that and give a little something back.”

Whether it was election night or the church dinner tradition, people were eager to eat and they were not disappointed.

“I think it is great,” Mae Loveland, of Auburn, said. “We used to come to the church dinner all the time, so I think this is really great.”

And while it was still several hours before election results would start rolling in, that didn't mean it was too early to celebrate.

“It's election night,” Eleanor Barrett said. “We start celebrating early, that way, either way you win.”