CEDAR RAPIDS – Sandi Seaver thinks she and her husband may not watch the election returns Tuesday night.

“Maybe we’ll go to bed early and watch the results while we work out in the morning,” she said. “That way we can take out our aggressions on the exercise equipment.”

There’s a bit of tension in the Seavers’ Marion household heading into Election Day. Russ and Sandi have had a hard time deciding which presidential candidate to support. Neither will say who they’re backing, but both said separately they’re pretty sure they’ll cancel the other’s vote.

“I think I know how she’s going to vote,” Russ said Nov. 5. “I’m not sure, but I think we both just kind of understand how the other one is going to vote.”

The Seavers didn’t discuss their decision “that much,” Sandi said. “But he’d say things and I wouldn’t say much, so I think he got the hint.”

The Seavers were among undecided voters who joined The Gazette back in early October to watch the first of three presidential debates between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

They didn’t care for either candidate.

“I’m still not leaning one way or another … but I dislike them less,” Sandi said after that debate.

“I still kind of feel that way,” she said Monday, adding that she feels better about one of the candidates.

Russ’ opinion of the candidates hasn’t changed much.

“I guess you have to realize that when someone gets that far it takes a certain personality and chances are you’re going to be a (jerk),” he said.

In the end, he voted for the candidate he found least offensive.

However, he’d rather vote for Bill Clinton, he added.

The Seavers were still undecided after the first debate, but watched parts of the second and third debates as well as the vice presidential debate.

Their differences began to show when Vice President Joe Biden and GOP nominee Rep. Paul Ryan squared off.

“What I thought was funny, my husband didn’t,” Sandi said.

So they changed channels.

Both Seavers say the debates helped them, but they also looked at other sources of information. Sandi went online “and read more rather than rely on ads and flyers in the mail.”

Russ didn’t appreciate all the mailers. He sat down one night with a week’s worth, marked them all “return to sender” and put them in the mailbox.

“The post office wouldn’t take them,” he said. “They were still in my box the next day.”

The Seavers knew they would make up their minds and not voting was not a choice for them.

“But I’ve got to say I don’t know that I do feel any better with my choice,” Russ said.

For Sandi, the decision this year was harder than in any presidential election she can remember.

“And no, I don’t feel as good about this decision as in the past,” she said.