Voters line up to cast their ballots in Edmond, Oklahoma. (Source: Associated Press)
CHICAGO — After what may feel to many like one of the longest presidential campaign seasons in America’s electoral history, Election Day has finally come. When it’s all over, more than 130 million voters are expected to have cast ballots for either Sens. John McCain or Sen. Barack Obama.
Indiana is one of the first polls to watch. It is a traditionally red state that has not voted Democrat since 1964, and will be the final stop on the campaign trail for Obama, probably in part because it borders his home state of Illinois. If John McCain loses Indiana, it will be an indication of a long, difficult night for the Republican.
The state has dispatched 30,000 poll workers to 5,400 precincts, Indystar.com reports.
Long lines are a common sight, but so far not voting problems have occurred. The Associated Press has also reported that there are long lines throughout the state and voters have been urged to try to arrive at their polling precincts before 3 p.m. In addition, Jim Gavin, spokesman for Indiana’s secretary of state reports that the Hoosier Voter Helpline has received phone calls about possible violations, which are now being investigated.
The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Colorado, another swing state Obama hopes will help him defeat McCain. So far, 64.6% of the state’s voters cast their ballots by mail or at early voting locations. Still, according to a local television station, 9News, there have are long lines at many sites and problems at two polling places.
Nearly 2.6 million ballots have been cast in North Carolina, and this huge level of enthusiasm may have as much to do with the heated Senate race between incumbent Sen. Elizabeth Dole and her Democratic challenger Kay Hagan and a tight race for the governor’s mansion, as it does the presidential election in which the state is a major state to watch. If Dole loses, January will mark the first time in decades that there will be no Bush or Dole on Capitol Hill or in the White House.Â
Voting got off to a delayed start, with 300 people in line shortly after 7 a.m., at one Raleigh precinct when the chief judge left the ballots in her grandson’s pickup, CNN reports. Voting will be extended there by about 30 minutes. Other than this slight mishap, few problems and massive lines are expected because so many voters took advantage of the opportunity to have their say during the state’s early voting period.Â
In St. Louis, Missouri, polls opened this morning at 5:30 am and the line reached around the corner, reports the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In anticipation of the wait, voters brought portable chairs and blankets for the cold.Â
Missouri wasn’t the only state where voters arriving early to polling places found themselves in line behind hundreds of other voters. Counties all over the East Coast and Midwest are reporting long lines.Â
There have not been any reports of broken voting machines, so the long lines are likely a result of record high voter turnout. Experts are predicting the highest voter turnout since 1960. However, MSNBC reported that human error might be the cause of problems in Kansas City, Missouri, where election officials may have the wrong voter lists.Â
Missouri, with 11 electoral college votes, is one of several toss-up states that McCain and Obama are counting on to reach the 270 electoral votes necessary to win. Other swing states that are experiencing problems include Virginia and Pennsylvania.Â
Virginia has voted Republican since 1964, but now its 13 electoral votes are up for grabs, reports Reuters. More than 150 people were lined up in the rain outside a polling place in Fairfax County, Virginia, before voting began.Â
Allegations of voter suppression have surfaced in Virginia, where the race for president is very close. The NAACP, in a federal lawsuit, demanded that a judge extend poll hours and
add voting machines to black precincts in Virginia, but a judge refused late Monday. The group says that minority neighborhoods would experience overwhelming turnout and there weren’t enough electronic machines.ÂWith no early voting in Pennsylvania, expectations are that the lines will be very long there today. This situation could also be compounded if the technical problems that plagued Pennsylvania polling places during the 2008 primaries haven’t been fixed. In South Philadelphia during the primaries several voting machines broke down in areas that had a Democratic stronghold.Â
Today, more than 160 people were lined up to vote by the time polls opened at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Over the last month the candidates have vigorously crisscrossed Pennsylvania, a traditionally Democratic state with 21 electoral votes.
In Oklahoma, after news of two to three hours waits on Friday and Saturday in Oklahoma and Tulsa counties, state Election Board Secretary Michael Clingman had about another 100,000 ballots printed, according to the Oklahoman.