AMERICANS VOTED in epic numbers yesterday with a record 130 million US citizens or more expected to vote by day's end.
From the eastern shores of Virginia, across the industrial heartland of Ohio and on to the Rocky mountain states of Colorado and New Mexico and beyond, poll workers and voters reported long lines and waits of several hours.
In a country that has a reputation for normally low interest at election time, turnout in Georgia was projected at 90 per cent based on early votes, and more than 80 per cent in Nevada.
Democrats and Republicans admitted that the long lines were more likely to benefit Mr Obama than Mr McCain. Mr Obama had based his strategy on driving up turnout among young people and African-American voters.
There was palpable excitement in the air, with voters queuing up from 4.30am in Virginia and in New York - more than an hour and a half before the opening of polls.
Poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, New York, said: "By 7.30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004."
Election monitors reported sporadic instances of delayed openings of polling stations, voting machine malfunctions, voter confusion and occasional abuse in a number of battleground states including Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
In Richmond, a precinct opening was delayed because the keyholder overslept. Hundreds of people thronging the branch library cheered when the doors finally opened.
In African-American neighbourhoods in Pennsylvania, voters complained of automated robo-calls directing them to the wrong polling stations. Voters in Jacksonville, Florida, reported bogus text messages directing Obama supporters to avoid long lines by voting today.
Lawsuits alleging voter suppression had already surfaced. A judge refused yesterday to extend poll hours in some areas. The National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, in a federal lawsuit, demanded those changes, saying minority neighbourhoods would experience overwhelming turnout and there weren't enough electronic machines.
US District Judge Richard Williams denied the motion but ordered election officials to publicise that people still queuing when the polls closed would be allowed to cast ballots.- ( Guardian Service, AP)