Voters flock to polls as turnout set to hit record

AFTER a slugfest campaign that intensified through the year, US President George W Bush, voting in Texas, said “I’ve given it my all,” while John Kerry, campaigning in Wisconsin, promised to take the nation “to a better place”.

There were long lines at polling places and officials predicted record turnout in the first wartime election in a generation.

"This election is in the hands of the people, and I feel very comfortable about that," Bush said after voting near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, along with his wife and daughters.

On his way back to Washington, he stopped in Columbus, Ohio, and made a few calls from a phone bank. "I promise you, it's me," he told one doubter.

Kerry voted along with his daughters at the Massachusetts Statehouse in Boston. "I don't think anybody can anticipate what it's like to see your name on the ballot for president," he said. "It's very special. It's exciting." His wife voted earlier in Pennsylvania.

At dawn, he was handing out information packets to volunteers in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where he said, "We're going to take America to a better place." Aides said he handed out presents on an emotional campaign-concluding flight back to Massachusetts.

It was the first presidential election since the US plunged into its epochal war on terrorism, and heavy crowds were reported at polling places in the East, the first precincts to open.

The prospect of unprecedented legal challenges hung over Election Day, each side sending thousands of lawyers to monitor the flood of newly registered voters and mount hair-trigger challenges against any sign of irregularity.

There were scattered early reports of machine breakdowns, late openings and other problems. One woman in Toledo sued election officials on behalf of Ohio voters who said they did not receive absentee ballots on time.

"My hope of course is that this election ends tonight," Bush told reporters, referring to the expected legal challenges in some districts. He won the presidency in 2000 only after a Supreme Court decision gave him Florida and the Electoral College majority.

Of Kerry, Bush said, "I wish him all the best. He and I are in the exact same position. I'm sure he's happy, like I am, that the campaign is over."

For his part, Kerry made Election Day appearances in Wisconsin, where residents can register and vote on the same day. Of the reports of long voter lines, he said: "It's just a magical kind of day."

Long lines were reported at precincts from Florida and North Carolina to West Virginia and Michigan. "We even had people waiting in line before we opened at 6:30am," said Wayne County clerk Robert Pasley in Wayne, West Virginia. "In some places, there was more than a dozen people waiting, and that's heavy."

Rain was falling in parts of the Midwest as voters lined up. Brian Fravel, a 43-year-old welder who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said he had never before had to wait to vote. When he arrived at the Northland Church of Christ at 7:30am, he found a long line of people and waited 45 minutes to cast a ballot. "I thought I was early enough to beat it," Fravel said.

The final pre-election polls turned up tied 49-49 in one CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey.

Tight surveys in Florida and a variety of Midwestern states, including Ohio, deepened the mystery over who would collect the necessary 270 electoral votes.

Both candidates cast their candidacies as vital to the country's welfare. Bush declared the "safety and prosperity of America" was at stake, and Kerry said that "the hopes of our country are on the line".