Voters turn out early to cast ballots

VOTERS trying to beat the US election day rush turned out early in such large numbers in many precincts that they created their own crowds, standing in long lines that snaked down the street, sometimes before the polling places even opened.

Umbrellas and raincoats were needed yesterday from Texas to the lower Great Lakes, and snow-covered roads were a problem in the Texas Panhandle.

Besides the presidency, voters were filling 34 Senate seats, 11 governorships and all 435 House seats. Both parties had pushed to increase turnout among their supporters, and even with early voting in many states, tens of millions were headed to the polls before the long election day wound to a close.

“Some polling places voted 25% of their entire registered voters in the first hour,” said Tom Leach, spokesman for the Chicago Election Board. “That’s just unheard of.”

“We’re seeing lines, people waiting in lines, lines before the polls opening,” said Scott Burnham, a spokesman for the Cook County Clerk’s office.

Polling places across North Dakota reported voters waiting in line when they opened.

“We’ve been very busy,” deputy Ward County auditor Denice Osterberg said at mid-morning.

In Fargo, Shirley Blake said about 50 people were waiting when she opened a polling place, more than she had ever seen that early in more than a decade of working on elections.

“I’ve never had to wait in line before,” Fred Flugger, 72, said at his polling place on Pittsburgh’s south side, where dozens of people were waiting when he arrived just after polls opened. “Usually, if I had to wait, it would be three to four minutes. There’s just a lot of interest in this election.”

Turnout at another Pittsburgh precinct clearly was exceeding that of the Bush-Gore race four years ago, said Jay Troutman, the judge of elections at the polling place.

“A good clip is one (voter) per minute, and we’ve exceeded that,” Mr Troutman said about 90 minutes after the polls opened.

“We wanted to come out early to vote but we never expected such a heavy turnout,” Linda Russell said as she stood in line before polls opened in Raleigh, North Carolina. Elsewhere in North Carolina, lines of voters snaked down sidewalks and across a street at a Durham precinct, where one man brought a chair to ease the wait.

Republican US Senate candidate EJ Pipkin had to wait in a line that wound out the door before he voted at about 7.20am at an elementary school in Stevensville, Maryland.

Mr Pipkin said it was exciting to see such a large turnout. “We’ve been pushing the message that voting matters, who’s in office matters, and I think we’re seeing a direct result of that today with this kind of turnout,” he said. “It bodes well for our democracy.”

About 100 people were already in line when Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh went to vote just after polls opened in Warren, Michigan.

“I’m predicting up to 75% (turnout) in Macomb County,” she said.

Polls opened without incident in West Virginia’s Wayne County, despite a chemical spill last week that closed two schools that were to serve as polling places, said County Clerk Robert Pasley. “We had people waiting in line before we opened at 6.30am.”