Americans begin voting for their next President

US presidential election day is still two weeks away, but voters across Florida have the option today of casting their ballots early in the pivotal battleground state.

Early voting also occurs in Texas, Colorado and Arkansas. Other key states this year have already begun in-person voting, including Wisconsin, Iowa, Nevada, Ohio, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Early voting was introduced in Florida after the 2000 election, in which this crucial state decided the result by only 537 votes and introduced topics such as butterfly ballots and hanging chads to the national debate.

Both President Bush and his Democratic challenger, John Kerry, arranged campaign swings through the Sunshine State over the weekend to coincide with the start of early voting.

“There are probably a lot of people in Florida who are ready to cast their ballot,” said Mindy Tucker Fletcher, senior adviser for the Bush campaign in Florida.

Some groups are urging voters to cast a paper absentee ballot because of concerns over the state’s new touch-screen voting machines and any potential recounts. Others are touting it as a chance for busy voters to avoid queuing on November 2.

“It’s going to be changing the way candidates campaign because they have to get their message out to people two to three weeks earlier than in the past,” said Palm Beach County elections supervisor Theresa LePore.

Some have criticised the concept of early voting, saying it increases opportunities for vote fraud without significantly boosting voter participation. Still, most states offer the option of early voting.

Across Florida, Democratic college students camped overnight at election offices to be the first in line today. The state’s congressional black caucus is travelling to five cities over four days to emphasise early voting and voter protection.

For voters in Palm Beach County, home of the infamous butterfly ballot, many are still upset about Al Gore’s loss in 2000. The get-out-the-vote effort has attracted record attention, said Fred Dibean, vice president of the county’s Young Democrats.

“The problem happened here last time, and we don’t want it to happen again,” he said. “We want to be the ones to fix it.”