Record turnout expected in US election

WASHINGTON – Voters turned out in unusually large numbers on Tuesday to deliver a verdict on US President George W. Bush and Democratic Senator John Kerry after a bitter White House race that remained too close to call at the time of going to press.

As many as 125 million Americans were voting to choose their leader for the next four years and set the country’s course on the Iraq war, the fight against terrorism, the economy and foreign relations. Polls showed the race was extraordinarily close, with surveys showing a dead heat nationally and contradictory polls indicating most of the 10 hardest fought battleground states could tip either way.The neck-and-neck race reflects an electorate polarised over the mounting casualties in Iraq, the health of the US economy and the question of who will keep the country safer following the September 11 2001, attacks.Voters around the country showed up well before the polls opened and were unusually motivated amid lingering bitterness over the 2000 election, when Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but won the Electoral College after the US Supreme Court stopped the vote recount in Florida.There were reports of irregularities, including that vandals in Milwaukee slashed the tires of cars that were to take voters to the polls and allegations, quickly denied by the District Attorney, of ballot stuffing in a poor black Philadelphia neighbourhood.Republicans and Democrats said the election outcome may not be known quickly with both sides fielding armies of lawyers to challenge close results and girding for the possibility of another long legal fight like 2000’s five-week battle.About 105 million Americans voted in 2000 but more than 20 million more are expected to vote in this election.Bush said he was confident after voting at the firehouse near his Crawford, Texas, ranch and, without mentioning the Sept 11 attacks explicitly, said the election boiled down to whom voters trusted to secure the country.”I believe I’m going to win,” Bush said before flying to the battleground state of Ohio for a pep rally with Republican election volunteers and then returning to the White House.”My hope, of course, is that this election ends tonight.”In his own drive to get people to the polls, Kerry met Democratic activists in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a battleground state that is one of the few to allow same-day registration, and hammered Bush on his conduct of the Iraq war.”You have a choice, all Americans have this choice today,” the Massachusetts senator said before heading home to Boston to vote.”George Bush made his choices …He made a choice without a plan to win the peace.”DIFFICULTIES In addition to the presidential race, Americans will also decide which party holds power in Congress and will vote on governorships in 11 states, with Bush’s Republicans favoured to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.As in 2000, the presidential spotlight will be on Florida along with the new showdown state of Ohio, both won narrowly by Bush four years ago and the biggest remaining toss-up states.Florida officials reported no early problems as voters cast ballots.More than 10 million Floridians were eligible to vote, and lines were long at polling stations.Kerry must win at least one of the two states to have a realistic shot at victory, while a Bush loss in Florida would leave him in danger unless he took Pennsylvania or some Midwestern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa — all won by Gore in 2000.Amid the long lines, there were reports of voting difficulties, including broken voting machines and scarce provisional ballots that allow voters not on the rolls to cast a vote that is counted if their eligibility is later proven.In Philadelphia, Republican officials asked Philadelphia County to impound up to seven voting machines after local reports of possible ballot stuffing, which were later shot down by the city’s district attorney.”Long lines …no one directing you where to go,” said Sally Woznicki (40), who waited 45 minutes to vote at the Evangelical Church in Hudson, Ohio, a heavily Republican area southeast of Cleveland.Bush and Kerry spent their final day on the campaign trail on Monday racing through a handful of crucial swing states in a last-ditch hunt for votes, as both men try to stitch together the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory.The voting concluded an unusually close and contentious campaign focused on Iraq and national security, with Bush defending his doctrine of pre-emptive war and criticising Kerry as too liberal, too inconsistent and too weak to lead.Kerry countered by challenging Bush’s “go-it-alone” international approach, his decision to go to war in Iraq without enough allied backing and his refusal to acknowledge his mistakes and correct them.- Nampa-Reuters (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Steve Holland, Patricia Wilson, Sue Pleming, Lesley Wroughton and Michael Conlon)Polls showed the race was extraordinarily close, with surveys showing a dead heat nationally and contradictory polls indicating most of the 10 hardest fought battleground states could tip either way.The neck-and-neck race reflects an electorate polarised over the mounting casualties in Iraq, the health of the US economy and the question of who will keep the country safer following the September 11 2001, attacks.Voters around the country showed up well before the polls opened and were unusually motivated amid lingering bitterness over the 2000 election, when Bush lost the popular vote to Democrat Al Gore but won the Electoral College after the US Supreme Court stopped the vote recount in Florida.There were reports of irregularities, including that vandals in Milwaukee slashed the tires of cars that were to take voters to the polls and allegations, quickly denied by the District Attorney, of ballot stuffing in a poor black Philadelphia neighbourhood.Republicans and Democrats said the election outcome may not be known quickly with both sides fielding armies of lawyers to challenge close results and girding for the possibility of another long legal fight like 2000’s five-week battle.About 105 million Americans voted in 2000 but more than 20 million more are expected to vote in this election.Bush said he was confident after voting at the firehouse near his Crawford, Texas, ranch and, without mentioning the Sept 11 attacks explicitly, said the election boiled down to whom voters trusted to secure the country.”I believe I’m going to win,” Bush said before flying to the battleground state of Ohio for a pep rally with Republican election volunteers and then returning to the White House.”My hope, of course, is that this election ends tonight.”In his own drive to get people to the polls, Kerry met Democratic activists in La Crosse, Wisconsin, a battleground state that is one of the few to allow same-day registration, and hammered Bush on his conduct of the Iraq war.”You have a choice, all Americans have this choice today,” the Massachusetts senator said before heading home to Boston to vote.”George Bush made his choices …He made a choice without a plan to win the peace.”DIFFICULTIES In addition to the presidential race, Americans will also decide which party holds power in Congress and will vote on governorships in 11 states, with Bush’s Republicans favoured to retain control of the Senate and House of Representatives.As in 2000, the presidential spotlight will be on Florida along with the new showdown state of Ohio, both won narrowly by Bush four years ago and the biggest remaining toss-up states.Florida officials reported no early problems as voters cast ballots.More than 10 million Floridians were eligible to vote, and lines were long at polling stations.Kerry must win at least one of the two states to have a realistic shot at victory, while a Bush loss in Florida would leave him in danger unless he took Pennsylvania or some Midwestern states like Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa — all won by Gore in 2000.Amid the long lines, there were reports of voting difficulties, including broken voting machines and scarce provisional ballots that allow voters not on the rolls to cast a vote that is counted if their eligibility is later proven.In Philadelphia, Republican officials asked Philadelphia County to impound up to seven voting machines after local reports of possible ballot stuffing, which were later shot down by the city’s district attorney.”Long lines …no one directing you where to go,” said Sally Woznicki (40), who waited 45 minutes to vote at the Evangelical Church in Hudson, Ohio, a heavily Republican area southeast of Cleveland.Bush and Kerry spent their final day on the campaign trail on Monday racing through a handful of crucial swing states in a last-ditch hunt for votes, as both men try to stitch together the 270 electoral votes needed to claim victory.The voting concluded an unusually close and contentious campaign focused on Iraq and national security, with Bush defending his doctrine of pre-emptive war and criticising Kerry as too liberal, too inconsistent and too weak to lead.Kerry countered by challenging Bush’s “go-it-alone” international approach, his decision to go to war in Iraq without enough allied backing and his refusal to acknowledge his mistakes and correct them.- Nampa-Reuters (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan, Steve Holland, Patricia Wilson, Sue Pleming, Lesley Wroughton and Michael Conlon)