VOTING problems surfaced in several areas today as electors turned out in droves to be confronted with long queues and malfunctioning machines.
A record number of voters was expected to descend on more than 7,000 election jurisdictions across the country.
"We have a system that is traditionally set up for low turnout," said Tova Wang of the government watchdog group Common Cause. "We're g
oing to have all these new voters, but not a lot of new resources."
Americans have kept a close eye on election problems recently. In 2000, the results of the election were held up until the US Supreme Court ultimately decided to halt a recount over contested votes in Florida, leaving George Bush the winner. In Ohio, there was turmoil in 2004 over delays and failures.
Today voters had to use paper ballots because of problems with electronic voting machines in some New Jersey precincts. And in New York, many people began queuing as early as 4 am at some polling places.
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."
Governor Ed Rendell urged voters in Pennsylvania to "hang in there" as state and country officials braced for a huge turnout. More than 160 people were lined up to vote by the time polls opened at First Presbyterian Church in Allentown.
Hundreds converged on polling precincts in Missouri, a crucial battleground state. Norma Storms, a 78-year-old resident of Raytown, said her driveway was filled with cars left by voters who couldn't get into nearby parking lots.
"I have never seen anything like this in all my born days," she said. "I am just astounded."
In Virginia, where a Democrat has not won the presidential race since 1964, several counties experienced paper jams and faulty touch-screen devices. In Richmond, a precinct opening was delayed because the person who had the keys overslept. Hundreds of people thronging the branch library cheered when its doors finally opened.
Ohio, which experienced extreme voting problems in the last presidential race, had some jammed paper problems in Franklin County.
Perhaps the most bizarre barrier to voting was a car which hit a wooden power pole in St. Paul, Minnesota, blacking out two polling locations for an hour.
Lawsuits alleging voter suppression had already surfaced in Virginia, a hotly contested state. A judge refused yesterday to extend poll hours or add voting machines to black precincts 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.
John McCain's campaign sued the Virginia electoral board hours before polls opened, trying to force the state to count late-arriving military ballots from overseas.
Mr McCain asked a federal judge to order state election officials to count absentee ballots mailed from abroad that arrive as late as November 14.
