Americans vote in historic polls

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Huge voters across the United States are flocking to the polls Tuesday in what is already one of the most historic elections since the nation began, reports agencies.
Barack Obama could become the nation's first African-American president. If Republican nominee John McCain wins, he would be the oldest person elected to a first term as president, and his running mate, Sarah Palin, would be the first woman vice president.
Even before polling places open on this rainy morning at 7, Los Angeles County voters have already broken a record, with a 14 per cent Turnout in early ballots alone, said Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder Dean Logan.
In the first voting of the day, Obama won by 15 votes to six in the town of Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
The town, which has a 60-year tradition of being first in the nation to vote, opened its polls at midnight, with a 100%turnout.
It was the first time the town had voted for a Democrat since 1968.
Some 130 million Americans are expected to vote, in a higher turnout than in any election since 1960, the BBC's North America editor Justin Webb says.
Republican John McCain is attempting to defy the opinion polls while Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to become the country's first black president.
Obama, an Illinois senator, cast his ballot in Chicago. McCain has gone to Arizona, his home state, to vote when we went to press at 10.10 pm Tuesday.
If New York sets a pattern, voting turnout definitely will be higher than ever. Valerie Vazquez-Rivera, a spokeswoman for the city's Board of Elections, said many people began lining up as early as 4 a.m. at some polling places to avoid long lines, leading to erroneous reports that some sites were not opening on time.
Poll worker John Ritch in Chappaqua, N.Y., said: "By 7:30 this morning, we had as many as we had at noon in 2004."
Gov. 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. "I could stay an hour and a half at the front end or three hours at the back end," joked Ronald Marshall, a black Democrat.
In Ohio, a state which has had voting problems in the past, Franklin County Board of Elections spokesman Ben Piscitelli said officials again were dealing with typical glitches, like jammed backup paper tapes on voting machines.