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| Thursday, 4 November 2004 |
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Long lines show huge turnout for US presidential vote WASHINGTON, Wednesday (AFP) US voters flocked to the polls Tuesday, finding hours-long lines to cast ballots for president in a extremely close race expected to turn on who could draw the most loyal supporters to the polls. Long queues formed at polling stations from Virginia on the East Coast to the Pacific state of Hawaii as Americans waited to pick between incumbent Republican President George W. Bush and rival Democrat John Kerry. Voters hit the ballot boxes early, with some 200 people dressed for work in suits and skirts in line at an Arlington, Virginia polling place at 7:30 am. At another, voters were warned it would take hours to reach the urns and were left to call their offices to warn they would arrive late. Hours later when the polls opened in the more laid-back state of Hawaii, voters in shorts, t-shirts and flip-flops began queueing well before polls opened at 7:00 am. That state, normally a sure-bet for Democrats, appeared to be drifting into Bush's column in recent polls, drawing supporters of both sides to the voting booths. "It's so close that everybody's going to vote," said one poll worker. With both parties deploying millions of volunteers to mobilise their loyalists, some observers have suggested the national turnout could be as high as 120 million, a significant jump on the 105.5 million who voted in 2000. |
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