Early voting leads to lines, lawsuit in Florida

US: Florida, famous for the Presidential election debacle 12 years ago which required the hand-counting of thousands of ballots, is facing new election-related problems ahead of Tuesday's White House vote. The state's Democratic Party filed a federal lawsuit Sunday over long delays encountered by some voters who were unable to cast votes in southern Florida despite spending hours in line.

Florida is arguably the king of swing states, with some 29 electoral college votes up for grabs -- more than any other of the closely-contested “battleground” states that vacillate between Republican and Democratic control and which ultimately will decide the election outcome.

Since last week, almost 4.5 million people have cast early ballots in Florida ahead of the official election day Tuesday, when the majority of voting Americans will formally vote for either the Democratic president, Barack Obama, or his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

Florida is especially critical to Romney's election prospects, and pundits say he must win the state if he is to defeat Obama.

Critics condemned the confusion as the latest in a so-called “voter suppression” campaign underway in several states aimed at discouraging Democrats from casting ballots.

In general, Democrats favour early voting, so limiting the number of people who vote ahead of the official November 6 election is seen as putting a thumb on the scale for Romney.

A judge in the central Florida city of Orlando on Sunday however ordered early voting to be extended in Orange County by several hours to accommodated the flood of voters.

AFP