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Ohio voting goes past deadline
03/11/2004 05:37 - (SA)
Columbus - Voters were still casting ballots for US president in parts of Ohio two hours after polls were due to close on Tuesday, as this battleground state - and perhaps the White House - hung in the balance.
Election officials struggled to process residents who were still in line when the deadline passed, in some cases resorting to handing out paper ballots to voters who had not yet had a chance to choose between George W Bush and John Kerry.
Under Ohio law, any voter who is in line before the 19:30 close is entitled to cast a vote.
A federal judge ordered authorities in Franklin county to do everything they could to expedite the process, as the county's board of elections fended off charges that its preparations for these elections fell short.
The ruling came after Democrats went to court to protect the rights of voters there, one of several counties across this critical battleground state that saw a massive surge in new voter registrations that is widely expected to favour the Democrats.
The Ohio secretary of state had projected record turn-out, but despite expecting large crowds, some voters were obliged to wait in line for up to three hours, in driving rain in some places, for a chance to weigh in on this year's cliffhanger contest.
The ranks of voters were boosted by scores of first-timers who were energised by this Midwestern state's strategic importance as one of three battleground states that could flip the election.
The Democrats have made a huge push to increase turn-out among blacks and young voters in this state as elsewhere. Both constituencies lean Democratic, but typically vote in lower numbers than middle class whites.
Bush carried this state by the slimmest of margins in 2000, but it's Rust Belt economy has taken a battering since then, and the rivals were running neck and neck going into Tuesday.
Southern Ohio is solid Bush country, however, and many of the state's socially conservative middle class is reliably Republican.
"I think he's done a heck of a job, considering 9/11, and everything," said car dealer Bill Melville as he prepared to cast a vote for Bush.
"I've prospered."
- AFP
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