 |
| U.S. President George W. Bush speaks to the press under a banner
reading "No phone number left behind," at the Ohio headquarters of the
Bush-Cheney election campaign calling center in Columbus on election day
November 2, 2004. [Reuters] |
 |
| U.S. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry (R) and his wife
Teresa Heinz-Kerry wave from the campaign plane after arriving in Bedford,
Massachusetts, November 2, 2004. Kerry ended his election campaigning and
returned to vote in today's 2004 presidential election against President
George W. Bush. [Reuters] |
 |
| Peter Baez, 84, and his wife Phyllis (R) of Great Falls, Virginia,
leave after casting their ballots while others wait in line to vote in
Great Falls, Virginia, November 2, 2004.
[Reuters] |
There were long lines at polling
places, and officials predicted record turnout in the first wartime election in
a generation.
"This election is in the hands of the people, and I feel very comfortable
about that," Bush said after voting near his ranch in Crawford, Texas, along
with his wife and daughters.
On his way back to Washingtogupn, he stopped in Columbus, Ohio, and made a
few calls from a phone bank. "I promise you, it's me," he told one doubter.
Kerry voted along with his daughters at the Massachusetts Statehouse in
Boston. "I don't think anybody can anticipate what it's like to see your name on
the ballot for president," he said. "It's very special. It's exciting." His wife
cast her ballot earlier in Pennsylvania.
At dawn, he was handing out information packets to volunteers in La Crosse,
Wis., where he said, "We're going to take America to a better place." Aides said
he handed out presents on an emotional campaign-concluding flight back to
Massachusetts.
It was the first presidential election since the United States plunged into
its epochal war on terrorism, and heavy crowds were reported at polling places
in the East, the first precincts to open. Long lines snaked out the doors as
voters waited, some in the rain, and brought chairs for expected long waits.
The prospect of unprecedented legal challenges hung over Election Day, each
side sending thousands of lawyers into motion to monitor the flood of newly
registered voters and mount hair-trigger challenges against any sign of
irregularity.
There were scattered early reports of machine breakdowns, late openings and
other problems. One woman in Toledo sued election officials on behalf of Ohio
voters who said they did not receive absentee ballots on time.
"My hope of course is that this election ends tonight," Bush told reporters,
referring to the expected legal challenges in some districts. He won the
presidency in 2000 only after a Supreme Court decision gave him Florida and the
Electoral College majority.
Of Kerry, Bush said, "I wish him all the best. He and I are in the exact same
position ... I'm sure he's happy, like I am, that the campaign is over."
For his part, Kerry made Election Day appearances in Wisconsin, where
residents can register and vote on the same day. Of the reports of long voter
lines, he said, "It's just a magical kind of day."
By all signs, voters were engaged.
Long lines were reported at precincts from Florida and North Carolina to West
Virginia and Michigan. "We even had people waiting in line before we opened at
6:30 a.m.," said Wayne County Clerk Robert Pasley in Wayne, W.Va. "In some
places, there was more than a dozen people waiting, and that's heavy."
Rain was falling in parts of the Midwest as voters lined up. Brian Fravel, a
43-year-old welder who lives in Columbus, Ohio, said he had never before had to
wait to vote. When he arrived at the Northland Church of Christ at 7:30 a.m., he
found a long line of people and waited 45 minutes to cast a ballot. "I thought I
was early enough to beat it," Fravel said.
The final pre-election polls turned up tied — 49-49 in one CNN-USA
Today-Gallup survey, with Ralph Nader at 1 percent. Tight surveys in
Florida and a variety of Midwestern states including Ohio deepened the mystery
over who would collect the necessary 270 electoral votes.
Both candidates cast their candidacies as vital to the country's welfare.
Bush declared the "safety and prosperity of America" was at stake, and Kerry
said that "the hopes of our country are on the line."
Overnight, the Bush campaign sent an e-mail from the president exhorting
people to vote — "It comes down to today" — and asking that the recipient
forward the e-mail to five more people. Kerry e-mailed a similar call to arms:
"When you go to the polls bring your friends, your family, your neighbors. No
one can afford to stand on the sidelines or sit this one out."
The nation's first votes cast and counted on Election Day, in the mountain
hamlet of Hart's Location, N.H., reflected in miniature what seemed likely to be
writ large across the country: a horse race in votes, not just polls.
Following a quirky tradition of post-midnight voting in New Hampshire's North
Country, 16 people voted for Bush, 14 for Kerry and one for Ralph Nader. Bush
beat Democrat Al Gore 17-13 in the hamlet in 2000.
In an 11th-hour blow for Democrats in battleground Ohio, an appeals court in
Cincinnati stayed lower court decisions and cleared the way for vote challengers
to be present at polling places in the state Tuesday. Democrats had claimed
Republicans were seeking to discourage minority voters by keeping party
representatives out of polling stations.
The decisions were quickly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, where Justice
John Paul Stevens declined to overturn the appeals court action in an order
issued little more than hour before the polls there opened.
Polls found not only a sizzling contest again this time but a sense among
people that this election counted more than others in the recent past. As well,
untold millions took advantage of expanded opportunities to vote before Election
Day in 32 states.
"Every election's important ... but my very survival is an issue, and that
never was," said Margie Miller, 55, of Baldwin, N.Y., whose husband, Joel, died
at his 97th-floor desk at the World Trade Center in the Sept. 11 attacks. "All I
care about is safety, safety, safety."
Bush and Kerry touched on that theme — people's safety — until the final
moments of their almost relentlessly rancorous battle, both promising steadfast
leadership in the war on terrorism and a single-minded focus on the nation's
security.
Their running mates had campaigned almost nonstop, as well.
Sen. John Edwards, who had cast his North Carolina ballot in early voting,
stopped by polling places in Florida on Election Day and said, "We believe the
system's going to work the way it's supposed to." Vice President Dick Cheney)
voted near his home in Wyoming and said, "When you start a day like this in
Jackson Hole, it's going to be a good day."
