US election: Polling booths open

Americans started voting on Tuesday in one of the tightest presidential elections in decades after a long and often bitter campaign between Republican incumbent George Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry.

After Bush and Kerry ended a frenzied final day of campaigning, during which their paths crossed at Milwaukee airport as one left and one arrived for rallies, the traditional first votes were cast in the New Hampshire hamlet of Dixville Notch just after midnight (5am GMT).

With 11 registered Republicans, two registered Democratic voters and 13 independents, Bush won an early election day victory by a comfortable 19-7 margin over Kerry.

Across the rest of the country, polling centres opened at 6am (11am GMT) in at least nine eastern states, including New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Connecticut and Indiana.

A huge turnout has been forecast, with Iraq and the war on terror dominating the campaign. There are also widespread fears of a repeat of the 2000 election debacle and the rest of the world is also anxiously awaiting the outcome.

With neither candidate able to build a decisive opinion poll lead, the Republican and Democrat parties have each prepared one million volunteers to mobilise voters and thousands of lawyers for possible legal battles over contested results.

Bush went to six states and Kerry went to four on Monday as they battled for the hearts and minds of the undecided voters. The two campaign teams crossed paths at Milwaukee airport in Wisconsin. Kerry, who was arriving for a rally that went ahead in pouring rain, had to wait while Bush left on Air Force One.

”This is the choice, this is the moment of accountability for America, and it is the moment that the world is watching what you do,” said Kerry, who has vowed to increase international involvement in Iraq and end tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Bush’s presidency was transformed by the September 11, 2001 attacks and he has styled himself as the ”war president”. But the March 2003 invasion of Iraq has split the United States and caused friction with its allies.

The 58-year-old president touted himself as tougher than Kerry on terrorism, closer to voters on loaded issues like abortion and gay marriage, and warned that the Massachusetts senator would raise taxes that the president dramatically cut.

Bush and Kerry issued their final urgings to voters on Tuesday from the pages of the nationally distributed USA Today newspaper.

In twin commentaries, both titled ”Why you should vote for me today,” both candidates repeated their well-tried mantras and took parting shots at each others’ perceived failings, trying to convince voters to elect them to the White House.

Hundreds of millions of campaign dollars and months of gloves-off television attack ads have failed to reward either candidate with a breakout lead in the overall White House race, which has divided the country.

Four of the latest polls called the contest a dead heat and six others gave the president a statistically insignificant lead of one to three points.

The verdict appeared to hinge on the result in Florida, where tens of thousands of people have queued to vote in advance, and a handful of northern states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio.

Bush and Kerry have said the United States cannot afford a repeat of the 2000 election debacle in Florida which held up the result for 36 days.

The USA Today newspaper said on Tuesday that the best way to avoid another electoral nightmare was ”to make sure the election is fair”.

The New York Times urged Americans to vote and restore respect for the electoral system.

The Washington Post pondered on post-electoral scenarios, urging Bush to patch up international relations if re-elected and Kerry not to retreat from US commitments to hold elections and defeat extremist movements in Iraq.

Whoever wins on Tuesday faces the enormous challenge of uniting a bitterly partisan and suspicious electorate, as well as mending diplomatic rifts caused by the Iraq invasion.

The victor requires a majority of the 538 electoral college votes that decide the presidency and are awarded in separate, mostly winner-take-all races, in the 50 states.

All signs indicated that the turnout would be significantly higher than the 106-million who voted in 2000.

Analysts have not ruled out a candidate winning the popular vote and losing the election — as Democrat Al Gore did in 2000 — or a 269-269 tie in the electoral college vote that could force Congress to decide the outcome.

The first polling stations close at 7pm eastern time in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia. The last polling stations close in Alaska at (6am GMT) on Wednesday. – Sapa-AFP