Lines long for early voters in U.S. presidential race
Last Updated: Saturday, November 1, 2008 | 2:58 PM ET
CBC News
Mabel Grandy of Los Angeles votes a week early at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder's office in Norwalk, Calif., on Tuesday. (Reed Saxon/Associated Press)Americans lined up outside advance polling stations in large numbers Saturday to vote for their next president, three days before the race will be decided.
According to some estimates, the number marking ballots before election day on Nov. 4 could amount to one-third of voters, up from 22 per cent four years ago.
More than 20 million early ballots have already been cast. At some advance polling stations, people waited for several hours before entering.
"I stand in long lines to shop. Six hours to vote? It's nothing," said a woman in Columbus, Ohio.
In Virginia, the lines haven't let up for a week.
"This is history. I've never seen anything like this before," said one woman in Arlington, Va. In Georgia, the crush of early voters was blamed for overwhelming computer systems and slowing the process on Friday.
"The system is not adequate to accommodate the numbers of people who are going to be voting," said Atlantic City Council president Lisa Borders.
Democratic candidate Barack Obama, in many of his campaign speeches, has urged Americans to vote early and not be deterred by obstacles.
On Saturday, he campaigned in Henderson, Nev., 25 kilometres southeast of Las Vegas. Nevada is one of several states Obama hopes to snag from the Republicans.
Republican candidate John McCain was campaigning in Springfield, Va. He had two events scheduled in Virginia before a stop in Pennsylvania and then New York, where he was to appear on the NBC-TV comedy show Saturday Night Live.
