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Hitches Few And Minor

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The Associated Press

Published: November 5, 2008

Lines stretched around buildings and down city blocks as people waited hours to cast ballots in the historic presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain. Some touch-screen machines briefly malfunctioned, but the country's election system seemed to run smoothly.

The biggest trouble was big crowds. But folks seemed to take it in stride. University students in Florida were prepared to wait hours after polls closed and massive lines remained.

"What's keeping me here? America needs a change," said 18-year-old Lauren Feronti at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. "We need to get the right people in office."

In Maryland, Sen. Benjamin Cardin was heartened after visiting a polling precinct. "People are happy and smiling," he said. "People are very anxious to be voting. They really think they are part of history, and they are."

In hotly contested Pennsylvania, polls also closed with no apparent problems. Earlier Tuesday, a judge dismissed a National Association for the Advancement of Colored People lawsuit that sought to force Philadelphia County elections officials to count emergency paper ballots past closing time. Voting officials said they plan to count those ballots Friday.

Some New Jersey voters were forced to cast paper ballots because of troublesome touch-screen machines. Similar problems popped up elsewhere, but were more sporadic than widespread.

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