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                     Tight US Election Now in Voters' Hands

   by VOA News

   There were long lines at polling places across the United States as
   Americans vote on whether to re-elect President Barack Obama or to
   select Republican challenger Mitt Romney as their new leader.
   Sporadic problems were reported. Both candidates have legions of
   lawyers monitoring the voting for any irregularities. The U.S.
   Department of Justice has dispatched nearly 800 observers to polling
   places in 23 states to respond to any allegations of fraud.
   The outcome of the election is uncertain.Nationwide surveys show the
   two candidates in a virtual deadlock.
   However, the surveys do give Obama a slight edge in a handful of key
   battleground states which will likely determine the outcome of the
   election.
   U.S. presidential election campaigns are not decided by the national
   popular vote, but rather by a two-century-old electoral college system
   in which each of the 50 states' influence on the outcome is roughly
   equivalent to its population.
   Each candidate needs at least 270 of the available 538 electoral votes
   to win the election.
   ''
   '
   Congressional seats
   In addition to the presidential contest, voters are electing all 435
   members of the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of Congress,
   and 33 of the 100 members of the Senate. Analysts generally expect
   Republicans to hold onto their majority in the House, while the
   president's Democratic party could maintain its slim majority in the
   Senate.
   Millions of Americans have already cast ballots in early voting over
   the last month. But the vast majority of the electorate will head to
   schools, churches, firehouses and other polling places across the
   country on Election Day.
   Obama voted a few days ago in his home city of Chicago, Illinois, and
   plans to spend Tuesday there. He is taping interviews for broadcast in
   key states and also playing basketball with friends, one of his
   Election Day traditions.
   '''
   Romney, a one-time venture capitalist, voted Tuesday morning in
   Massachusetts, the northeastern state he once governed but where Obama
   is expected to win easily.
   The Republican contender is continuing to campaign. After voting, he
   headed to the closely contested state of Ohio in the central part of
   the country and then plans to visit neighboring Pennsylvania, a state
   long thought to be safely in Mr. Obama's grasp but one where Mr. Romney
   hopes to spring an upset.
   Mr. Obama's running mate, Vice President Joe Biden, also headed to
   Cleveland, Ohio on Election Day. The Republican challenger was joined
   by his running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who also planned
   one last visit to another battleground state, Virginia.
   Last-minute sprint
   On Monday, President Obama and Mitt Romney dashed across several key
   battleground states in a final bid to sway any remaining undecided
   voters.
   ''Obama made campaign stops in Wisconsin and Ohio, before holding a
   final rally in Iowa, the state that gave him his first primary victory
   in his historic 2008 White House campaign.
   The Democratic incumbent boasted of his accomplishments during his
   presidency, including the bailout of the U.S. auto industry and the
   killing of Osama bin Laden, but said he needed another term to complete
   his agenda.
   "Our fight for change goes on because we know this nation cannot
   succeed without a growing, thriving middle class and sturdy ladders for
   everybody who's willing to work to get into that middle class," the
   president told supporters."Our fight goes on because America's always
   done best when everybody's got a fair shot and everybody's doing their
   fair share, everybody plays by the same rules."
   ''After events in Florida, Virginia and Ohio, Romney held a rousing
   late-night rally in New Hampshire, where he launched his campaign more
   than a year ago.
   The former Massachusetts governor said his record as both a successful
   businessman and politician shows he, not Obama, would bring about real
   change for the nation.
   "I built a business, I turned around another one, I helped put an
   Olympics back on track, and with a Democrat legislature, I helped
   turned my state from deficit to surplus, and from job losses to job
   growth, and we went from higher taxes to higher take-home pay," the
   presidential hopeful said.  "And that's why I'm running for president,
   because I know how to change the course the nation is on, and I'll do
   it."
   ''Voters in the small New Hampshire towns of Dixville Notch and Hart's
   Location cast their ballots at midnight (0500 UTC) Tuesday, in keeping
   with their tradition of being the first locations in the nation to vote
   on Election Day. Obama and Romney tied at five votes each in Dixville
   Notch. In Hart's Location, the president won 23 votes while Romney
   finished with nine.
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   /1540127.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/tight-us-election-now-in-voters-hands/1540127.html