CLEVELAND/CHICAGO: US President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney battled down to the wire yesterday, mounting a last-minute Election Day drive to get their supporters to the polls in a handful of states that will decide the winner in a neck-and-neck race for the White House.
Capping a long and bitter presidential campaign, Americans cast their votes at polling stations across the country. At least 120 million people were expected to render judgement on whether to give Obama a second term or replace him with Romney. Their decision will set the country’s course for the next four years on spending, taxes, healthcare and foreign policy challenges like the rise of China and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
National opinion polls show Obama and Romney in a virtual dead heat, although the Democratic incumbent has a slight advantage in several vital swing states - most notably Ohio - that could give him the 270 electoral votes needed to win the state-by-state contest.
Romney would be the first Mormon president and one of the wealthiest Americans to assume the nation’s highest office. Obama, the country’s first black president, seeks to avoid being relegated to a single term. Whichever candidate wins, a razor-thin margin might not bode well for the clear mandate needed to help break the partisan gridlock in Washington.
Voting appeared to go smoothly in most places. But thousands of voters in storm-struck New York and New Jersey encountered frustration, confusion and long lines as they tried to cast ballots. Voting ends across the country over the next six hours.
The first results, by tradition, were tallied in Dixville Notch and Hart’s Location, both in New Hampshire, shortly after midnight (0500 GMT). Obama and Romney each received five votes in Dixville Notch. In Hart’s Location, Obama had 23 votes to nine for Romney and two for Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. Reuters
