With patience and passion Americans vote in record numbers

By Andy Goldberg Nov 4, 2008, 20:49 GMT

Voters fill out a ballets in one of the voting booths in Kansas City, Missouri, USA, on US Election Day 04 November 2008. John McCain is running against Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for the office of the 44th President of the United States. EPA/LARRY W. SMITH

Los Angeles - With patience and passion, California residents turned out to vote in record numbers, adding to the more than 100 million US voters expected to exercise their franchise Tuesday.

That meant long lines that snaked around parking lots, through shopping malls and across entire city blocks.

For many voters, especially those supporting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, the day was suffused with a sense of destiny.

In Los Angeles, graduate student Mark Lescoat rose at dawn and stepped outside to take a picture of the sunrise - a symbolic first light of a new era for him.

'It felt like history to me,' he told reporters outside his polling station, where he also took pictures of his voter's guide and a sign that announced in six languages the location of the polling place.

'Bush's presidency sort of coincided with my political awakening,' he said, noting that he cast his first vote in 2000. 'It's been pretty awful, and today, this is something to be happy about.'

But Republicans also felt that they had fate on their side, despite trailing in all the national polls. In right-leaning Orange County, Galyn Ritzema, 59, arrived at her polling station wearing a T-shirt and belt buckle adorned with American flags.

'It is extremely important that we uphold moral guiding values,' she said, adding that she was most impressed with the Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. 'As a Christian myself, I believe she was chosen by God to help this nation on the right path,' she said.

Ritzema arrived at dawn to cast her ballot before heading off to work. The political rush hour meant lines of hundreds of voters at stations, but by midday the backlog was eased, though a second wave of voters was expected to crowd polling stations towards the end of the day.

Despite the delays, most voters seemed content to bear the wait and fulfill their civic duty.

National chains like Starbucks, Ben & Jerry's and Krispy Kreme were offering voters free coffee, ice cream and doughnuts. But most of those who arrived at polling booths before dawn, and those who voted throughout the day, needed little extra encouragement.