Washington - Long lines at polls and extended voting hours punctuated a day of political drama Tuesday in the United States, where a battle raged at the ballot box over who would control Congress.
The mid-term elections, widely seen by voters as a referendum on US President George W Bush and the war in Iraq, see the Democrats poised to retake the House of Representatives after 12 years of Republican control.
Democrats could also break the centre-right's hold on the Senate if they can claim six more seats in about nine crucial races.
The high turnout coupled with glitches in new computer voting machines caused some polls to remain open longer than scheduled. In Tennessee, waits of up to two hours were not uncommon as voters sought to weigh in on a key Senate race, the Tennessean newspaper reported.
In Virginia, site of another key Senate race, election officials estimated up to 65 per cent of registered voters could cast ballots.
Two hours were tacked on to polling times in Denver, Colorado, due to problems with electronic voting. Sixteen precincts in Ohio's crucial Cuyahoga County got a 2.5-hour extension, broadcast reports said. Some areas of Indiana, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Illinois could also be extended, Election Protection, a voter watch group, reported.
In Pennsylvania, the group noted, some voters went home without casting ballots, discouraged by the wait.
All told, the long delays and close races, particularly in the Senate, could postpone final results until Wednesday morning - or even later, if the outcome turns on the counting of a record number of 25 million absentee ballots.
Polls were scheduled to begin closing at 2400 GMT. America's 19- hour-long voting day will finally end when polls close in Alaska at 0600 GMT Wednesday.
The war in Iraq propelled many voters to cast ballots Tuesday.
'I would have been one who said we shouldn't have gone there in the first place,' Mark Black, 32, said at a polling place in Virginia. 'People who want more of the same didn't get my vote.'
Candidates and campaign workers continued working at a fevered pitch well into election day, seeking to wring out the last drop of support in the crucial battle over US Congress.
Television advertisements kept running, and some candidates voted with absentee ballots so they could continue drumming up support with more personal appearances.
This year marks a federal deadline for change to modern technology, with New York and Connecticut the last in the country to use antiquated mechanical lever machines for a final time on Tuesday.
Amidst voter uncertainty over new electronic voting and charges of manipulation during the razor-edge 2000 and 2004 presidential elections, the federal government deployed an unprecedented 850 monitors to 22 states to guard against intimidation.
Equipped with a variety of languages, including Arabic and Spanish, the monitors were looking for improper challenges to voters 'on the basis of their race, colour, or membership in a language minority group.'
Their efforts will be buttressed by a collection of citizens' groups with names like VoteTrustUSA and Election Protection keen to make sure everyone's vote gets counted. Charges of vote manipulation haunted the disputed aftermath of the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections in Florida and Ohio, respectively.
Bush is not on the ballot, but surveys show that a majority of Americans believe his Iraq policy is off-track, a sour mood that has helped the Democrats. Though hardly united on details, the centre- left party has broadly called for starting to bring US troops home.
Democrats have received additional ammunition from Republican- related corruption and sex scandals in Washington, and Washington's mishandling of Hurricane Katrina. Bush's slumping approval ratings are stuck at about 40 per cent.
Bush has limited campaigning largely to friendly areas, seeking to rally the Republican vote. Even in Florida, the Republican candidate for state governor skipped Monday's rally with Bush, apparently viewing the president as damaged goods.
As Bush cast his ballot Tuesday at a Texas polling place, he encouraged all registered voters to participate.
'No matter what your party affiliation, or if you don't have a party affiliation, do your duty, cast your ballot and let your voice be heard,' he said.
Bush portrays the Democrats as the party of higher taxes that would abandon Iraq without a clear plan and make America less safe. He has rejected calls for a withdrawal plan for US troops.
He remained confident that his Republican party will hold onto majorities in the House and Senate, his spokesman said.
'He's more confident,' spokesman Tony Snow said Tuesday, after being out on the campaign trail for several days.
At stake Tuesday are all 435 House seats and 33 seats of the 100- seat Senate. To win both chambers, the Democrats must pick up 15 House seats and six in the Senate.
An opposition-controlled Congress would likely step up pressure for Bush to change course in Iraq, but he would retain broad powers to set foreign policy and as commander-in-chief of the US military.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
