Voter queue on 125th St. in Harlem

CHICAGO (AP) — Long lines have formed as polls open in Eastern states as John McCain is counting on a narrow path to an upset victory today while Barack Obama pinned his hopes for becoming the nation’s first black president on a ground organization designed to swell precincts with voters across the country.

“I think these battleground states have now closed up, almost all of them, and I believe there’s a good scenario where we can win,” McCain told CBS’ “The Early Show” in an interview broadcast as the day’s first voters stood in early-morning lines.

“Look, I know I’m still the underdog, I understand that,” the Arizona senator said. “You can’t imagine, you can’t imagine the excitement of an individual to be this close to the most important position in the world, and I’ll enjoy it, enjoy it. I’ll never forget it as long as I live.”

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he was confident that new voters and young voters would fuel an enormous turnout to benefit the Illinois senator.

“We just want to make sure people turn out,” Plouffe told “Today” on NBC. “We think we have enough votes around the country.”

Standing in line in one of the battleground states, Ahmed Bowling of Alexandria, Va., said the election “will mark a significant change in the lives of all Americans, and so we do have to come out as early as possible to cast our votes.”

In Brooklyn, N.Y., 49-year-old Venus Kevin said the line at her precinct was “already down the block and around the corner” when she arrived shortly before 6 a.m. EST.

“Obama is the man,” said Kevin, who is black. “His message and his vision has reached a lot of people, not just African-Americans.”

The contest pitted the 47-year-old Obama, a first-term Illinois senator who rocketed to stardom on the power of his oratory and a call for change, against the 72-year-old McCain, a 26-year lawmaker whose mettle was tested during 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam.

“I’m feeling kind of fired up. I’m feeling like I’m ready to go,” Obama told nearly 100,000 people gathered for his final rally Monday night in Virginia.

“At this defining moment in history, Virginia, you can give this country the change it needs,” Obama said to voters in a state that hasn’t voted for a Democratic presidential nominee in 44 years.

The Illinois senator’s final day of campaigning was bittersweet: He was mourning the loss of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who helped raise him. She died of cancer Sunday night, never to see the results of the historic election.

McCain completed a cross-country trek through seven battleground states before arriving at home in Phoenix early Tuesday morning.

“This momentum, this enthusiasm convinces me we’re going to win tomorrow,” McCain told a raucous evening rally in Henderson, Nev. It was the fifth campaign stop in an 18-hour odyssey that took him across three time zones.

Obama planned a quick campaign stop in Indiana on Election Day before a massive outdoor rally in front of the skyline in his adopted hometown of Chicago. The day’s forecast was for an unseasonably warm 70 degrees.

McCain planned events in Colorado and New Mexico, then a party at the Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

Obama urged his supporters to resist overconfidence. “Even if it rains tomorrow, you can’t let that stop you. You’ve got to wait in line. You’ve got to vote,” he said.

It was ten minutes after 1 p.m., the official closing time, but the office was still open. A line of several hundred people waiting to vote wrapped around the building and down the block.

Outside the board of elections

Nearly all the folks in line were young Blacks in their 20s and 30s. Seasoned Obama staffers, anticipating long lines, and concerned folks might give up and go home, had arranged for a live hip-hop DJ to entertain the throng.

Euclid and 30th

Across the street on the corner of Euclid and 30th, music blared from speakers and a makeshift booth set up on the sidewalk outside the Methodist church there. DJ Chela, from Raleigh, N.C., played classic hip-hop, funk, soul and even some gospel. No one seemed to mind the wait. Some people even came over to make requests. Chela had been in town for week, volunteering. She said she’d be back tomorrow, and the next day.

Law enforcement was on hand, but their presence was not overbearing. Everyone who was on line before 1:30 p.m. got to vote. After that, they started turning people away.

Police say "Time's Up."

All of the components of what has made this election year historic were on display: folks from all racial backgrounds eager to cast their vote, younger Black voters anxious to get their slice of the American dream, and older folks of all races proud to pass the baton to another generation of Americans.

Back of the line

From www.ColorOfChange.com:

5 Ways to Protect Your Vote

If there’s one thing we see every election, it’s that Republicans will try to manipulate the rules any way they can to prevent some people from voting. Don’t be discouraged–be prepared. If we’re armed with the right information, we can beat most of these dirty tricks.

1. Be Prepared, and Conquer the Lines. We can’t let long lines stop anyone from voting. There are several ways you can reduce lines and make sure they don’t prevent you or anyone else from voting:

* Vote early if you can. You can find early voting times and locations at govote.org.
* Double-check your polling location before you go to vote. You can look it up at govote.org.
* Have a Plan & Have Fun. Have a plan in case there are lines. Bring some food, drinks, friends, books, games, a chair — anything that will prevent you and other voters from walking away. Have fun while you wait and encourage your friends and neighbors to stay in line so their vote is counted.
* Don’t give up–don’t walk away without voting.

2. Two numbers you should have in your phone. Put these numbers in your phone so you’re prepared to report problems and help other voters find their polling place:

* 866-OUR-VOTE is a hotline that’s been set up to collect information about problems on election day–lawyers and election protection advocates are ready to respond. It’s the best way to make sure someone addresses any problems you see.
* The number for your local election board–in case you need to tell someone where they can vote. Enter you zip code at govote.org, then look for “Contact [your county] election officials” on the right.

3. Beware of lies, misinformation and dirty tricks; spread the truth.
Republican operatives are spreading plain lies to frighten new voters. In Philadelphia, anonymous flyers in Black neighborhoods have falsely claimed that voters with unpaid traffic tickets or outstanding warrants will be arrested at the polls. If you hear a scary rumor, it’s probably a lie. Call your local election officials to check it out–and make sure your friends and neighbors know the truth.

Click here for the last 2 very IMPORTANT tips on how to protect your vote!

Watch the video here.

Altanta, Ga. – Multi-platinum hip-hop recording artist and actor, T.I. went out and exercised his right to vote for the first time. Today, T.I. joined the millions of Americans who are participating in early voting. See the rest of the pictures and watch the video here.

T.I. is the national spokesperson of the RESPECT MY VOTE! non-partisan Get Out The Vote initiative, headed by the Hip Hop Caucus. Both the Hip Hop Caucus and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network have joined forces in a national RESPECT MY VOTE! GOTV Bus Tour of 18 cities leading up to Election Day.

T.I. has been a leading activist in helping young people to register and get out and vote. His dedication to the cause stems from his prior difficulties with the law, which lead to the incorrect assumption that he was ineligible to vote. After doing research on his own he discovered he was, in fact, still eligible to vote, despite his criminal past.

“Feels like I’ve taken advantage of my right to become a part of the democracy,” declared Clifford Harris aka T.I.. “It was definitely worth standing in line and doing all the things people complain about voting. I think it’s more than worth it.”

African-American early voting share through 10/27/08

The polling website FiveThirtyEight.com is reporting an unprecedented surge in early voting among African-Americans in three key states: North Carolina, Georgia, and Louisiana.

From FiveThirtyEight.com:

“According to Michael McDonald’s terrific website, there are three states in which early voting has already exceeded its totals from 2004. These are Georgia, where early voting is already at 180 percent of its 2004 total, Louisiana (169 percent), and North Carolina (129 percent).

Hmm … can anybody think of something that those three states have in common?”

Click here to read the full post.

Florida kicked off early voting on Monday, with record crowds heading to the polls and voters waiting hours to cast their ballots. Elections officials said the few reported problems were minor.

Final statewide numbers for ballots cast Monday won’t be available until Tuesday, but counties large and small, traditionally Democrat and traditionally Republican, were reporting record turnout. The early voting sites will remain open two weeks until the weekend before Election Day.

“Lines are a sign of a healthy democracy, and certainly our democracy is healthy today,” said Secretary of State Kurt Browning.

The Sunshine State is again key this election season, with a prize of 27 electoral votes — 10 percent of the 270 needed to clinch the election. The state’s disputed election in 2000 gave the presidency to George W. Bush, and he captured the state in 2004. This year, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama are locked in a close race.

Registration numbers released Sunday show a 600,000-voter edge for Democrats over Republicans in Florida: 4.7 million versus 4.1 million, with 2.1 million people identifying with neither party.

The McCain campaign acknowledged it expected more Democrats than Republicans to vote early, but says GOP voters have requested 295,000 absentee ballots statewide compared with 199,000 Democrats.

Underscoring how important the state is, Obama campaigned in Tampa, while former Democratic rival Hillary Rodham Clinton held an event for him in Fort Lauderdale. They planned to appear together at an evening rally in Orlando.

On the Republican side, Meghan McCain, the candidate’s daughter, was meeting with voters in central Florida, and her father planned to visit later in the week.

One McCain supporter was Jim Stancarone, an 86-year-old heavy truck equipment salesman, who called the Arizona senator “the lesser of two evils.” He had been waiting for 45 minutes at a suburban Fort Lauderdale library and expected to be there two more hours.

Farther north in Palm Beach County, about 150 people waited outside the elections office. Many wore Obama T-shirts and buttons.

Dee Keener, 70, a retired secretary, said she voted for Obama — even though she is a registered Republican.

“Obama’s got the inspiration, the intelligence, the will to stay above all the dirty politics. It’s just the man. I don’t know how to explain it … I’m shaking just talking about Obama,” said Keener, who added she hasn’t voted for a Democrat since Bill Clinton in 1992. ” Turnout was also heavy in the Florida Panhandle, where McCain, a former Navy pilot who spent 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam, is expected to do well among the large military contingent. Still, Obama had his supporters there.

Nationwide, about a third of the electorate is expected to vote early this year. That would be up from 22 percent in 2004 and 16 percent in 2000. In Florida, early voting continues until the weekend before Election Day.

Voters in every state can now cast ballots through early voting or absentee voting programs. Results won’t be released until Nov. 4, but a look at those who have voted shows the Democrats have been aggressive.

In Georgia, Iowa, North Carolina and Ohio, Democrats — or at least those living in heavily Democratic areas — are requesting and submitting ballots in large numbers. In Florida, Republicans hold an edge, while in Indiana, absentee voting has been split among Republican and Democratic areas.