Record Turnout Expected in Us Vote

US voters are expected to turn out in record numbers today, eager to deliver their verdict in a deeply polarised race for the White House.

Election experts said that as many as 121 million voters may cast their ballots, easily surpassing record of 106 million of four years ago. With the race between George Bush, the Republican president, and John Kerry, his Democratic challenger, on a knife edge, the contest is likely to be decided by which party does the better job of getting their supporters out to vote.

Even before polls opened across the country, a record number had voted either by absentee ballot or under state laws that allow early voting. In the battleground states, more than 5 million have voted, according to a Democratic party analysis.

The long lines in Florida that have kept some voters waiting for two hours provided ample evidence of an electorate keen to deliver their verdict in what many consider the most important presidential election in their lifetime.

"Every election's important ... but my very survival is an issue, and that never was," said Margie Miller, 55, of Baldwin, New York, whose husband Joel died at the World Trade Centre in the September 11 2001 attacks. "All I care about is safety, safety, safety."

Mr Kerry predicted a record, saying he expected the election to be decided tonight.

Mr Bush drew first blood in today's vote as the mountain hamlet of Dixville Notch in New Hampshire swung in favour of the Republican president, but only just.

In a reflection of the closeness of this year's race, 16 people voted for Mr Bush, 14 for Mr Kerry and one for Ralph Nader, standing as an independent candidate.

Mr Bush beat Al Gore 17-13 in 2000. Because of a quirky tradition of post-midnight voting, the hamlet is the first place to cast its votes on election day.

The final pre-election polls still put the candidates neck and neck - 49-49 in one CNN-USA Today-Gallup survey, with Ralph Nader on 1%. Tight surveys in Florida and a variety of Midwestern states including Ohio deepened the uncertainty over who would collect the necessary 270 electoral college votes.

As the polls opened, the Republican party scored a psychological victory in the key state of Ohio as a federal appeals court ruled that thousands of Republicans could challenge the eligibility of voters at polling sites.

A three-judge panel overturned decisions from two lower courts that had barred the presence of voter challengers in the state, where 20 electoral college votes are up for grabs.

The ruling came as a blow to Democrats, who argued that the presence of voter challengers will intimidate minority voters. The practice of challenging voters is allowed under Ohio state law but has been rarely used. However, parties are resorting to any tactic they think will help.

The Republicans contend that the presence of people to challenge voters will weed out fraud, but the Democrats say that such challenges would disproportionately single out low-income and minority voters - a charge Republicans reject.

The appeals court said that while there was a strong public interest in letting registered voters vote freely, there was also "strong public interest in permitting legitimate statutory processes to operate to preclude voting by those who are not entitled to vote".

When the Ohio polls open, the Republicans could deploy as many as 3,500 challengers at polling stations around the state. Democrats also planned to send more than 2,000 monitors to the polls, though they said those people would not challenge voters.

The legal manoeuvrings may be a foretaste of further court battles in other tight races. Lawyers for both sides are already poring over disparities in election policies, nuances in court rulings and potential irregularities at polling stations for material that may be used to challenge results in places where margins are paper thin.

The battle over voter challenges has been most intense in Ohio, not only because the race here is so close and so vital to both Mr Bush and Mr Kerry, but also because the Republicans have mounted more aggressive plans to challenge voters in Ohio than elsewhere.

Ohio has seen a sharp increase in voter registration, prompting concern among some Republicans about Mr Bush's prospects of holding on to this state. The president has been running even or slightly behind in most polls. A crucial barometer, Ohio has backed every presidential winner since 1964.

Meanwhile, lawyers in other states were gearing up for election day challenges. In Philadelphia, Republicans have said they plan to challenge 10,000 voters in the heavily black west Philadelphia area because of what they say are concerns of registration fraud. Democratic party lawyers are expected to ask judges to remove the challengers if they are too aggressive.

In Florida, Republicans have said they will challenge 1,700 people with felony convictions if they show up to vote.

In New Mexico, officials in both parties said they were placing hundreds of lawyers at polling stations as monitors. Democrats have said they will not challenge voters, but Republicans have held out the possibility of doing so.

Mr Bush will cast his ballot in Crawford, in his home state of Texas, accompanied by his wife Laura. They will then wait for the results at the White House with his parents, former president George Bush Sr and his wife Barbara. Mr Kerry is expected to vote in Boston before returning to his Massachusetts home with wife Teresa Heinz Kerry.

Mr Bush, speaking in Pittsburgh, just hours before the polls opened nationwide, said: "It's like that marathon stretch - the finish line is in sight. I just want to assure you that I have the energy and the optimism and the enthusiasm to cross the line."

In a final rallying call in Orlando, Mr Kerry told supporters: "This is the choice, this is the moment of accountability for America. This is the moment where the world is watching what you're going to do. All of the hopes and dreams of our country are on the line today."