The polls weren't even open early yesterday when Heru-ka Anu began to rally his fellow voters. Anu, who said he had been waiting with his wife at the head of the line at Baltimore's Dickey Hill Elementary School since 4:30 a.m., led a chant of Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, We Can."
Moments later, his wife Nana emerged from the voting booth with her thumbs poking skyward.
"Yes," she exclaimed, "we did!"
Across the Baltimore region and beyond, a crush of voters queued up early, often enduring waits of an hour or more with little if any complaint. It was a historic election, and the mood at many polling places was celebratory.
Election experts were predicting the biggest turnout in a presidential campaign in Maryland since World War II. Turnout was projected to be around 85 percent of registered voters, said Ross Goldstein, the deputy state elections director.
"This could very well be the record for modern politics," said John T. Willis, a former Maryland secretary of state.
The presidential contest - and the prospect that the country might elect its first black leader - drove much of the excitement in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1. But there were other factors, including the contentious proposal to legalize slot machines and a fiercely fought race in the 1st Congressional District, which covers the Eastern Shore and areas near Baltimore.
Across the country, a similar story played out at as long lines snaked down streets and around blocks. Based on early voting, George Mason University political scientist Michael McDonald predicted a nationwide turnout equaling that of the 1960 contest between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon.
The biggest challenge, locally and nationally, appeared to be the size of the crowds. Only scattered glitches were reported.
In New Jersey, some voters had to cast paper ballots when electronic voting machines malfunctioned. In Ohio, paper jams caused delays.
A ceiling collapse at one polling place outside Philadelphia injured three and closed the site for an hour. Election officials in Pennsylvania, a state with a large electoral prize that both campaigns saw as being within reach, expected a record turnout.
In Baltimore County, election officials had to deploy additional voting equipment around lunchtime to three polling centers - Woodmoor Elementary School, Augsburg Lutheran Home and Edmondson Heights Elementary - to ease waits that stretched past 90 minutes.
