Turnout

Maryland may not be a "swing" state for the presidency, and its congressional races may all be romps, but you wouldn't know that from the way politicians and party activists are carrying on. Republicans, Democrats and their interest group allies went into overdrive yesterday in their efforts to get sympathetic voters to the polls Tuesday. Their efforts are expected to continue through the weekend amid signs that interest in the election is picking up. Turnout was the top priority for both parties as Republicans rallied in Little Italy and Democratic officials crisscrossed the state.

TEHRAN, Iran - In an election with little suspense, Iranians who voted yesterday said they wanted to support the Islamic Republic, send conservatives back into power and, in some cases, get stamps on their identification cards. The main battle in this parliamentary election was fought over turnout, not candidates. Reformists urged people to stay away from the polls to show their displeasure with a system that disqualified 2,500 potential candidates, mostly reformists. But the country's leadership repeatedly urged people to vote to show their disgust with their enemies - primarily the United States - and their love for the Islamic Revolution and Iran.

Yesterday's primary was billed as an oddball election, and it lived up to predictions. The only primary in city history to be held more than a year before the general election was marked by an initial low turnout, no-show poll workers, trickery and finger-pointing. It was a luminous September day, perfect voting weather. But it took a final-hours surge - after a public plea by the city election administrator - to boost turnout numbers to 35 percent. "I got on the television and on the radio, and I pleaded with the people to come out because I was disappointed with the low turnout," said Barbara E. Jackson, the city's chief of elections.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Election Day is two weeks off, but it's already over for early voters like Jean Andrews, who didn't make up her mind in the presidential contest "until I actually put my finger" on the touch-screen voting machine. As she left a South Florida polling place, the 77-year-old widow admitted that President Bush often "really annoys the living daylights out of me." She wants the United States to "get the heck out of Iraq," considers Vice President Dick Cheney "weird" and thinks the administration has a poor record on her pet issue, the environment.

The Republican and Democratic candidates for governor were deadlocked last night, while voters re-elected Paul S. Sarbanes, a liberal Democrat, to his fourth term in the U.S. Senate.In the Attorney General's race, Republican challenger Richard Bennett held a razor's-edge lead over the Democrat, J. Joseph Curran Jr., who was seeking his third term.Elections officials estimated the statewide turnout at 58 percent of registered voters, slightly higher than the 55 percent they predicted Monday.

Sheila Dixon, the hard-driving West Baltimore politician who became the city's first female mayor, easily defeated Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr., a scion of one of the nation's prominent civil rights families, in a low-turnout Democratic mayoral primary yesterday. In the race for City Council president, Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake, the incumbent, beat Michael Sarbanes in a contest that pitted the children of two respected political leaders against each other. "I have never been more honored in my life than I am right now at this very moment," Dixon, 53, told jubilant supporters at a Canton victory party last night.

For Democrat Kathleen Kennedy Townsend and Republican Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., this last week of the campaign is all about one thing: making sure supporters hit the voting booths on Election Day. With polls since mid-July showing a tie between the leading candidates for governor, both campaigns say the crusade to get out the vote will be more important than ever. "The two or three critical weeks before a major election are essential," said pollster Keith Haller, president of Potomac Survey Research in Bethesda.

State election officials expect a strong turnout today as Maryland voters go to the polls to help elect a president, pick nine members of Congress and decide a list of contentious local issues. At the top of the ballot, Democrat Al Gore and Republican George W. Bush will battle for Maryland's 10 electoral votes, a small fraction of the 538 up for grabs nationally. U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes is seeking a fifth six-year term against Republican Paul H. Rappaport, the former Howard County police chief.

Six television sets at Loyola University's Andrew White Student Center showed President Bush's victory speech yesterday, and Gina Kim could barely bring herself to watch. "I'm really disappointed," the junior from Millersville said. "I didn't want Kerry to concede. I thought the election would at least be closer than it was." Kim's sentiments were common among young voters yesterday, who turned out in record numbers, primarily to support Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry, according to national exit poll data.