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Today is the day. After almost two years of campaigning, the American public will finally know who their new president is. Area-wide sheriffs, commissioners, attorneys and state and U.S. congress positions are all up for grabs.
Stick with dodgeglobe.com all day as we give you live updates and let you know who's ahead in your area elections.
Have a photo or want to let us know how elections are going in your area? Send photos to dcnews@dodgeglobe.com or post comments to this story.
6:15 p.m. update
Ford County voters flood polls shotrly before deadline
An hour before polls closed in Kansas, pollsters at the Dodge City Civic Center were inundated with a huge rush of voters getting off of work and taking their first opportunity to cast their vote.
One pollster called the sudden influx "unreal."
Experts are expecting this year's turnout to break previous records.
4:45 p.m. update
Obama and McCain still campaign as votes are cast
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain battled for the White House on Tuesday in an election that challenged attitudes about race as surely as it gauged sentiments about the battered economy and the war in Iraq.
As if unwilling to cede the stage, both men campaigned into Election Day. Obama, bidding to become the first black president, greeted voters in Indiana, McCain in Colorado and New Mexico.
Not surprisingly, the economy was by far the top issue as voters marked their ballots.
An Associated Press exit poll found six in 10 said so. None of the other top issues — energy, Iraq, terrorism and health care — was picked by more than one in 10.
The results were based on a preliminary partial sample of nearly 10,000 voters in Election Day exit polls and in telephone interviews over the past week for early voters.
The White House was the main prize of the night on which 35 Senate seats and all 435 House seats were at stake. In both cases, Democrats hoped to pad their existing majorities, and Republicans braced for losses.
1:30 p.m. update
Lunch hour turnout lighter than expected
By Cherise Forno
Dodge City Daily Globe
Voting stayed steady throughout the morning, said County Clerk Vicki Wells.
However, during the lunch hour the crowd at the Civic Center was lighter than expected as voters went straight to the voting booths without waiting in line.
Wells said that although she thought the overall turnout would be good, the increase in advance voting this year might lower the number of people voting today.
Wells said everything was running smoothly so far. She expects the next big rush to occur between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. as many people get out of work.
11:30 a.m. update
Voting machine issues cause problems in Spearville
Daily Globe correspondent Charlene Scott reported that the first two hours of voting in Spearville had to be done by paper ballots because of issues with the electronic voting machines. Workers were called in from Dodge City, who now have the machines up and working.
Having issues where you're voting? Let us know by sending an e-mail to dcnews@dodgeglobe.com.
10 a.m. update
Kansas voters head to polls
WICHITA (AP) — Voters headed to the polls Tuesday as Kansas election officials braced for a record turnout.
Secretary of State Ron Thornburgh has said he expects 1.36 million voters to cast ballots, or about 78 percent of those who are registered.
But in the Kansas City suburb of Mission, voters waited about a half hour. In a predominantly black precinct in Wichita, voters waited 20 minutes to an hour to cast their ballots.
As of Monday morning, the state had received more than 283,000 mailed ballots. The previous advance voting record was set in 2004, when more than 245,000 people cast votes before Election Day either by mail or in person.
9:30 a.m. update
Long lines as polls open in Ford County
By 6 a.m., people were already lining up at the Civic Center in Dodge City to vote. By 7 a.m. when polls opened, the line was stretching out the door.
Ford County Clerk Vicki Wells said that the turnout Tuesday morning was large, and it was expected to stay steady. By 8 a.m., the lines had died down a bit, but many still stood in line, waiting to cast their vote for the candidate of their choice.
Ford County also saw a large jump in advanced ballots this year, with over a 1,000 reporting as of Monday.
9 a.m. update
Roberts expected to win re-election
By CARL MANNING
Associated Press Writer
TOPEKA — Republicans expected Sen. Pat Roberts' image as a Kansas political fixture with a record of bringing home federal funds to carry him to a comfortable re-election victory.
Roberts, seeking a third term in Tuesday's election, is facing Democrat Jim Slattery, a former Washington lobbyist and ex-congressman.
Roberts was the favorite in a GOP-leaning state where a Democrat hasn't won a Senate race since 1932. He also raised 3 1/2 times as much money as Slattery — more than $5.2 million by mid-October.
Roberts pointed to numerous projects for which he helped secure federal dollars, including highway improvements, flood-control projects, a new Command and General Staff College center at Fort Leavenworth and a bioscience center at Kansas State University that bears his name.
But Slattery suggests Roberts was on the wrong side of the biggest issues facing the nation.
Slattery called the Iraq war a "trillion-dollar mistake." Roberts began a four-year stint as Senate Intelligence Committee chairman just before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, and he supported the war.
The Democratic challenger also said two laws deregulating the financial industry, supported by Roberts, were largely to blame for the current economic meltdown. Roberts argued the problem was faulty lending practices by mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Roberts has worked in Washington for more than four decades, starting as a congressional aide. He represented the 1st District of western Kansas in the House for 16 years before winning his Senate seat in 1996.
Slattery represented the 2nd District of eastern Kansas for a dozen years before running unsuccessfully for governor in 1994.
