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I joined my generation in voting Bush out of office.

I wasn't the only person cutting across the square to vote this morning. Grace Cathedral, high atop a San Francisco hill, is the largest gothic structure west of the Mississippi. This morning, I walked up that hill, into the church, and voted for John Kerry and John Edwards.

As I approached the door, two young ladies ahead of me held it open. I in turn, held it open for the young man behind me. The line was filled with young voters.

Normally, poll places look like an episode of the Golden Girls but this polling place was more like Tales of the City. Two of the three people I walked in with wore black hoodies. I did too and now my black hoodie has an "I Voted" sticker.

There was a line of young voters.

When I finally got my ballot, I had the San Francisco delight of voting for Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi. I think the other young voters did, too. Pelosi and Boxer are politicians we can respect.

I also voted for John Kerry. My generation is voting for John Kerry. Right now, American is experiencing a youth surge in turnout beyond anyone's wildest prediction.

Young people are voting. The bullshit stops today.

I just heard Santorum on John Gambling's radio show. He says the Republicans will be going to court in order to impound the voting machines in Philadelphia that supposedly had votes in them before the polls opened. I assume the Republicans have resigned themselves to losing this election legally so they are going to try and  steal it illegally - again. There you have it folks. Unless Kerry wins in a landslide tonight we are going to be in court for months.

Update:

Now the idiots on the radio have just updated the retarted Drudge report about the voting machines. It seems the machines have counters in the back of them that don't count the number of votes but how many times the voting machines have been used in an election. So there is no voter fraud in Philadelphia. What was that George Bush said about people who take action before they know the facts? Please people, vote out of office any and all republicans today.

Update (Kos): Josh has a good post on GOP agitprop as Republicans try to lay the foundation for legal challenges if this thing stays close.

To start with, for instance, don't rely on right-wing agit-prop sites for your news about alleged instances of 'voter fraud'. Wait till you hear real information from real news outlets.

Washington - Long queues formed outside polling booths across the United States on Tuesday amid predictions of a record turnout for one of the tightest presidential elections in decades.

In Arlington, Virginia, about 20 people were already waiting when the doors opened at 06:00 at a polling station in a local community centre. By 07:30 the line of those waiting to vote stretched back three blocks.

Within a few hours, voters were being warned that they could be in for a wait of more than two hours before being able to cast their ballots.

People stood in line patiently, reading books or newspapers, while some called into work on their mobile phones to warn that they would arrive late.

With the Republican and Democrat parties deploying millions of volunteers to mobilise the vote, some observers have suggested the national turnout could be as high as 120 million, a significant jump on the 106 million who voted in 2000.

In the key state of Florida, which was at the epicentre of the legal storm that rocked the 2000 poll, the main complaint this time was the long lines that forced some voters to wait up to an hour before casting their ballots.

In West Palm Beach, queues formed as soon as polling stations opened, and there were already complaints of alleged malpractice, with some voters telling election monitors that they had received leaflets and telephone calls trying to send them to the wrong polling booths.

Queues in Ohio

There were similar waits at polling stations in Ohio, another key swing state.

In a queue that at 06:30 local time snaked far out the door of a church community centre just outside Columbus, the state capital, Shelley Orwick, 24, a university research assistant, waited about an hour to cast her ballot.

"I can't believe how many people there are in line. I didn't believe it when they said they were expecting record turnout. They say that every year and it never happens," Orwick said.

In Bethesda, Maryland, early arrivals were equally surprised to find themselves waiting in line.

"In a place where I have never had to line up before, there were lines going all the way out past the parking lot," said one disgruntled voter.

A large turnout is seen as possibly favouring the Democratic challenger, John Kerry, whose support was high among self-described new voters.

Voters trying to beat the rush turned out early to cast ballots in many precincts as Election Day opened, forming long lines that snaked out the doors, waiting in rain and even taking along chairs for expected long waits.

Umbrellas and raincoats were needed Tuesday from Texas to the lower Great Lakes, and snow-covered roads were a problem in the Texas Panhandle. In some places, voters were standing in line before the polling place doors opened.

Besides the presidency, voters were filling 34 Senate seats, 11 governorships and all 435 House seats.

Both parties had pushed to increase turnout among their supporters, and even with early voting in many states, tens of millions were to head to the polls before the long Election Day wound to a close.

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"I've never had to wait in line before," Fred Flugger, 72, said at his polling place on Pittsburgh's South Side, where dozens of people were already waiting when he arrived shortly after polls opened. "Usually, if I had to wait, it would be three to four minutes. There's just a lot of interest in this election."

Turnout at another Pittsburgh precinct clearly was exceeding that of the Bush-Gore race four years ago, said Jay Troutman, the judge of elections at the polling place.

"A good clip is one (November 2, 6:32 am AST) per minute, and we've exceeded that," Troutman said about 90 minutes after the polls opened.

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"We wanted to come out early to vote but we never expected such a heavy turnout," Linda Russell said as she stood in line before polls opened in Raleigh, N.C.

Elsewhere in North Carolina, lines of voters snaked down sidewalks and across a street at a Durham precinct, where one man brought a chair to ease the wait.

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Republican U.S. Senate candidate E.J. Pipkin had to wait in a line that wound out the door before he voted at about 7:20 a.m. at an elementary school in Stevensville, Md.

Pipkin said it was exciting to see such a large turnout. "We've been pushing the message that voting matters, who's in office matters, and I think we're seeing a direct result of that today with this kind of turnout," Pipkin said. "It bodes well for our democracy."

One Baltimore County precinct reported it didn't have enough electrical cords, but they soon turned up. "It's all very small stuff," Elections Director Jackie McDaniel said Tuesday morning. "Everything is going fine so far. It's early yet."

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About 100 people were already in line when Macomb County Clerk Carmella Sabaugh went to cast her own ballot shortly after the polls opened in Warren, Mich.

"I'm predicting up to 75 percent (turnout) in Macomb County," she said. "Every indication I have ... is that this is the election for people. It still seems very polarized - they're either going to support the president or get him out of there."

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Polls opened without incident in West Virginia's Wayne County, despite a chemical spill last week that closed two schools that were to serve as polling places, said County Clerk Robert Pasley.

"We even had people waiting in line before we opened at 6:30 a.m. In some places, there was more than a dozen people waiting and that's heavy," Pasley said.

A poll worker in Charleston, W.Va., accidentally closed a ballot box that was not supposed to be shut until the polls close. Kanawha County Registrar Vera McCormick said a worker in her office was sent to reset the box by 7:15 a.m.

"The locks are in place but they can't close the box," said voter Hattie Johnson. "I brought my sister because she has never voted before and she has to work this morning and now may not be able to vote."

Voters at three precincts in Williamstown, W.Va., cast ballots by flashlight because of a power outage, said Wood County Deputy Clerk Jay Day.

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Up to 7 inches of snow fell in the Texas Panhandle, and Randall County Clerk Sue Bartolino warned voters to be careful on the roads. A winter weather advisory was posted.

In nearby Texas County, Okla., the earlier arrival of the wintry conditions had led many older voters to turn in absentee ballots Monday.

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The parking lot was crowded at Dent Middle School in Columbia, S.C., and about 200 people were waiting in line when the polls opened at 7 a.m.

"It's not normal," said 75-year-old Timothy Evans Sr., a longtime poll worker. "Four years ago we had a little over 100 voters. It's really almost double that amount."

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Robert Thomas, 21, was among about 150 people in line when the polls opened in Miami at the Mount Zion AME Church, but he said he wished there were more young people there.

"We need to get more young people to vote, like myself," said Thomas, voting in his first presidential election. "I looked around and you see some, but it should be a stronger crowd."

Voters in the 18- to 29-year-old demographic could very well make the difference in today's election - if they find their way to the polls, that is.

"It isn’t out of the realm of possibility to say that the youth vote could decide the presidency," said Joshua Scott of the University of Virginia Center for Politics.

And even if the final outcome doesn't hinge in the end on the involvement of young voters, all is not lost as far as this year's get-out-the-youth-vote effort, said Bridgewater College political-science professor David McQuilkin.

"This is great for the country as a whole. This process of reenergizing the youth vote bodes well for the present and the future," McQuilkin told the AFP.

"These are the people who will be the leaders of this country. Getting them involved in the process now gets things moving in the right direction," McQuilkin said.

“I am going to vote — and I actually already have by absentee ballot,” said Ariane Hulkower, a sophomore political science major. “I want to help change statistics that show that young people don’t vote and hopefully politicians will start focusing on issues important to our age group.”