Polls come to a close in region

LIMA - The polls are now closed at all area polling places. Now it's just a matter of counting the votes and seeing who won the various races, including a hotly contested presidential race.

The polls closed at 7:30 p.m. The first results are expected to start trickling in after 8:30 p.m.

Many voters around the region were greeted with long lines this morning as they set out to cast their ballots. Few voting problems were reported.

Lines stretched into the parking lot at the Allen County Senior Citizen Center, Shawnee High School and Lima Central Catholic by 7 a.m. Some people waited as long as an hour to vote.

"I'm 69 years old and have been voting since I was 21. I've never seen anything like this," said Tiz Guagenti of Lima.

Voting precincts throughout the region, including Delphos, Wapakoneta and Ottawa, reported similar heavy turnouts. Luckily, warm temperatures and clear skies were in order from Mother Nature, a far cry from the cold, rainy weather experienced in the 2004 presidential election.

Hollis Schiededusch, working as a polling rover in Putnam County, said she was seeing a super turnout.

"People were in line shortly after 6 a.m. They have been standing out the door in Columbus Grove, Glandorf and Vaughnsville," she said.

All of this meant good news for coffee shops that were lucky enough to be located near a polling area. The Circle K/BP gas station on the corner of Eastown and Elm saw customers lined up to nearly the back of the store at 7:30 a.m.  Many of them sported  the "vote" sticker on their clothing.

"We're having to move fast to keep the coffee pots filled," a harried clerk said as she cleaned coffee spills off the counter.

A caller to The Lima News complained about campaign signs being too close to the YWCA polling station. The signs, touting both Barack Obama and John McCain, were within legal distance from the polling entrance when The Lima News arrived.

By 9 a.m., things started to slow down at some polling spots

"I walked right in and voted at North Middle School. No problem at all," said Stan Sites, of Lima.

At Trinity United Methodist Church in Delphos, 374 people had voted during the first four hours. That's more voters than some primary elections there see in an entire day, said Bob Ulm of Maverick Media.

This was the first general election where people had to show identification before getting their ballot. There were several reports of addresses not matching, causing poll workers to issue provisional ballots.

The early voting in the Lima region mirrored that of cities across Ohio, a state that has suffered from housing foreclosures and soaring unemployment since it carried President Bush to a second term four years ago.

The election ended hard-fought campaigns set to realign the U.S. Congress and the Ohio Legislature. Voters also faced a choice to replace a scandal-riddled attorney general, whether to allow casino gambling, and whether to keep a law capping interest rates on payday lenders.

And the all-Republican state Supreme Court could be shuffled if two Cleveland-area challengers prove successful.

Scattered voting problems were reported around the state - some people had to wait in line for an hour, a few voting machines malfunctioned and poll workers in some precincts feared running out of paper ballots - but it was an otherwise smooth Election Day, officials said. 

Polls showed Obama slightly ahead, but in a campaign that has been remarkably unpredictable, Obama and McCain aides alike were bracing for a long night.

No Republican has ever won the White House without carrying Ohio. Only two Democrats have done so. The state has voted for the winning candidate in every election since 1964.

Election officials predicted an 80 percent turnout, and in some cases, lines began forming outside polling places more than an hour before the polls opened at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

With momentum on Democrats' side, the Ohio GOP honed its efforts to defend existing offices and capture a few other targeted seats. They acknowledge they faced long odds.

Republicans hold an 11-7 majority in the Ohio congressional delegation, but saw three of their veteran lawmakers - U.S. Reps. Deborah Pryce, Ralph Regula and David Hobson - bow out of their re-election efforts. Democrats believe the first two seats are their best shots for party turnover.

Democrats, likewise, were eyeing two seats on the Supreme Court. A pair of northeast Ohio judges - Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Joseph Russo and Cuyahoga County Juvenile Court Judge Peter Sikora - tried to break the all-GOP hold of the court. They were running against Justice Maureen O'Connor, a former lieutenant governor to Bob Taft, and Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton, who is seeking her third, six-year term.

A campaign to replace disgraced former Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann seemed to heavily favor Rich Cordray, a Democrat who serves as state treasurer.

Cordray raised more than $2.5 million to compete against Republican Mike Crites, a former U.S. attorney for southern Ohio.

Dann resigned in May amid a sexual harassment scandal that involved his top aides and female subordinates.

In the Statehouse, Democrats were aiming at capturing the Ohio House for the first time since 1994. To do so, Democrats would have to win four GOP-controlled seats in the 99-seat chamber. The breakdown as of Tuesday morning was 53-46.

Voters also looked to proposed ballot measures, such as Issue 6, which would give the state its first Las Vegas-style casino near the southwest Ohio town of Wilmington. The $600 million project could create thousands of much-needed jobs, yet Ohio voters have rejected statewide gambling three times since 1990.

Other statewide issues on the ballot included possible repeal of part of a new payday lending law that would cut the annual percentage rate that lenders can charge to 28 percent and limit the number of loans customers can take to four per year.
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The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Read more about this story in Wednesday's The Lima News. This story was first posted at 10 a.m. and updated at 10:15 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 12:05 p.m. and 3:35 p.m.