WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Voters in Florida were still waiting to cast their ballots more than six hours after polls closed on Election Day, registered voters in Ohio were told they were not on voter rolls and new voter ID laws in Pennsylvania led to confusion at voting places.

Election Day problems have become commonplace in the United States in recent general elections. But a comment by President Barack Obama offered a glimmer of hope that problems that have dogged voting for years might finally be addressed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Voters in Florida were still waiting to cast their ballots more than six hours after polls closed on Election Day, registered voters in Ohio were told they were not on voter rolls and new voter ID laws in Pennsylvania led to confusion at voting places.

Election Day problems have become commonplace in the United States in recent general elections. But a comment by President Barack Obama offered a glimmer of hope that problems that have dogged voting for years might finally be addressed.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. voters complained about erratic implementation of voter ID laws, while long lines in some battleground states and makeshift polling sites in storm-hit New York and New Jersey added to confusion in a bitterly contested presidential election.

Watchdog groups reported complaints from people turned away from polls because they did not have identification in states like Pennsylvania, where ID was not required.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Voters complained about erratic implementation of voter ID laws, while long lines and makeshift polling sites in storm-hit New York and New Jersey added to confusion in a bitterly contested presidential election.

Watchdog groups reported complaints from people turned away from polls because they did not have identification in states like Pennsylvania, where ID was not required. In swing states Virginia and Florida, long lines led to numerous complaints and fears that people would give up without casting a ballot, while large numbers of people in Ohio reported being forced to vote by provisional ballot.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In some areas, they are becoming as much a part of elections as voters and precinct workers: poll watchers, the sometimes unofficial monitors who go to polling places with the idea of stopping fraudulent voting.

Poll watchers come in all political stripes – conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, anti-fraud groups, labor unions and even international organizations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In some areas, they are becoming as much a part of elections as voters and precinct workers: poll watchers, the sometimes unofficial monitors who go to polling places with the idea of stopping fraudulent voting.

Poll watchers come in all political stripes – conservative Republicans, liberal Democrats, anti-fraud groups, labor unions and even international organizations.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Early voters could account for up to 40 percent of all voters in the 2012 presidential election, and polls of people who already have cast ballots show President Barack Obama with a comfortable lead over Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Both candidates have been urging supporters not just to vote but to do it early as Republicans and Democrats campaign vigorously – particularly in key battleground states – to lock up as many votes as possible before Election Day on November 6.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In Florida, Virginia and Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them there was no need to cast a ballot in person on Election Day because they could vote by phone.

In Ohio and Wisconsin, billboards in mostly low-income and minority neighborhoods showed prisoners behind bars and warned of criminal penalties for voter fraud – an effort that voting rights groups say was designed to intimidate minority voters.

WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – In Florida, Virginia and
Indiana, voters have received phone calls that wrongly told them
there was no need to cast a ballot in person on Election Day
because they could vote by phone.

In Ohio and Wisconsin, billboards in mostly low-income and
minority neighborhoods showed prisoners behind bars and warned
of criminal penalties for voter fraud – an effort that voting
rights groups say was designed to intimidate minority voters.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Fresh off a feisty debate
that re-energized Barack Obama’s bid for a second term, the
Democratic president and Republican rival Mitt Romney headed
back on the campaign trail on Wednesday to start their final
appeals to undecided voters.

With 20 days to go until the Nov. 6 election, the
candidates’ vice presidential running mates blanketed the
morning television talk shows to claim victory in the second
U.S. presidential debate on Tuesday evening.