Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ

At 7am this morning, when I got to this smaller commuter town, about 40 miles north west of Washington, the polling place had been open for about an hour.

The queue was obscured by the shape of the building, but according to those who'd been in side, things were moving fast, 'though they still said the numbers were higher than usual.

As Tova Wang, of Common Cause, a group which monitors elections, told me big queues don't necessarily mean more voters; it may just reflect inadequate preparation by election supervisors.

Still, everyone is expecting a larger than normal turnout this year, perhaps the largest since 1960, when Kennedy narrowly beat Nixon.

It's just this minute started to rain - the first time in days - and that could have some effect. But the major thing worrying those hoping for an early result is that people may still queuing when polling stations are due to shut (the earliest at 7pm, in eastern states).

Generally, if someone is already standing in line, they should still be able to vote.

But 'generally" masks an awful lot of differences. Like so much else here, elections are local affairs; so even when electing the President, the 50 states do it their own way, and even individual counties - where officials organise the elections - determine a lot of the rules for themselves.

And elections are administered by the elected, so the equivalent of the returning officer in a British election, will be a local Democrat or Republican.

It makes for a potentially combustible mix, especially when - as in 2000 - a result is tight.

Rules on how you can vote also vary. Some states insist you present photo I'd. Since that means either passport or driving licence, Democrats claim it's a way of suppressing the votes of the poor, who may not have these forms of ID Republicans, in their turn, accuse the other side of trying to boost their support by registering the ineligible.

The big change this year has been the widespread adoption of early voting. In Colorado, for example, 46 per cent of those registered to vote had done so before today. That should take some of the pressure off.

Mind you in Pennsylvania, there's been no early voting at all. Since it's a key state for both Obama and McCain, expect a big effort by both parties to get them to the polls, and queues to match.

All of which must make the people of Oregon feel pretty smug today. No queues or arguments over ID for them. They all vote by post."