Citing problems with the vote count, Iowa officials announced early Wednesday that they would not release further ballot tabulations until later in the day.
Earlier results had been too close to determine a winner. With nearly 90 percent of the vote counted, John Kerry and President Bush each held 50 percent of the vote. But officials said they were having problems opening absentee ballots and that some counting machines had broken. As many as 1.5 million Iowans–a record–were expected to vote.
The state was flooded with 502,110 absentee ballots, about a quarter of registered voters, preliminary figures show. The secretary of state’s office said 441,911 had been returned. Absentee ballots are eligible to be counted if postmarked by Nov. 1 and received by noon Nov. 8.
At an Iowa City recreation center, first-time voters in University of Iowa sweatshirts and senior citizens passed under the gaze of poll watchers and a polling-place staff headed by Linda Yanney. “For political junkies, this is like Christmas every four years,” she said.
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In Newton, 35 miles east of Des Moines, voters flocked to a polling place at City Hall. “I don’t think this is even close to being over, but I’ll be glad when it ends,” said Christine Pletcher, 41, a Democrat who voiced a widespread concern that deciding the election might take days.
“The last election was such a mess,” she said. “It has taken all confidence out of our system. And no one is going to trust whatever anyone says unless we have a landslide.”