Election Day: Long voting lines reported across United States (VIDEO)
People queue to cast their ballots at a polling station in Washington,DC on November 6, 2012. Americans head to the polls after a burst of last-minute campaigning by President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in a nail-biting contest unlikely to heal a deeply polarized nation. After a long, expensive and fiercely negative campaign, voters will decide whether to re-elect Obama despite the plodding economy or hand the reins to Romney, who has vowed a return to prosperity through smaller government.
Long lines formed early Tuesday as US voters turned out in droves to decide what could be a nail-biter of a presidential election.
The craziest lines were reported in the battleground state of Florida, where four-hour waits were not uncommon and the Miami Herald reported voters refused to leave the line despite fainting.
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One man there suffered a seizure while filling out his ballot. A woman in Miami held a catheter bag while waiting to vote.
Democrats have already filed a lawsuit in Florida over waiting times for early voting, which in some cases on Saturday stretched to six and seven hours, Reuters reported.
Rainy Hamilton, Jr., 56, of Detroit, told USA Today he stood in line for almost two hours Tuesday morning, the longest it's ever taken him to vote.
But he didn't mind at all.
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"I was hoping there would be a wait," Hamilton told USA Today. "It means people are excited. I'm excited because I hope it means President Obama will be re-elected and I'm glad because people are voting."
At Ohio State University, students excited to cast their first presidential election votes waited in line for hours due to a lack of poll workers.
Long lines were also reported in Virginia and parts of New York and New Jersey, still reeling from last week's superstorm Sandy.
Tuesday morning, the line to vote at an East Village polling station in New York extended half a block down First Avenue and rapidly built westward. By 8:40 a.m., the 175 people in line had yet to move a foot, The New York Times reported.
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