Lawyers swarm around polling stations

Americans go to the polls for Senate, House of Representatives and governorship races

Republicans and Democrats have readied teams of lawyers amid fears that some of the key votes, especially for the Senate, could be so close that legal challenges could force the ultimate decision into the courts.

In yesterday's mid-term elections, the stakes could not have been higher: the possibility of a change of control in both the Senate and House of Representatives; the prospect of a dozen new faces in governor's mansions across the country; and – to a significant extent – the 2004 election prospects of President George Bush.

The contest was fiercest in the Senate where the Democrats defended a 50-49 edge and – astonishingly at this stage of the campaign – no less than 10 of the 34 contests were considered toss-ups.

Democrats were fighting to cling to seats in South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Georgia and Iowa. Republicans were under fierce challenge in Arkansas, Colorado, New Hampshire, North Carolina and even President Bush's Texas. A tilt in any one of them could change the balance of power in Washington. Last night, after a week of hectic campaigning and months of unprecedented activism on behalf of Republican candidates, Mr Bush was back in Washington to watch the results at the White House. But there is no guarantee that even by this morning the final make-up of the 108th Congress would be clear.

Republicans were on the watch for fraud and double voting, while Democrats were especially concerned about possible voter intimidation by their opponents. In parts of Maryland, where particularly close gubernatorial and House races were taking place, leaflets circulated giving the wrong election date and claiming that people behind with their taxes could not vote.

But the key factor was turn-out, which in mid-term elections, when the White House is not at stake, rarely exceeds 30 or 35 per cent.

"I hope people vote," the President said after voting near his ranch in Texas. "I'm encouraging all people across this country to vote."

Like every pundit in the land, the President was guarded about the outcome. Asked how Republicans would do, he first flashed a thumbs-up, and then turned it horizontal. Every close race hinged on the two major parties' ability to get out their core vote.

In Florida, Bill McBride's hopes of unseating Governor Jeb Bush, the President's younger brother, hinged on whether black and Jewish voters and other minorities would turn out in sufficient numbers to avenge the controversial hairsbreadth defeat of Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential election.

In Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend's chances of upholding the Kennedy family honour in her bid for the governorship depended on getting black voters in suburban Washington to the polls.

In the razor's edge Senate races too, the story was the same. Whatever happened however, a very long night loomed. In Minnesota, where former vice-President Walter Mondale was a late entry on the ballot, votes were being handcounted.

With the Florida debacle fresh in their memory, the major TV networks were doubly cautious of jumping the gun with their predictions, as a vaunted new exit polling system was deemed unreliable.