Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to see a record high turnout Tuesday in Chicago, where his political career took off and is currently based.
According to the Chicago Election Board, a series of new records have been set in the year-long presidential campaign.
So far, about 1,490,000 Chicagoans have been registered to vote in 2,575 precincts in the coming election day.
During the early voting period starting weeks before the election day, a total of 260,703 ballots were cast in 50 polling stations, compared to 81,690 prior to the primaries in February.
Illinois Election Board President Dan White told reporters that about 7.7 million registered voters are expected to cast ballots Tuesday, while the previous record was 7.5 million.
About half of a million people in the state participated in the early vote, he said.
The U.S. presidential elections comprise 51 elections in the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Chicago Election Board Commissioner Jim Allen said the country's election day is actually run by more than 30,000 local election bodies, resulting in various regulations, procedures, equipment and methods state by state and county by county.
Illinois, for instance, is to witness cooperation of 7,000 local governments on the election day, he said.
The state, as he noted, is the only one where people can cast their ballots with both "touch screen" and paper machine to meet various demand of different groups of voters.
The touch screen machine, equipped with headphones and other device to help the disabled, directs users in three languages -- English, Spanish and Chinese.
Allen also said a number of observers, including reporters of about 500 media outlets from college newspapers to international news agencies, and poll watchers from Democratic and Republican parties as well as some third parties are arranged to inspect the polling stations Tuesday.
Chicago is also gearing up for the final preparation for Obama's election night in downtown Grant Park, which is expected to hold a million campaign team members, supporters, Democratic officials, guests and media reporters.
Earlier reports said thousands of Chicago policemen were deployed to patrol on the streets and guard key locations, and all state and local government officials had been asked to call off all holidays. Even firefighters who have day off Tuesday are ordered to bring back home all necessary equipment in case of emergency.
(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2008)
