(dépêches)
Participation record dans les Etats américains les plus disputés
LEMONDE.FR | 04.11.08 | 21h22 • Mis à jour le 04.11.08 | 22h37
Le taux de participation à l'élection présidentielle américaine a atteint mardi 4 novembre un niveau très élevé, voire "sans précédent" dans les Etats-clés. "La participation est phénoménale", a déclaré Jean Jensen, responsable des opérations électorales pour l'Etat de Virginie, en soulignant que plus de 40 % des électeurs enregistrés avaient déposé leur bulletin dans l'urne à 10 heures (16 heures, heure de Paris). L'Ohio était bien parti pour une participation record de 80 %, selon les autorités. Affluence inédite également dans le Missouri, qui, hormis une fois, a toujours voté pour le vainqueur de l'élection depuis 1904.
Bien que plus de 30 % des électeurs avaient déjà voté par anticipation dans la trentaine d'Etats où le vote anticipé était autorisé, de longues files d'attentes se sont formées devant les bureaux de vote du pays, parfois dès quatre heures du matin. De quoi conforter les pronostics de certains experts, qui tablaient sur la mobilisation de 130 à 135 millions d'électeurs. Soit bien plus que les 120 millions de 2004, où le taux de participation avait déjà dépassé les 56 %, à son plus haut niveau depuis 1968.
CAFÉ OFFERT
En dépit de la très forte affluence, peu de problèmes techniques étaient signalés dans les quatre principaux "swing states". En Virginie, Mme Jensen a seulement eu écho de l'ouverture tardive de deux bureaux de vote, du mauvais fonctionnement de machines de lecture optique des bulletins de vote et de quelques accusations de retrait arbitraire d'électeurs des registres.
A Blacksburg, bastion démocrate de cet Etat de la côte Est, nombre d'électeurs s'étaient levés très tôt afin d'aller voter et ensuite se rendre à leur travail. Dans tous le pays, se sont répétées les mêmes scènes d'électeurs patientant dans le calme, sirotant un café ou lisant le journal. Au pied des gratte-ciel de New York, une centaine de personnes attendaient devant un bureau de vote sur Wall Street, non loin de la Bourse, gardée par des policiers lourdement armés. En Floride, où plus d'un électeur sur deux a déjà voté par anticipation, l'attente semblait moindre. "Avant l'ouverture des portes, il y avait de longues files, mais maintenant tout va bien", expliquait un agent de la police de Miami, Elee Minden, en poste dans un bureau de vote de Coral Gables. Au poste de police de Miami Beach, qui faisait office de bureau de vote, une petite douzaine de personnes attendaient leur tour. Un volontaire du camp démocrate leur précisait que le bar d'à côté offre le café aux personnes ayant voté.
Le Monde.fr, avec AFP
America votes in historic election
Historic US vote draws millions
Voters across the United States are flocking to polling stations to choose a new president.
Republican John McCain is attempting to defy the opinion polls, while Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to become the country's first black president.
Mr Obama and Mr McCain voted in their respective home cities of Chicago, Illinois, and Phoenix, Arizona.
Several key states are reporting a heavy turnout. A total of 130 million Americans are expected to vote.
If that figure is confirmed, turnout will be higher than in any election since 1960. About 29 million have voted early.
In Virginia, a Republican stronghold which Mr Obama is hoping to capture, Secretary of State Jean Jensen told reporters: "It's a phenomenal turnout."
POLLS CLOSING FIRST
0000 GMT: Indiana, Virginia, Georgia, Kentucky, South Carolina, Vermont
0030 GMT: North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia
0100 GMT: Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, District of Columbia, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee
Missouri, another battleground state, is reporting an "unprecedented turnout".
Officials in Ohio are expecting about 80% voter participation.
In North Carolina, voting has been extended in two precincts.
Mr Obama and his wife arrived at a polling station in Chicago with their two daughters.
"When polls close, the journey ends but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal," he said afterward.
He later went to Indiana for one last campaign appearance.
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Voters queue in record numbers
After casting his ballot in Phoenix, Mr McCain ignored questions from journalists.
But at a later rally in Colorado, he said: "I feel the momentum... We are winning."
"Get out there and vote. I need your help," he said, urging supporters to "drag" their neighbours to polling stations if need be.
Midnight voting
In the first voting of the day, Mr Obama won by 15 votes to six in Dixville Notch, New Hampshire.
The hamlet, which has a 60-year tradition of being first in the nation to vote, opened its polls at midnight, with a 100% turnout.
It was the first time the town had voted for a Democrat since 1968.
There are also elections to renew the entire US House of Representatives and a third of US Senate seats.
Democrats are expected to expand majorities in both chambers.
They need to gain nine Senate seats to reach a 60-seat majority that would give them extra legislative power.
The final Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll of the election published on Tuesday found likely voters favoured Mr Obama by 11 points over Mr McCain, 54-43%.
Other national polls indicate Mr Obama increasing his lead over his rival to as much as 13 points.
But the BBC's James Coomarasamy in Washington says that while Mr Obama has held a consistent lead for several weeks, a number of factors could undermine the pollsters' predictions.
Among them, he says, are the role the Illinois senator's skin colour may play in voters' intentions; whether newly registered voters will actually vote; and the Palin effect - whether Mr McCain's running mate has energised or alienated Republicans.
High cost
Under the US Electoral College system, states are allocated votes based on their representation in Congress.
In almost every state, the winner gets all these college votes.
To become president, a candidate needs to win a majority across the country - 270 college votes out of a possible 538.
BBC North America editor Justin Webb says there is much interest in three well-populated swing states - Florida and Ohio, both won narrowly by George Bush in 2004, and Pennsylvania, which went to the Democratic candidate John Kerry.
If Mr Obama can take Florida or Ohio, he is sure to become president, our correspondent says.
If John McCain holds them and takes Pennsylvania, he could just win, our correspondent adds.
The presidential election has been the most expensive in US history - costing $2.4bn, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
On the eve of the poll, Mr Obama said his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham - who largely raised him as a child - had died aged 86 in Hawaii after losing her battle with cancer.
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/us_elections_2008/7707581.stm
Published: 2008/11/04 22:39:25 GMT
© BBC MMVIII
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