Tuesday, Nov. 5: 1:09 a.m.
Commentary from Voice Editor Tim W. Jackson:

Well, it’s been one heck of a day—one that I will always remember. Barack Obama has won Virginia and won the presidency. Mark Warner has won a senate seat.

It’s just after 1 a.m. and I am completely exhausted. I’ve done my best to bring you updates throughout this historic day, and more will be coming after a few hours of sleep. EverythingNRV.com has posted some local election results, so I’d like to invite you to check those out here.

In the meantime, I’d like to echo the sentiments of both John McCain and Barack Obama in their speeches. Each man encouraged unity, and I think that this country is at a pivotal point in its history. Without unity now, we may never enjoy the superpower status that most of us have enjoyed all of our lives as Americans.

So come back later for more results, articles, and commentary regarding the election of 2008.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:25 p.m.
“Former Democratic governor Jeanne Shaheen won a hard-fought rematch for the United States Senate, defeating incumbent Republican John E. Sununu in a campaign that attracted attention and money from across the nation,” said The Boston Globe. Read the rest of the article here.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:17 p.m.
The major television networks are projecting Obama to win Pennsylvania and Democratic senate candidate Kay Hagan to beat Sen. Elizabeth Dole, the incumbent Republican, for North Carolina’s Senate seat.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:01 p.m.
Another election report:

Fairlawn Fire Department

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:01 p.m.
Check out the following area election reports:

Radford

Christiansburg Church of the Brethren

Floyd County High School

Dublin Lions Club

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 7:54 p.m.
CNN reports some exit poll information for Virginia that most of us already knew would be true. Younger voters are supporting Obama. Older voters are supporting McCain. Women are supporting Obama over McCain 56 percent to 44 percent while men are supporting Obama over McCain 52 percent to 46 percent.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 7:46 p.m.
Running unopposed, Rep. Rick Boucher has of course been projected as the winner of Virginia’s 9th Congressional District.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 7:21 p.m.
The Virginian-Pilot, quoting the Associated Press, says that former Virginia governor Mark Warner has defeated former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore.

Inside NoVa tells the tale of Virginia’s huge voter turnout.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 5:40 p.m.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered Virginia election officials to hold on to late-arriving absentee ballots from members of the military stationed overseas. See the entire article from CNN here.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 5:32 p.m.
RU media studies student Lindsay Mead provided this report on voting in Riner.

The polls at Auburn High School in Riner were not as crowded as the media had predicted. Local law enforcement officials perused the grounds, though the scene was quiet.

Upon entering the school a group of high school students passed out sample ballots. The ballots were long blue strips that had checks by the Republican presidential and senate candidates. The sample Republican ballot read that it was made by the Montgomery County Republican Party.

Registered voter Dawn Jeffries said, “I am worried that some voters may see the X on the sample ballots, given out at Auburn High School as the way to make their decisions.”

Entering the school at noon, the volunteers were mostly seniors as were the people voting.

Riner resident Alma Jones said, “I voted for John McCain.” People voting for McCain seemed to be the trend in the Auburn High School polls.

When asked how long residents had to wait to vote, Craig Moore said, “I got here at 12:15 and I was done at 12:30.” The voter turnout was busiest in the early morning hours, poll workers said.
Tuesday, Nov. 4: 4:44 p.m.
Gov. Tim Kaine today issued the following statement regarding voting:
“Virginians are turning out in record numbers to vote in today’s historic Presidential election, despite the weather. The State Board of Elections is working closely with local election officials to make sure that voting runs smoothly, and we are confident that the problems that some precincts have encountered are being addressed promptly and resolved quickly.

“Those still waiting to vote should be aware that turnout is very heavy, but precinct volunteers are working hard to make the lines move as quickly as possible.

“Voters should remember that polls close at 7 p.m. and the hours will not be extended. However, all who arrive to vote by 7 p.m. will be allowed to vote notwithstanding the length of lines. We ask everyone to be patient and encourage voters to stay in line to participate in this historic event.”

Kaine also noted that curbside voting is available to those who may need assistance. Curbside voting allows for any voter physically disabled or age 65 or older to have an officer of election bring a ballot to the voter outside of the polling place, but within 150 feet of the entrance.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 4:41 p.m.
For a more in-depth glimpse at voting at the Radford Recreation Center today, view our article here.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 3:06 p.m.
Come on, you know you’re not actually working. Click on this link to come up with your own scenario as to how either Obama or McCain can win the electoral vote.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 3:03 p.m.
Political scientists and pollsters are saying the election turnout today might be the highest since 66 percent of eligible Americans voted in the 1908 election.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2:56 p.m.
Planning to watch the election returns tonight? The Huffington Post offers a comprehensive guide for election returns watching.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2:52 p.m.
One Radford University staff member and University 100 instructor gave us this report.

In my University 100 class today, at the students’ request, we did an anonymous mock election. Votes broke down as follows:
McCain – 10
Obama – 8
Nader – 1
There were two students not present – one of them had gone home to vote (for Obama) and the other said on her Facebook profile that she “is not voting on account of both candidates suck. End of story.”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2:46 p.m.
John McCain is being aired on CNN right now at a rally in Colorado and is imploring the crowd to chant “Drill, Baby, Drill” one more time.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2:28 p.m.
Bloomberg.com tells readers to watch the Virginia vote!

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2:15 p.m.
The Institute for Southern Studies is monitoring Election Day activities and has reported a few problems in the South thus far.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 2 p.m.
The UK Guardian offers an article about Virginia’s large voter turnout this morning.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 1:52 p.m.
According to The Washington Post, various problems are being reported in Virginia. “The Election Protection Coalition, a non-partisan election protection group, is reporting problems with electronic voting machines and optical scanners in parts of Virginia, most related to the same issues the Virginia Board of Elections identified early in the morning.” Read more about Virginia voting problems here.

If you experience problems voting, let us know!

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 1:47 p.m.
CNN is reporting more instances of hoaxes in which people are being called to say that voting at their precinct has been postponed. The Washington Post is reporting a hoax at George Mason University, which goes like this:

Unknown hackers broke into George Mason University‘s e-mail system and sent students a forged message from the school’s provost early this morning stating that Election Day had been moved to Nov. 5.

The messaged, dated 1:16 a.m., Nov. 4, with the subject line : Election Day Update, read:

To the Mason Community:

Please note that election day has been moved to November 5th. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you.

Peter N. Stearns
Provost

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 1:37 p.m.
EverythingNRV.com’s David Grimes reports that voter turnout is heavy in the NRV today. Listening to the 24-hour news networks, it seems that Virginia is listed as a state with “voting problems” more than any other state. Most have been about machines not working. Registration problems seems to be the second-largest complaint.

We’ve heard about few problems here although we did hear that “the police and Department of Justice have just been contacted complaining of campaigners positioning themselves in the path of voters trying to get into vote” in Blacksburg. We’ll try to verify that today. CNN just stated that complaints about coercion have started to rise.

If you experience problems voting, let us know!

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 1 p.m.
At 1 p.m. Facebook indicated that 1,889,141 Facebook members had voted.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 12:30 p.m.
Voice Editor Tim Jackson and Managing Editor Taryn Chase voted in Radford and provided this report.

We got to the Carter Street Methodist Church polling station in Radford a little after 11 a.m. Both Democratic and Republican representatives were outside the church handing out sample ballots. The Republican representative also gave out a second sheet with the headline “On the Second Amendment, Don’t Believe Obama” (see sheet at left). We were encouraged to vote for the moral choice. “Obama doesn’t read the same Bible we do,” I was told, and was reminded that homosexuality is an abomination and that abortion is murder.

Carter Street took advantage of its polling station status by having a bake sale and selling hot dogs with the proceeds benefiting the church and choir. We bought a few baked goods on the way out. We had both voted in about 10 minutes.

Just before 11:30 a.m., poll official Guy Wohlford reported that 935 people had voted at Carter Street and about a half-hour earlier poll official Jackie Stephens said that 854 had voted at the Firehouse on Wadsworth. Both Wohlford and Stephens reported long lines between 6 and 8 a.m.—”lines going out the door,” Stephens said. She added that the first person to show up at the Wadsworth polling station arrived at about 5:25 a.m. By mid-morning, lines had clearly calmed down and the process seemed to be running smoothly.

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 12:22 p.m.
John Leonard of Fairlawn gave us this report.

“Lines were long at my polling place—the fire station in Fairlawn —at 7:15 this morning. The wait was about half an hour. I was the 160th person to vote in the L-Z line; most elections, I’m about #14. People were relatively quiet. Most of the chatter was about the lines and how they seemed to be moving quickly.

“I overheard a woman and a gentleman a few people behind me talking about schools becoming polling places. The woman had heard that all polling places would be moved to schools and she wondered aloud if that meant schools would be closed on future election days.”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 10:20 a.m.
What are your thoughts on the election? What was your voting experience like? Add your comments at the bottom of this posting!

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:55 a.m.
Bobby Bell of Fairlawn gave us this report.

“I waited about 30 minutes. The only problem I saw was someone being turned away because they were at the wrong polling place. Apparantly there had been some changes with the location.”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:50 a.m.
Stacey Price of Radford gave us this report.

“I was at the polls at 7:20 a.m. (so much for 6) at the Radford Rec Center. The line was pretty long but once divided by A to L, M to Z it took about 30 minutes. People were pretty quite, my guess is still waking up.

“The polls were very efficient. I was number 166 so I am assuming with both lines by 8 a.m. we were up to 300. (I have definitely have been that number at 5 p.m. in the past so I was impressed with how many people had voted in 2 hours). As a business owner, active community member and resident for 10 years, I am always amazed at how many people I see at the polls that I do not know.

“Since I vote on the East side of town I did see numerous students in line. Most students in my classes voted absentee but I have had a few question where they vote if they registered locally. The item of concern for most as I walked out of the voting area into the line without a “I Voted” sticker was how we all were going to get our free Starbucks Coffee. I laughed, leave it to businesses in the U.S. to make voting a promotion, a promotion I gladly accepted! I feel hopeful, optimistic and also anxious to see how everything falls into place.”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:40 a.m.
Tracey Mattson of Willis gave us this report.

“I only waited in line for about 20 minutes in Willis today. I took my camera, but the lines weren’t all that long, so I didn’t bother to take any pics. The mood was about the same as always, pretty quiet.

“We have computerized voting machines and as far as I could tell my vote ‘took.’ I was watching the election officials like a hawk, but I guess they did everything correctly.”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:40 a.m.
Dan Smith from Roanoke gave us this report, which can also be found on his blog.

“Two trips by the polling station on this historic election morning sent me to one conclusion: the mood is festive and that means the Bush nightmare is probably over. I went by Patrick Henry High School, where voting is held in the gym, at about 7:15 a.m. and there were probably 100-120 people in line, so I went to the park and walked for an hour. By 8:15, the line was much more modest, but the people in line were still smiling, talking and enthusiastic. My guess is that McCain voters aren’t all that enthusiastic, judging from the mood of the campaign.

“A light rain was falling and the only partisan workers outside were my friend Bobbi Hoffman and a young architect from Maryland, helping her hand out literature and post-voting Obama stickers. I asked why she’d come all the way down here to work the polls and she said, ‘Maryland’s solidly Democratic and you need me.’ She smiled broadly. My wife had done some canvassing with another woman from Maryland last week.

“Those of us who want desperately to end the Republican screw-ups are biting our nails today, but my suspicion is that we don’t need to. I’m thinking ‘landslide.’”

Tuesday, Nov. 4: 9:25 a.m.
I looked up at the clock on my computer to see when I was going to start our coverage of Election Day. It was 9:11 a.m. I decided 9:11 was rather ominous so I waited a minute.

It’s Election Day folks. If you haven’t voted yet, then be sure to do so. And feel free to give us your impressions. Were the lines long? Did the machines work? Who did you vote for, and why? Add your comments at the bottom of this article.

While we’re waiting for local reports to come in, here is what is being said in The Washington Post this morning:

• “Voters in two small New Hampshire towns cast the first Election Day ballots minutes after midnight this morning, starting off a day that experts say could be marked by delays in getting voters to the polls and in getting ballot counts out by the end of the day.”
• “Democrat Barack Obama, seeking a history-making victory in a presidential campaign that has captivated the country as few others ever have, maintained a clear advantage over Republican John McCain yesterday as the two made final appeals in battleground states and readied massive get-out-the-vote operations in advance of today’s balloting”
• “Obama leads in every state that Democratic Sen. John F. Kerry won four years ago, which gives him a base of 252 electoral votes of the 270 needed to win. He also has leads of varying sizes in five states Bush won: Iowa, New Mexico, Virginia, Colorado and Nevada. Were he to win all of those on Tuesday, he would claim the presidency with 291 electoral votes”

We’ll have coverage from around the NRV all day today, so stay tuned. And if you haven’t voted yet, check out the voter’s guide published at EverythingNRV.com.