Few large obstacles despite large turnout

— -- Polling places opened late or were understaffed. Voters found they weren't registered or were asked for ID when it wasn't required. Electronic or optical-scan machines broke down in some states, causing paper ballots to pile up. Emergency backup ballots were underused in some places, overused in others.

And from Virginia to New Mexico, some voters were told to vote on Wednesday — or later.

In other words, it was a normal Election Day. Although all those problems cropped up across the country Tuesday, they weren't widespread. Election officials chalked it up to preparation — and perhaps a bit of prayer.

"We're the most prepared we've ever been for an election," said Doug Lewis, executive director of the Election Center, which represents state and local officials. Since 2000, he said, "we've been running elections getting prepared for this election."

Indeed, 2008 represents the first presidential election in which all the provisions of the Help America Vote Act of 2002 are supposed to be in effect. That means improvements in voting equipment, registration databases and disability access.

For the most part Tuesday, it seems to have worked. While voting rights groups fielded more than 40,000 calls from confused voters, few widespread problems were reported — not even in Florida or Ohio, the two states with the most problems in 2000 and 2004.

"We're hearing about large turnout, and not very much about large problems," said Rosemary Rodriguez, chairwoman of the U.S. Election Assistance Commission. "By all accounts, issues that arise are being dealt with immediately, and voters are moving through the process pretty smoothly."

The early voting phenomenon may have played a role. About 30% of the nation's voters cast ballots before Tuesday, reducing pressure on polling places. That kept attendance at the polls Tuesday below 100 million — a more manageable figure than the 130 million voters expected to cast ballots overall.

A coalition of voting rights groups led by the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law reported lines of up to seven hours in Chesapeake, Va., and lengthy lines in Philadelphia and Detroit. Some of the longest lines and biggest voting-machine problems were in states with little or no early voting.