Record vote as Obama and McCain wait to hear fate

There were queues outside polling stations across the US as 130 million citizens made their choice in the biggest turnout since 1960 — the year of John F Kennedy's victory.

* The final polls put Barack Obama seven points ahead of Republican rival John McCain and on top in five of the eight key states. The margin led to hopes among Democrats of a landslide but Republicans insisted they could catch up.

* Stock markets experienced an "Obama bounce" with the Dow Jones up 137.8 to 9457.7 and the FTSE-100 up 90.1 to 4533.4.

* In Chicago a security clampdown was ordered amid police fears that one million people would swamp a planned victory party for Mr Obama.

* The Democrat, bidding to be the country's first black president, voted with his wife and daughters, saying: "The journey ends."

* Mr McCain ended at his home in Phoenix, Arizona. He said: "Look, I know I'm still the underdog, I understand that," adding: "I think these battleground states have now closed up, almost all of them."

* The Democrats also appeared poised to gain a massive majority in the Congress, ending years of Republican dominance of Washington.

* Almost 31 million voters were estimated to have cast ballots before election day, taking advantage of early voting options in 34 of the 50 states.

* in 21 months of campaigning Mr Obama has spent a total of $600 million to Mr McCain's $324 million.

People were warned they would have to queue for several hours in many districts just to cast their ballot.

But there were also fears that the allegations of stolen votes that marred the 2000 and 2004 contests would be repeated, especially if the result is closer than the polls suggest.

Widespread claims have been made in the past few days that electronic voting machines have "flipped" people's choices, so that votes cast for Barack Obama have ended up being counted as John McCain votes.

Similar claims have been widely reported in the past week of early voting, in which a record 27million Americans have made their choice.

Jim Harrington, of the Texas Civil Rights Project, said: "Voters reported, for example, that when they tried to vote a straight-party Democratic ticket, the machine flipped their choices to Republican candidates instead."

Local elections administrator Javier Chacon claimed that "the intensity of the election may be spurring conspiracy suspicions in some voters".

Shortages of voting machines and strict identity checks mean long queues in some areas.

Protesters in Virginia are alleging that black voters are deliberately being disenfranchised by long queues. New laws demanding photo ID in Indiana, Arizona and Florida are also said to discriminate against poor, elderly and minority voters

Huge teams of lawyers have been drafted in to mount legal challenges at a local level. Some have tried to obtain lists of people whose homes were repossessed so that they can be disqualified on the grounds that their address is not up to date.

Resentment is still strong over the 2000 election when, after bitterly contested recounts, a Supreme Court ruling gave the presidency to George Bush. It hinged on whether so-called hanging, dimpled and pregnant chads - terms to describe card ballot papers that had not been punched through properly - should have been counted.

In 2004 there were eight-hour queues in some areas, which critics said effectively blocked some people from voting. The hope among election officials is that the result will be so clear cut that there will be no need for a prolonged dispute when, inevitably, some machines break down.