Voting Appears Robust Across D.C. Area

Voters in Virginia, Maryland and the District poured into polling stations today to cast ballots in races that will chart the future for many local governments and could help sway the balance of power in Congress.

Turnout was heavy in both Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs, election officials said, but there were few of the technological and human errors that paralyzed voting in the Maryland primary in September.

"This looks like a high-volume, orderly process," state comptroller candidate Peter Franchot (D) said at Piney Branch Elementary School in Takoma Park, where 275 people had voted by 9 a.m. "That's the way it should be in America."

But Maryland Democrats decried the use of campaign fliers at some Prince George's County precincts that suggested that Gov. Robert Ehrlich and Senate candidate Michael Steele -- both Republicans -- were part of the Democratic ticket.

"It's incredibly misleading," said Rick Abbruzzese, a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Martin O'Malley. "It's part of the misleading tactics the Republican Party has used throughout this campaign."

The ballots were handed out by people who said they arrived by buses this morning from Pennsylvania and Delaware.

Erik Markle, one of the people handing out the literature, said he was recruited at a homeless shelter in Philadelphia and that after the two-hour bus ride to Maryland, workers were greeted by first lady Kendel Ehrlich. Markle said nearly all of those recruited were poor and black and were paid to distribute the inaccurate sample ballots.

In Virginia, where polling stations are open until 7 p.m., citizens were focused on the war in Iraq, and sharply divided on whether to reelect Sen. George Allen (R) or replace him with Democratic challenger James Webb. Voters will also decide whether to approve an amendment to the state constitution defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and will make choices in an array of congressional and local races , and bond issues for schools, transportation and other public works projects.

"It's time for a change," said George Melino, 49, an aerospace engineer and political independent from Ashburn who voted for Webb and for Judith Feder, the Democratic challenger to incumbent Congressman Frank Wolf (R). "It's too much religion in politics these days, and too much blind faith."

But in north Arlington, Virginia Wood said she voted the straight Republican ticket because she believes this country needs to stay the course in Iraq.

"We need to fix it," Wood said of the situation in Iraq. "If you dump it, it doesn't fix the problem. We need to stay where we are."

In Maryland and the District, polls will be open until 8 p.m. Maryland voters are choosing between Ehrlich and Baltimore Mayor O'Malley, and will pick either Steele, the lieutenant governor, or U.S. Rep. Benjamin L. Cardin (D) to replace retiring U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes (D). Dozens of congressional seats and county government and school board positions are on the ballot as well.