Martha Woodall reports:

Shortly before 7:30 p.m., the crowds waiting to vote at the Penrose Recreation Center at 12th and Susquehanna were stunned to look up and find actor Sam Waterston dispensing bottled water to those waiting in line to vote.

“'Law and Order,’ ‘Law and Order,’” several in the crowd gasped, recognizing him from his TV show. Waterston declined to give an interview, adding, “I’m just here to hand out water.” He encouraged those waiting, many of them Temple University students, to stay in line and vote.

An Obama volunteer called out to him, "Are you for Obama?"

Waterson replied: "Are you kidding?" He held an Obama campaign sign as he left the rec center.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Jacqueline L. Urgo reports:

6 p.m.

Although voter turnout was heavier than usual in the parts of southern Ocean County encompassed by the Third Congressional District, unlike more urban areas of the region, those going to the polls found no long lines or extended waits.

"I didn’t think it would be bad here and it wasn’t," said Mary Lee Schulze, 63, of Barnegat Township, an Obama supporter who said she voted a straight Democratic ticket at the Barnegat Township Community Center.

"I got right in. But I could tell that a lot more people than normal had been out voting," Schulze said. "I think more people are inspired to come out in this election and make their voices heard."

By late afternoon, in neighboring Little Egg Harbor Township, it appeared that more a third of the municipality’s 13,764 registered voters had already come out to the township’s polling places, according to a poll worker.

Numbers in Barnegat Township were unavailable, but it appeared that turnout was much larger than usual, a poll watcher said.

"We had heavy turnout early in the morning and I expected that as people get off work it’ll start picking up again," said John Riggins, 71, who was working the polls at the Mystic Shores Club House in Little Harbor Township. "I’ve been involved with elections for more than 40 years and I never remember such a turnout. I think it’s wonderful for the process."

Deb Miller, 37, a McCain supporter from Little Egg Harbor Township, said she split her ticket to vote for John Adler for Congress because she doesn’t agree with opponent Chris Myers on several key issues, including the environment.

"I am a registered Republican, but I don’t always vote straight down the ticket," Miller said. "I’m very concerned about offshore drilling here."

But Ron Bell, 58, of the Tuckerton section of Little Egg Harbor Township, a longtime supporter of Jim Saxton, said he voted for Myers based on his affiliation with the same party that Saxton had long represented in the district.

"Jim Saxton was our man for a long time and I’m hoping Chris Myers can pick up the mantle," Bell said.

Jan Hefler reports:

McCain Supporter Marilu Devone , 46, an accountant from Sewell Washington Township was voting for John McCain. Devone who has three children said, ”I’m concerned about foreign policy and our security, for my children.”

Frank Febbo, 51, of Washington Township, a technology consultant with two children said, “I’m for John McCain basically because of abortion, being a Catholic and being I’ve been a Republican all my life.”

 Febbo said he favors McCain for his overall policies and values. “I think both candidates are very qualified but it comes down to personal choice.

Febbo won’t be shocked if McCain loses but he said, “you never know how people will actually vote in polls.”

Mariann Fidelis, in her 40s of Sewell, a mother of three and cancer researcher says she’s voting for Obama. Its her first time voting.

“The economy is a major issue and he has a plan to address the current crisis we’re in,” she said. She favors Obama because of his stance on education and pro-choice and she said, “he has a plan instead of just saying I’m going to bring change.”

Also she said, “The thought of Sarah Palin as vice president scares the blank out of me. She’s not qualified to be president.”

David Yhlen, 48, a hospital administrator from Washington Township, is voting from Obama.

“I have concerns with the course of our foreign policy and whether we’re stuck in Iraq and have no options. I have concerns because I have teenage sons,” he said.

(Yhlen has three children).

Nicodemo Fiorentino, 24, from Washington Township, who is applying to law school, was voting for the for second time. Previously he voted for George Bush. I’m a Republican but after careful analysis between Barack Obama and John McCain, it was a tough decision but I went with Barack Obama because though he may not have experience, it’s time for change.

"Give him a chance, he has knowledgeable people behind him, the whole world wants him and he will change the way we are viewed internationally and nationally. I was unhappy with John McCain’s vice presidential pick and I didn’t like the way he ran his campaign - talking about Joe the plumber and plumber and things like that."

Democrat Joe Ostrowski, 23, Washington Township, the owner of painting company, voted for Obama because, “I just graduated from school and have a ton of student loans, Barack will help with those loans. Ostrowski said he comes from a union family of Democrats.

Tom Nace, 57, a Washington Township actuary with three children, is a Republican who was voting for the first time for a Democrat for president.

“He offers alot more solutions for the future and McCain is a continuation of what we’ve had.”

Nace considers himself an independent but always leans toward Rep side until now. “McCain didn’t offer anything different and Obama offered a breath of fresh air with how he’ll run the government.

“I don’t agree with all his plans but he has good leadership qualities.”

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Matt Katz reports:

In Camden City, where about 90 percent of residents are black or Hispanic, the city clerk reported turnout four times higher than previous years. And at one polling place at Yorkship Elementary School, more than a dozen people interviewed all said they were voting for Barack Obama.

One man said he was voting for Obama and not anything else on the ballot. Others said they were first-time voters or hadn’t voted in years.

“A lot of young black males like us, that people don’t expect to vote, are voting,” said Reese Rice, 22, a first-time voter. “People are surprised to see us get our vote on.”

Many of the voters were unemployed, and said they were counting on Obama to create jobs and spread health coverage to the uninsured. “That’s his promise,” said Cecil Lloyd, 55, who is unemployed. “He’s going to do things we haven’t seen before.”

A number of young women walked in with broods of children, and as they gathered them into the voting booths they sounded the same theme: It’s for them.

“It’s just 2008, so my kids go through so much, and I know we can make a difference, I know we can,” said Katrina Goldsmith, 32, a mother of seven.

Obama serves as inspiration for her children, she said. “I just tell them anything they put their mind to, they can do it,” she said.

Twice in the last five years, Dorcas Dixon, a 29-year-old mother of four boys, has been forced to spend months living on the streets of Camden. She said she is voting for the first time because the government has denied her shelter and health coverage for her children.

“I realized [the government wasn’t] doing anything for us,” she said. “I’m hoping they do more for us, because we can’t even afford the rent.”

As she spoke, her two oldest boys showed off report cards they just received – straight As and B-pluses.

“With everything they’ve been through, they’re still doing good,” Dixon said.

Another mother of four, Stephanie Black, 26, said she never thought she would live to see a black man as president. “Going from slaves to the White House, it’s just weird to me,” she said.

Black and her husband, Levar, 26, said they were voting for the first time because they felt like it would actually affect them this time.

“All the other times it didn’t feel like it was a necessity,” he said. “It’s going to affect us for at least four years.”

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Joelle Farrell reports:

Lansdowne is a Democratic stronghold in Delaware County, but today it was bluer than usual.

Of 800 voters in the first precinct, almost 500 had cast ballots by 5 p.m.

“It’s absolutely higher than ever,” said Ralph Young, judge of elections. “We get anywhere in here from 200 to 400. I’ve never seen 500.”

Sinoe Naji, 35, brought her nine-year-old son Anthony to the polls so they could vote for Obama together.

A fourth-grade student at Friends Select in Center City, Anthony met the senator twice during appearances in Philadelphia. His mother, a single parent who works as a pharmacist, said her son told that Obama, also raised by a single parent, inspired him and made him feel that he could do anything.

At Bell Avenue Elementary School in Yeadon, the wait to cast ballots this morning stretched as long as three hours.

The polling place serves three separate precincts, and initially, there was some confusion about where to stand in line for each. So some people waited in line for the wrong precinct and then had to switch to another line and wait anew for the right one.

Despite the confusion and the wait, election workers said people were determined to vote today.

“One guy came back three times,” said election volunteer Charles Hart. “The first time, he waited two hours, and he had to leave. He came back, he waited for an hour, and he had to leave. Then he came aback again and he finally voted.”

Election judges tried to ease the delays by offering bowls of candy. Outside the polling place, Obama supporters handed out doughnuts to voters, who turned out in large numbers.

The three precincts combined have 7,430 voters. By 6 p.m., more than 5,000 of them had cast ballots, election workers said.

Chanelle Brock brought her two-year-old son along to share the moment. Brock, 24, first came out to vote at 6 a.m., but the lines were so long that she had to leave to make it to her job as a sales associate for Comcast by 8 a.m.

After work, she headed back to the polls with her son Michael Christian in tow. There was no wait, and Brock, who is African American, cast a ballot for Obama, then headed home to host a part and watch the election results.

“I made sure to bring him,” she said of her son. “I wanted to bring him because I feel like this is a piece of history.”

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Mike Vitez reports:

Voters who arrived to cast ballots at Larchmont School in Mount Laurel around 5:30 p.m. were surprised to find that there were no lines. Several polling places in town were jammed early this morning, so people expected delays.

Instead, they breezed in and out.

Mike O’Toole was talking on his cell phone as he walked into the precinct.

“I’m going to vote to make your life easier,” he said, speaking to his six-year-old daughter.

“Are you voting for McCain?” the little girl asked.

“I don’t think so, he replied.

“I have nothing against McCain,” he later told a reporter. “But I think it’s going to be the same thing, and we can’t have another eight years like we’ve just had.

Also in line to vote was Kristen Henry, who teaches eighth-grade science in Columbus, Burlington County. She said the election loomed large in her classroom today.

“We were misty-eyed when we did the pledge of allegiance at school,” said Henry. “Everyone was so committed and excited - [on] both sides. It was such an emotional day.”

The school where she teaches draws many students from nearby McGuire Air Force base. For military families in particular, she said, the election made for am important day.

Henry, 32, voted for Obama.

“In my liftime, this is the biggest deal I’ve seen” when it comes to presidential elections.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

John Sullivan reports:

A Republican poll watcher called police to allege that two members of the New Black Panthers group were intimidating voters at the polls at 12th and Fairmount, according to an attorney working with the McCain campaign on election matters.

But police and an investigator from the district attorney's office went to inquire and found no evidence of that, according to spokespeople for both offices.

The Republican attorney, Lovida H. Coleman Jr., said one of the alleged intimidators had a nightstick and was asked to leave the location by police. In a video posted on a site called electionjournal.org, police can been seen asking a man with what looked like a nightstick to leave.

"I think it had the appearance of being a serious issue," Coleman said, "but I have not found evidence of any specific harm to anyone."

Another Panther at the scene this afternoon, Jerry Jackson, said he was there to protect voters, not intimidate them.

"I'm making sure that media agitation does not disturb voters," said Jackson, a member of the 14th Ward Democratic Committee who had permission to be there, according to election officials at the scene.

Overall, the D.A.'s office had received 45 calls about a variety of complaints by mid-afternoon compared to 72 at the same time in 2004, according to spokeswoman Cathy Abookire.

"It's been remarkably quiet," she said.

Peter Berson, the supervisor at the DA’s election complaint unit, said he had received calls from reporters from as far away as Chicago about this unsubstantiated report of intimidation.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Life-long friends Chris Le Vine and Chris Leto, both 20, voted in their first presidential election today at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church on Montgomery Ave.

Both registered Republican but Leto voted for Obama, and Le Vine for McCain.

While they debated the issues, neither was disappointed they couldn't convince the other to change their vote.

"We had one pretty heated argument," said Leto a Villanova student. "It was fun to argue with your friend when you have legitimately different views."

Le Vine, a student at Franklin and Marshall came back home to vote. He liked the feeling his voice was being heard.

At the polling location, there was a heavier than usual turnout. By 5:15 p. m. they had already seen 1191 voters out of about 2700. In 2004, they closed their poll with about 1200 total voting for the day.

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.

Kia Gregory reports at 5 p.m.:

First time voter Kazeem Animasaun, 18, stands in a long line with hundreds of other voters outside of North Philadelphia’s Penrose Recreation Center, where workers say more than a thousand people voted today.

De La Soul’s Me Myself and I blares from the loud speaker. Kids play with balloons animals. And there are stacks of bottled water on tables.

Earlier under a steady ran, poll workers handed on ponchos to voters, some of whom waited in line for about three hours. Animasaun has been here for about 30 minutes and counting.

“I feel real good,” said Animasaun, a freshman at Temple University and a native of Nigeria. “It’s the time time you have any African American that can win.”

This morning, his mother called him from Nigeria warning him: don’t forget to vote today. Estimates say he has about two hours before he does.

“I don’t mind,” he says about the wait, adding a warm grin, “because I got a chance to make change.”

Click here for Philly.com's politics page.