US election diary

ONE FROM ORBIT

Among the millions of votes cast in the election was one from orbit. Leroy Chiao was the first astronaut to vote in space. Chiao, who is on the International Space Station, sent an encrypted ballot via e-mail to Nasa's Mission Control in Houston, Texas. Mission Control then forwarded it to election authorities in Texas where Chiao resides. "Every vote counts," Chiao said.

WEB SPINS

Political websites, previously the domain of campaign junkies, grabbed centre stage after online commentators posted what they said was early exit poll data showing Senator John Kerry ahead. Television networks were left to show footage of crowded poll sites and the candidates after vowing to refrain from making early projections of the presidential election's outcome. US stocks closed lower in a sharp reversal after word spread of preliminary exit poll data purporting to show Kerry leading in the vital states of Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania.

UNABLE TO OBSERVE

Some observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), a Europe-wide security and rights forum, were barred from entering some polling stations in the United States.Said Soeren Soendergaard, a Danish parliamentary deputy: "Although we were officially invited to follow the election, the message was not passed on to the polling stations." He told the Danish news agency Ritzau he had been personally refused admission at three out of four polling stations in Columbus, Ohio.

A MATTER OF CONVENIENCE

Why do Americans vote on Tuesday and have since 1845? The simple answer is because Congress decided they have to. The main issue then was the convenience of congressmen, according to Don Ritchie, an associate Senate historian. Friday or Monday would have been the start or end of the working week, when accounts needed to be opened or settled. Saturday or Sunday might have clashed with worship services.

POLL PUNTING

British punters bet £8 million ($21.75 million) on the outcome of the election, an absolute record surpassing all predictions, bookmakers said."[It's] double what was bet at the last US election," said a spokesman for one of the biggest companies, William Hill: "This has been the biggest betting foreign election we have ever known." A Chicago supporter of Bush flew into London to place a US$25,000 bet. Bush was favourite, but last-minute betting shifted in favour of Kerry.

STRAW POLL

In Guam, Republicans scored an early win when Bush beat Kerry by 17,264 votes to 9540. Though the vote was just a straw poll and the votes did not count towards the election, the territory of Guam prides itself on having voted for the winning candidate since 1984.

- AGENCIES