MIAMI, Nov 1 (AFP) - As Americans readied to flock to the polls, Florida braced for a massive turnout in a tight, potentially decisive race watched by an army of observers determined to avert a repeat of the 2000 chaos.
Officials prayed the specter of the famed "Florida fiasco" would go away, but renewed controversy swirled over the southeastern state where inspections of chads, reviews of butterfly ballots and legal wrangling delayed the outcome of the presidential by 36 days.
In recent days, President George W. Bush and his Democratic rival John Kerry have focused much of their campaigns on Florida, where opinion polls put them in a dead heat.
With the two running neck-and-neck nationally, Florida, which has 27 of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the election, could be pivotal in determining whether the Republican president will remain in the White House.
It was a controversial 537-vote lead in Florida that gave Bush his 2000 victory, but only after the US Supreme Court halted five weeks of recounts, leading many Democrats to claim he stole the election.
This time around both campaigns, as well as non-partisan groups, have deployed thousands of lawyers and observers to Florida, ready to challenge any perceived irregularity.
A dozen lawsuits already have been filed over rejected voter registrations, voting machines and several other issues.
The two campaigns also have traded claims of voter intimidation during early voting that started on October 18 and brought an estimated 20 percent of the 10-million strong electorate to the polls.
The long lines at the polls have lead to expectations of a massive turnout that could exceed the 70 percent of voters who showed up at the polls in 2000.
"I think it bodes for a very high turnout in the election in general," said Lance deHaven Smith, an elections expert at Florida State University.
This could be crucial in a state where Republicans are traditionally more likely to show up at the polls, but where Democrats are more numerous. The Kerry campaign has gone all-out to mobilize voters, pounding the pavement, knocking on doors and deploying the likes of former president Bill Clinton and his daughter Chelsea, who made her campaign debut in Florida last week.
"I think a high turnout will help the Democrats," said deHaven Smith, who is convinced Florida "will determine the election."
Minorities have played a key role in the Florida campaign, with both sides courting Hispanics, Jews and undecided voters, and the Democrats going all-out to mobilize African-Americans, who rank among their strongest supporters.
A key concern is that thousands of voters who requested absentee ballots did not get them in time, after tens of thousands of forms went astray, apparently lost in heaps of mail at the post office.
Democrats in particular also worried about the touch-screen system used in 15 of Florida's 67 counties, saying a reliable manual recount would be impossible since the machines do not print out a copy of the ballots.
The machines replace the infamous punch-card system used last time around, when experts argued over how indentations and dangling pieces of paper known as chads reflected voter intent on initially rejected ballots.
Democrats also argued the Republicans who run the state have excessive influence over electoral authorities. The president's strongest ally in Florida is his own brother, Governor Jeb Bush.
The controversy may well turn into lawsuits if the vote is as anywhere as close as it was in 2000.
"Each side would challenge any irregularity it feels affects it," said Susan McManus of the University of South Florida.
11/01/2004 16:53 GMT - AFP