Barack Obama, Joe Biden, John McCain and Sarah Palin cast their ballots Tuesday morning along with millions of other Americans — the culminating act in a two-year-long process that will result in a new president-elect to lead a nation living under the shadow of two wars and a transcendent economic crisis.

At stake were two historic firsts: the possibility of the nation’s first African-American president, should Obama win, and the country’s first female vice president, in the case of a McCain-Palin victory.

In Congress, Democrats also hoped to widen their advantage by roughly 20 seats in the House and believed a 60-seat, filibuster-resistant majority in the Senate was within the party’s grasp. In addition to all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats were up for grabs as well as 11 gubernatorial races.

Both tickets ended their general election showdown with a final sprint across an array of battleground states — many of them traditionally redder than the McCain campaign would like.

Tuesday morning, it was up to the respective get-out-the-vote teams and, finally, to the bulk of the nation’s voters to have the final say. Anecdotal evidence indicated a huge turnout in both parties, with long lines the norm at polling place after polling place.

Heavy turnout was reported both in and outside of the battleground states, with some election officials predicting rates exceeding 80 percent.

“So far, so good,” said Kevin Kidder, a spokesman for the Ohio Secretary of State’s office. 

Broken machines, long lines, and polling places opening late caused problems across the East Coast and Midwest this morning, according to voting rights advocates.

Lawyers from the Election Protection Coalition asked Virginia officials to address machine malfunctions they said were happening all over the important swing state.

Lawyers from the coalition were also closely monitoring Pennsylvania, after they received accounts of broken machines in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.

And the New Hampshire Republican state party filed a lawsuit to ensure that Republican poll watchers can be close enough to observe voting. New Hampshire has same day voter registration and Republicans said their poll watchers were being kept across the room from the registration tables. 

But there was also evidence of lessons learned from 2004 — and some good luck.

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio, skies were clear and the wait time for voting was about an hour — a striking contrast to the long wait in pouring rain that voters experienced four years ago.

Early voting appeared to help ease the burden for many election officials.

In Colorado, for instance, 64 percent of active voters had cast their ballots before Election Day, a figure that exceeded the early votes cast in 2004 and 2006 combined, officials said.

Georgia election officials also saw heavy early voting. More than 2.2 million of the state’s 4.4 million voters cast their ballots in the weeks leading up to Election Day. “Waiting time across the state, in Atlanta and rural counties, are averaging an hour or less. That’s a positive,” said Matt Carrothers, a Georgia spokesman.

Obama joined the nation's earliest voters Tuesday. "I voted," he said, holding up the validation slip he was handed after turning in a ballot at his Chicago neighborhood's precinct. He planned a final campaign event in nearby Indiana before speaking to a massive evening rally in Chicago.

Obama was accompanied by his wife and two young daughters. "The journey ends," Obama told reporters, "but voting with my daughters, that was a big deal."

In Delaware, Biden went to the polls with his elderly mother. 

In Phoenix, McCain left his high-rise condominium to cast a ballot at a nearby church before preparing to fly to Colorado and New Mexico for events in two crucial battleground states. He gave supporters a thumbs-up sign and was in and out of the polling place within minutes. 

“We’re gonna be up late tonight,” McCain predicted at a rally later in the day in Grand Junction, Colo. “You know some of the pundits have written us off. They may not know it but the Mac is back!” 

Palin returned to Wasilla, Alaska, to vote — the tiny city where she once served as mayor. "Here in Alaska, where we've cleaned up the corruption and we've taken on some self-dealing and self-interests, we've been able to really put government back on the side of the people," Palin told reporters after voting. "I hope, pray, believe I'll be able to do that as vice president for everybody in America, helping to transform our national government, too."

Polls showed Obama a clear favorite — but a charged-up McCain camp continued to insist it was closing the gap and warned against counting out a candidate who has always run best when his chances for success seemed bleakest.

In Democratic circles, there was a kind of queasy confidence mixed with a fatalism that the party has so often snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.

Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said he was confident that new voters and young voters would fuel an enormous turnout.

"We just want to make sure people turn out," Plouffe told "Today" on NBC. "We think we have enough votes around the country."

Wednesday — if there is a clear victor by Tuesday night — could bring a rapid transition, given the staggering magnitude of the economic slowdown and continued volatility on Wall Street.

Aides in both campaigns have hinted they could move forward with White House staff choices or perhaps even a nominee for Treasury secretary within days.