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Primary voters brave bad weather to cast ballots

  • Story Highlights
  • Maryland judge kept polls open an extra 90 minutes due to extreme weather
  • Civil rights organization reports possible problems in Prince George's County
  • Alexandria, Virginia poll officials say they were seeing a steady turnout
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Business was brisk at polling places in Virginia and Maryland on Tuesday, where primaries could answer key questions in the Democratic and Republican nomination races.

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Voters in Baltimore, Maryland, cast their ballots at a fire station on Tuesday.

District of Columbia voters also participated in the "Potomac primaries" -- named for the river that separates Virginia and Maryland and flows past the nation's capital.

At stake in the primaries are 168 Democratic delegates and 110 GOP delegates.

CNN projects that Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain swept all three states.

A Maryland judge ordered polls in the state to remain open an extra 90 minutes because of extreme weather that hindered some voters from reaching their polling places. Maryland polls closed at 9:30 p.m. instead 8 p.m. Video Watch voters brave the weather to vote »

High winds and freezing rain caused traffic tie-ups in the central part of the state, portions of which were under an ice storm warning.

"It's really hard for people to get anywhere, so we are giving everybody a little extra time to get to the polls," said Ross Goldstein, spokesman for the Maryland Elections Board.

Drivers on Interstate 95 between Baltimore and Washington, D.C., told CNN there were dozens of cars on the sides of the road because of the ice.

In Maryland, voter turnout was anticipated to be about 40 percent, which is above normal, according to Ross Goldstein, deputy administrator for the Elections Board.

It's too early to tell for certain if the weather affected those numbers.

Two polling locations in Maryland's Prince George's County opened 15 minutes late, he said.

The Lawyers Committee on Civil Rights, a voters rights watchdog group, said that in addition to those late openings, it received reports that some voting locations in Prince George's County had only two machines, causing long lines. It also said there were reports that technical support personnel were slow to fix voting machine problems.

Goldstein said he had not heard of any machine issues, but noted that such problems are not uncommon.

Overall, he said, the state is happy with how the election went.

"We're feeling good," he said. "There are over 1,800 polling places, [so in] every election there will always be issues. It's just the nature of the beast."

Virginia election officials also predicted a higher-than-normal turnout of 30 to 40 percent for the state's primaries.

High turnout was reported in the northern part of the state and in Richmond and Charlottesville, according to Virginia Board of Elections spokeswoman Susan Pollard. There were reports of 45-minute lines in counties around Richmond, she said.

Mark Coakley, the general register for Henrico County, said there was a record-breaking turnout in his Richmond-area county.

"It's our first-ever dual primary, so regardless, it would be record-breaking," he said.

Election officials also saw a steady turnout at an Alexandria, Virginia, polling station.

"We're getting good, consistent turnout. We started out with over 20 people at the gate when we opened up the doors at 6 a.m.," election official Chris Tatem said. "We're averaging maybe a hundred an hour of people that push through here, which is good."

Around 1 p.m. Tuesday, Tom Fina, the polling station's precinct chief, said the number of voters was already "almost at the same level as we were last year for the Virginia elections."

"Today, with almost 700 votes before the day is much more than half over, we are running considerably ahead of the past experience that we've had," he said.

High winds swept through the state Sunday and Monday, which knocked out power in some areas and forced some polling stations to relocate. The left 50 stations in the dark, election officials said, but power had been restored to all but eight of them Tuesday. Generators were used to restore power at some locations.

In the District of Columbia, two precincts ran out of ballots because of higher-than-expected turnout, according to D.C. Board of Elections spokesman Bill O'Field.

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He said he was not sure how long they were without ballots before more arrived. Other precincts had to have additional ballots sent to them but never ran out.

There are 142 precincts in the District of Columbia, which has a closed primary. E-mail to a friend E-mail to a friend

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