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Tonya Coleman and Brooke Rayfield arrived at Brown Station Elementary School in Gaithersburg at 5:30 a.m. Tuesday to be the first in line to vote in the historic 2008 elections.

"Oh my God, it was so overwhelming. We both shed some tears," said Coleman, 37, a senior reimbursement specialist at TheraCom in Rockville. "It's historical on both ends with Barack Obama being the first possible African-American president and then McCain being the eldest and Sarah Palin, being the first possible vice presidential female."

The weather was brisk and it was still dark out when the women arrived, beating poll workers, she said.

Coleman and Rayfield, a 22-year-old coworker, sat in folding chairs Coleman brought from home, waiting at the door until others arrived.

"Everyone was very pleasant and when we came outside, people were shouting, ‘Go Voters! Go voters! Go voters!'" she said.

At noon, Montgomery County Board of Elections President Samuel L. Statland said the election was going well. Minor problems cropped up — some disagreements in distance limits for campaign workers, a couple of failed electronic voting books and long lines in some areas.

"Ten percent of voters have already voted absentee, decreasing the lines a bit," Statland said. "The average wait time has been one hour, with extremes on both ends. Now as the day goes on, lines are decreasing which is the typical voting pattern."

Elections officials expect an 85 percent voter turnout, about 5 percent to 7 percent above other presidential elections. As of October 15 the final day of voter registration, the county's voter rolls listed 557,730 voters, an increase of 53,315 voters over the Feb. 12 primary.

"Elections are about community and having people participate in the political process," Statland said. "This election is historical in that either the first African American president will be elected or the first female vice president will be election. This election is déja vu of the 1960s when older Americans felt comfortable turning the country over to the younger generation."

At Fields Road Elementary School in Gaithersburg, the lack of enough poll books seemed to contribute to lines that kept more than 200 voters waiting nearly an hour.

Election workers checked in voters with four poll books, a setup that left about eight, roughly half, of the polling stations empty.

The Election Protection Coalition, a nonpartisan organization of lawyers, reported that 447 inquiries were made to their office from Maryland as of 4:25 p.m., including 199 people reporting problems. Prince George's County generated 239 of the inquiries followed by Baltimore with 126.

The leading problem reported was registration problems, 92, followed by polling place issues, 52, and voting equipment problems, 21.

The line of voters at Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School managed to stay inside the building during the first hour of voting as election officials said they were pleased with the results during the morning rush at 7 a.m.

"No complaints. That's unusual," Tom Wilson, the Republican chief judge for the county Board of Elections, said at about 7:50 a.m. He said the most common complaint in the past has been about long lines.

"I like to see long lines, and they're moving very quickly," said John Sullivan, vice president of the Board of Elections, at 8 a.m. He called this presidential election "probably unprecedented in terms of turnout."

Sharon Sweezy of Bethesda, who was in a wheelchair, said she didn't encounter any difficulties voting, aside from when she tried to exit the high school and encountered a door that didn't open when she pushed the appropriate button.

She said it was important to restore America's standing with other countries.

"I don't even know what they think anymore," Sweezy said.

Jacob Hoots of Bethesda said after voting, he planned to drive to Richmond, Va., to drive people to the polls.

"I really have a lot of admiration and confidence in Barack Obama," said Hoots, noting that he believed Obama "understands what a lot of Americans are facing."

A thick column of voters was wrapped around two corners of Damascus High School when polls opened. Some voters had been waiting since 5:45 a.m. to cast their ballots. By 7 a.m., when voting began, more than 300 people were waiting.

Waiting in a line so long they couldn't even see the voting-area door, Danny Tippett, 28, and Priscilla Cuellar, 27, both from Damascus, said it was their first time ever voting.

"This is an important moment in history and we wanted to be a part of it," Tippett said.

Last night they drove three and a half hours to Manassas, Va., for Obama's final campaign rally.

"It was amazing — 100,000 people," Cuellar said.

They said they knew there would be long lines, but were prepared to wait patiently for their chance to vote.

"It's worth it to make your voice heard," Tippett said.

Joy Lazaroff, the chief judge at the Wheaton Community Center polling place said she had never seen a turnout quite like Tuesday's. In 2004, the line was probably half as long, she said.

Lazaroff said she expected a heavy flow of voters all day, which means no breaks for her and her staff.

"They'll just grab something to eat and come back," she said. But despite the long lines and heavy workload in front of her, she said everything was running smoothly.

For first-time voter Kevin Smith, Tuesday's election defied predictions from officials who estimated five-hour voting times at Takoma Park polling stations.

"I just went in there, stayed for about five minutes, made my vote and got out. It was real quick," said the 19-year-old who voted at Piney Branch Elementary School. The lines moved quickly and voting was efficient.

Chief Election Judge Jeff Middents credited extra voting machines at the site this year and Tuesday's last-minute addition of two standby election judges to the elementary school staff to help with a predicted heavy turnout.

"I honestly don't see this as terribly different from past elections," he said. "From the information that we have, 20 percent of voters turn up in the first two hours."

Silver Spring resident Tara O'Hare had sensed this year's election would bring more people to the polls and executed an Election Day strategy that kept her comfortable as she waited in line with hundreds of voters at Silver Spring Library. She brought a folding chair.

"It feels like a bigger deal than it was in 2004," O'Hare, 26, said of the reasoning for her unusual strategy.

In the morning, the line ran out of the Colesville Road library and out into the parking lot.

O'Hare had carried the chair over from her nearby apartment at 7 a.m., planted herself with a book and moved whenever the gap between her and the next voter grew too big.

At 7:45 a.m. she wasn't yet halfway through the line.

At about 8:45 a.m., Donald Turk left the polling station after arriving just before 7 a.m. when the polls opened. In an area with predominantly Democrats, Turk still came out to brave the lines and vote for Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

"It's probably not going to matter," Turk said of his vote. "But I feel strongly about Obama not being president."