Barack Obama became the first African-American elected president of the United States in a historic vote that included unprecedented turnout in Chicago and across the nation.

Mount Greenwood resident Wayne Chambers echoed the sentiments of many Chicagoans that stood in lines, sometimes for hours, to cast their ballots.

"McCain is just like Bush. And I can't take 12 years of a Bush regime," said Chambers, who also served as an election judge.

For William Pickens, who is black, Election Day was vindication and validation of his people. 

Pickens, 79, served in a  segregated Marine Cops during World War II and as a regular soldier in Korea. He says he also strived to succeed as one of the best black men to work for Brinks Security at a time when companies like that rarely hired African Americans.

He longed for the day when people were truly judged by the character of their heart instead of the color of their skin. Election Day was that day.

He was the first to cast a ballot in his ward in Hyde Park.

"It's the most exciting election I've ever been a part of," said Pickens, who is also a poll watcher. "I think this election could help bring monumental change in how the world sees this country. If this election goes right, the other countries will see us, and change their ways. The wars will stop, and I hope to see peace. I want to see peace."

Voters settle local races

While the spotlight was on the presidential race, Chicagoans also chose candidates for local offices.

Democrat Anita Alvarez was elected Cook County state's attorney, defeating Republican Tony Peraica and Green Party candidate Thomas O’Brien.

Alvarez will become the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as the county's top prosecutor.

With 84.54 percent of city votes counted, Alvarez received nearly 78.29 percent of the vote; Peraica received 16.52 percent; and O-Brien got 5.20 percent. Early this morning, she had received more than 60 percent of the votes counted in suburban Cook County.

Alvarez replaces the retiring Dick Devine, who led the office for the past 12 years.

Voters were also good to incumbents. They re-elected Gene Moore, the Democrat Cook County Recorder of Deeds, who easily defeating Republican challenger Gregory Goldstein and Green Party candidate Terrence Gilhooly.

Voters also re-elected Dorothy Brown, a Democrat and incumbent clerk of the Cook County Circuit Court, to her third consecutive term. She defeated Republican and former Democrat Diane Shapiro and Green Party candidate Paloma Andrade. 

Issues of technology, ethics and patronage underscored the race. Brown got 77.70 percent of the city vote; Shapiro got 16.70 percent of the vote and Andrade got 5.59 percent.

Few problems at the polls

The Attorney General’s office kept a watchful eye on the polls in Chicago. Voters reported minor problems, including late opening polls, supply problems and equipment malfunctions, said Natalie Bauer, spokesperson for Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

The Attorney General made sure polling places that opened late extended their hours to accommodate voters.

At the polling place at Truman College, voters had a confusing experience.  Three precincts had separate polling stations set up side-by-side in the main lobby of the college. As many as 50 people were in each of the lines for two precincts and about 20 waited in line for the third precinct during the busiest part of the morning, said poll worker David Russell Jacobson.

Some voters had to wait in more than one line after realizing they had been standing in line for the wrong precinct. Polling officials turned regularly to large precinct maps to verify that everyone was voting in the right precinct, and helped voters find the right machines.

The Chicago Board of Elections was able to start counting ballots after polls closed at 7 p.m. Cook County's election system malfunctioned, delaying poll results while election officials worked with engineers from the system's manufacturer to track down a problem converting voting data into properly formatted results.

As of 10:27 p.m., 334,000 ballots, or 34 percent of yesterday's vote, had been counted, Cook County election officials say.

"We have the data down here, we have the votes, they're secure, they're in the data base," said Ed Smith, the vice president of Sequoia, the company behind the equipment. "But getting through the final bit" is proving difficult.

Spirits soar

Neither long lines at polling place nor faulting ballot-counting equipment could sink the spirits of the diverse group of voters that participated in the historic election.

More than 100,000 people packed Grant Park to listen to Obama deliver his victory speech. He stayed at the site until at least 1 a.m., shaking the hands and thanking voters and volunteers.

Chants of "Yes, we did!" filled the field as the jumbotron noted that the president-elect will take office during the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.

As Obama gave his first speech as president-elect last night, offering a vision of shared service and sacrifice, UIC student Kat LaCoste. 20, was left almost speechless.

"Nobody can put into words what people are feeling right now," LaCoste said. "I feel like his speech summed up everything that all the American people are hoping for."

Obama pledged to work with Sen. John McCain, despite their differences on economic matters, health care and other issues.

In Chicago, an overwhelmingly Democratic city, a few Republicans were also active.

DePaul students and GOP members Nicole Heath and Taylor Capodann were in Humboldt Park  volunteering with “Participatory Democracy.” The program, through the Cultural Center, aims to assist registered voters in getting to their precinct on Election Day.  

The program recruits students to go door-to-door with a list of registered voters in the neighborhood, even enlisting students with cars to drive local residents to their polling stations, the two students said.  

“We just wanted to get people out to vote,” said Heath, who voted for McCain through a New York absentee ballot. “Our political affiliation doesn’t have anything to do with it.”