This is Steve Ember with In the News in VOA Special English.

Americans in some states are already voting in the Novembersecond general elections. Thousands of people lined up to vote inFlorida, one of four states where early voting began Monday.Election officials estimate that at least twenty percent of voterswill vote before Election Day. Those votes, however, will be countedat the same time as the others, on November second.

Since the two thousand election,many states have made it easier for people to vote before ElectionDay. More and more people vote by mail. Absentee ballots are meantfor people who cannot go to their local voting station on ElectionDay.

There is also a kind of ballot called a provisional ballot. Theseare given to people who try to vote on Election Day but do not findtheir name on voter lists. In two thousand two Congress passed theHelp America Vote Act. This law requires a provisional ballot to becounted if officials are able to later establish that an individualcould vote. Republicans and Democrats, however, are fighting overthe rules for counting provisional ballots.

In the final days before the election, campaigning is aimed atseveral states known as swing states or battleground states. Theseare where Republican President George Bush and Democratic SenatorJohn Kerry are closest in levels of support.

Ohio, Florida and Pennsylvania are considered the top three amongthese states. Some political experts say whichever candidate winstwo of those three states will win the election.

Americans do not vote directly for their president. Instead, eachof the fifty states represents a number of electoral votes. Thenumber is related to population. A candidate must gain at least twohundred-seventy out of five hundred thirty-eight electoral votes towin.

In two thousand, the dispute over the vote in Florida lasted morethan a month. The Supreme Court finally decided the legal battle.Many Americans are concerned about the possibility of another suchdelay.

Democrats and Republicans have been organizing thousands oflawyers to deploy on Election Day. A coalition of civil rightsgroups says it will have six thousand lawyers and law students toassist minority voters. The Republican National Lawyers Associationsays it has trained about one thousand lawyers to watch for anyonewho tries to vote illegally.

Some international electionobservers are already at work. And computer experts plan to watchfor any trouble with electronic voting machines that will be used inmany places.

Election officials around the country say record numbers ofpeople have registered to vote. This includes record numbers ofAmericans living in other countries. Officials estimate that sixmillion Americans live outside the United States. At least half areregistered to vote. This includes about five hundred thousandmembers of the military and their families.

In the News, in VOA Special English, was written by Cynthia Kirk.This is Steve Ember.