Politics

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Next, we go to Des Moines, Iowa where Sadhya Dirks of Iowa Public Radio joins us. Good morning.

SADHYA DIRKS, BYLINE: Morning.

MONTAGNE: And where did you start out this morning? I gather it wasn't Des Moines.

DIRKS: I was in a suburb of Des Moines. It's a more conservative part of Des Moines. It's Johnston, Iowa and I was at the Evangelical Free Church there, just talking to some voters and seeing what the turnout was like.

MONTAGNE: And what was it?

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan cast his vote in his home state of Wisconsin this morning. To learn more about voting in that battleground state on this Election Day, we reached Shawn Johnson of Wisconsin Public Radio. He's in the town of Middleton, just outside the state capital, Madison. Good morning.

SHAWN JOHNSON, BYLINE: Good morning.

MONTAGNE: Well, tell us a little about Middleton - partly what the scene is there, but also what kind of place is it?

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RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning. People have been joking for weeks that the candidates are actually running for president of Ohio. That's how vital the state is, but here's a reminder about the electoral map. It is at least theoretically possible for either candidate to lose Ohio and still reach 270 electoral votes by winning some combination of other states. Many of those combinations include Florida.

The Republican presidential nominee Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann cast their ballots near their home in Belmont, Mass. this morning.

Garrett Jackson, Romney's assistant, has been keeping a close record on Twitter of Romney's Election Day movements.

It's at least theoretically possible for either candidate to lose the vital state of Ohio and still reach 270 electoral votes by winning some combination of other states. Many of those combinations include Florida — infamous for voting irregularities in 2000.

Ohio is possibly the most important state in this presidential race. A challenge over early voting there has turned into a dispute over provisional ballots.