It's the Election Day in the United States. After the longest and most expensive presidential campaign in the American history, voters are out to make their final choice. No matter who they voted for, they say it's a historic selection, either the first African-American president or the oldest first-term occupant of the White House and his female vice president. Our correspondent shanshan is in Chicago and has talked to a number of voters. Let's see what she's got for us.

Ann:

I'm in front of a polling station is Chicago, where democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign headquarters is located. The voting started early in the day, at 6 am, to make it easier for those who could rush to work after casting their ballots. I visited 5 big polling stations. Posters at the polling stations are in three languages, English, Spanish and Chinese, because of the large Chinese community in Chicago. Let's hear who they voted for.

"Obama","Obama","Obama".

Everybody is voting for Barack Obama? I'm not convinced. Even if Obama is ahead in many national polls, the answers I've got still sound out of proportion. So my interview has turned into a desperate search of someone voted for republican presidential nominee John McCain. I've got one.

"Cos I think he is the best candidate, and I'm a republican."

While those voted for Barack Obama believe he is the best person to bring changes to the government, the society and their lives.

Declan Odonovan has become a US citizen three months ago. It's the first time he comes to vote.

"The economy is gonna get better certainly, we're gonna spend a lot less money in Iraq, which we shouldn't get in the first place. But I think overall we're ready for change, the economy is in shambles, a lot of people are losing jobs, I think we have the right man to help".

Lally Windworth used to work in the University of Chicago, where Obama taught at the Law School for 12 years. Windworth says she has heard of Obama back then.

"I've lived in Chicago for 20 years and I used to work for the University of Chicago when he was in the faculty. He is a known quantity to me. And I think McCain's selection of Sarah Palin was just a desperate measure, she is just an idiot. I used to like McCain but I think she's changed. "

Down Gardener, a retiree, says he hopes Obama could bring changes to the government.

“I'm pretty tired of eight years of stupid people running the government. I'm hoping that he's going to bring smarter people to Washington to help him.”

Jenny Thompson, says Obama is everything people need.

He is intelligent, well-spoken, bright, he is everything we need. That's a change, and it's time for a change.

I'm not sure whether the picture in Chicago could represent the whole picture of the United States, because the result in the battleground states, like Ohio, Florida, Philadelphia will be the key factors to decide the result. However, at least, we could see the trend. No matter who they vote for, voters say they are excited about the election, because it's making history.

"Definitely, it's been more exciting and I've been interested in watching what's happening everything".

"More excitement because of the history making in either ways, the president will go to Barack Obama, but if the election goes to the other way, it's still history making. So you see a lot of people registered to vote because of that. Even if the campaign lasts forever, people are still energized."

"I think there's a lot more excitement this time, it's a much more extrme choice than we had before."

"This is history being made, whether Palin as the vice president or Obama as the president, I mean it's amazing how phenomenal this is".

"In our country, this is a historical election, for the first time, a woman was possibly she was going to be a candidate and a man of color".

Charles Smith, an official with a polling station, says the voter turnout is good.

"350 people have voted since 6 this morning. When we get down here, we had almost 35 people waiting to vote before we even opened up."

The message is clear, people in the United States want a change. And this is the time of change and they want to be part of it. The polling stations will close at 7pm local time, that is 9 am Nov 5 in Beijing. After that, a huge party of 65,000 people will be held in the Grand Park in Chicago, where Barack Obama will deliver a speech. Presumably, it will be a speech of victory.

SS, CRI news, Chicago.