Finally. An election campaign that has lasted almost two years will be over at last as those who haven't yet voted go to cast ballots for president, U.S. Senate and other offices.

It's been an intense election cycle and passions have run high. In fact, Santa Fe County Clerk Valerie Espinoza said Monday that this year she's seen more aggressive behavior and rudeness at early-voting locations than she's ever experienced before. She's so concerned that she requested state emergency-management officials to be ready in case there are problems on Election Day.

On Saturday, she said, some early voters were offended by a van decorated with a large photo of an aborted fetus that stopped by the Santa Fe County Fairgrounds, an early-voting spot, and one anti-abortion activist reportedly got into an argument there.

She's also had to deal with poll watchers and other observers, who she said seem more suspicious than ever before. "Some of them have followed by workers taking ballot boxes from the polling places," she said.

But, she said, "We are extremely prepared and ready to deal with whoever shows up (today)."

In the presidential race, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain have fought hard for the state's five electoral votes. Both candidates have visited the state several times.

But for several weeks, Obama has led in New Mexico polls. An Albuquerque Journal poll published Sunday showed Obama with an 8 percentage-point lead, while a SurveyUSA/KOB TV poll published Saturday showed Obama winning by 7 points.

Also on the New Mexico presidential ballot are Ralph Nader of the Independent Party, Libertarian Bob Barr, Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinley and Constitution Party nominee Chuck Waldman.

In the race to fill the seat of retiring U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, Democrat Tom Udall has retained a large and steady lead over Republican Steve Pearce.

Santa Fe voters also have the opportunity to cast a ballot for Udall's replacement in the House of Representatives. Democrat Ben Ray Luján has led Republican Dan East and independent Carol Miller in the polls in the overwhelmingly Democratic 3rd Congressional District. Luján, a member of the state Public Regulation Commission, spent Monday campaigning in Las Vegas, N.M., with state Democratic Party Chairman Brian Colón and State Auditor Hector Balderas. Luján met with voters at Mora businesses and made calls at a Taos campaign office.

The only other contested race on Santa Fe ballots is the Public Regulation Commission race between Jerome Block Jr., who won the Democratic nomination, and Green Party challenger Rick Lass.

In addition to the candidates, this year's ballot includes several judicial retention questions, including all First District judges, bond issues and constitutional amendments.

More than half of registered voters in Santa Fe — 54 percent — already had cast ballots by Monday, Espinoza said. That includes 37,383 people who voted early in-person and 15,391 who voted absentee.

Espinoza said she still expects long lines at the polls today.

Statewide, the Secretary of State's Office reported that 492,914 New Mexico voters, more than a third of registered voters, had already voted by Monday. More than 334,000 voted early in person, while more than 148,000 had mailed in absentee ballots as of Monday.

Nearly 53 percent of early votes in the state have been cast by registered Democrats, compared with 33 percent by registered Republicans, The Associated Press reported.

There are 1,192,818 registered, eligible voters in New Mexico. In Santa Fe County, there are 97,704 registered voters, including 61,603 Democrats, 16,891 declined-to-states, 16,590 Republicans and 2,620 members of other parties.

Sheryl Nichols, Los Alamos County chief deputy clerk, said she's not anticipating tabulation problems, but remained cautious because memory cards that stored election information failed in a previous election.

"We are all paper-ballot this time, so if something should happen and the memory cards implode, we could hand-tally and you can have totals in December," Nichols joked.

Here's some tips for those who want to vote:

• Voters who need to know their polling location or information can visit the "Voter View" section of the Secretary of State's Web site, https://voterview.state.nm.us. The Santa Fe County Clerk's Office can be reached at 986-6280.

• Those with absentee ballots have until 7 p.m. today to deliver their ballots to their county clerk's office. An immediate family member or a caretaker also may deliver the ballot, as long as the outer envelope is signed by the voter.

• Voters who requested but have not received an absentee ballot should go to their assigned polling place and sign a sworn affidavit, where they will be given a provisional ballot.

• Santa Fe voters who need a ride can catch the bus, which is free all day.

To report problems at the polls:

• Election Protection, a nonpartisan voter rights group, has set up a hot line, 1-866-OURVOTE, for people to call.

• The U.S. attorney will handle calls at 505-224-1464 about election fraud or voting-rights abuses. The FBI will have special agents from the Albuquerque field office available to handle allegations of election fraud, voter intimidation or suppression. The FBI's election complaint coordinator can be reached at 889-1300, while complaints about ballot access or discrimination problems should be made to the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice at 800-253-3931.

• The National Federation of Republican Women has set up an election fraud hot line at 866-976-VOTE; problems can be reported by e-mail at votefraud@gmail.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact Steve Terrell at 986-3037 or sterrell@sfnewmexican.com; contact Kate Nash at 986-3036 or knash@sfnewmexican.com.