Democrats score early victory as election results roll in Democrats have won the closely contested governor's race in Ohio and both parties are waiting to see which one will control Congress as more polls closed on Election Day 2006. Rep. Ted Strickland defeated Republican Ken Blackwell with ease to become the first Ohio Democrat elected governor in 16 years. Elsewhere, incumbents won several lightly contested Senate seats -- but most closely watched races are yet to be decided. Up for grabs in today's midterm elections are all 435 House seats, 33 Senate seats and governorships in 36 states as well as ballot initiatives in some states on such topics as gay marriage and stem-cell research. ELECTIONLINE: Latest developments | Your voting experience? Voter turnout could exceed the most recent midterm high of 42.1%, according to Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. The non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics predicts campaign spending of $2.8 billion, up 27% from 2002. At St. John's United Methodist Church in St. Charles, Mo., 35 people waiting outside at 6 a.m. to vote when polls opened. Turnout was heavy through the day, said Denise Jensen, a poll worker who has worked the past past several elections at the precinct. "It's the highest I've ever worked," she said. "If we continue at this pace, we'll be at 80% turnout." With voting beginning to wrap up, the key question is whether Democrats can tap into national unhappiness with President Bush and his conduct of the war in Iraq to pick up the 15 seats they need to control the House of Representatives and six seats they need to take the Senate. Democrats were guardedly optimistic, particularly on the House races, but Republican leaders cited narrowing polls in Senate races in Montana, Rhode Island and Maryland as signs of an 11th-hour surge. House races At least two dozen Republican House seats are at risk. Among GOP-held open seats, those in Arizona, Colorado, New York, Ohio and Iowa seemed most vulnerable. Republican Reps. John Hostettler, Chris Chocola and Mike Sodrel of Indiana; Charles Taylor of North Carolina; Curt Weldon, Don Sherwood and Melissa Hart of Pennsylvania; and Charles Bass of New Hampshire were in particularly difficult re-election struggles. If Democrats should win the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, would be in line to become the first female House speaker in history. All 435 House seats were on the ballot, and most incumbents were headed toward easy re-election. The magic number was 218 seats for a majority. The current lineup: 229 Republicans, 201 Democrats, one independent who lines up with the Democrats for organizational purposes, and four vacancies, three of them in seats formerly held by Republicans. The fight for control came down to 50 or so seats, nearly half of them in a string stretching from Connecticut through New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. All were in Republican hands, a blend of seats coming open and incumbents in trouble. Senate races The battle for Senate seats in at least eight states remained close in final polls. Races in Virginia, Tennessee, Pennsylvania and Missouri — all seats currently held by Republicans — were drawing particular interest. In early returns, the Associated Press projected West Virginia's Robert Byrd, a Democrat, was elected to a record ninth Senate term. The AP also projected political independent Bernie Sanders won the Vermont seat now held by another independent, retiring Sen. James Jeffords, guaranteeing that the next Senate will have at least one independent. In Indiana, Republican Sen. Dick Lugar, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, coasted to a sixth term. The Senate will have two independents if incumbent Joseph Lieberman wins in Connecticut. Both Sanders and Lieberman are expected to vote Democratic when the chamber's leaders are elected. Voters filled 33 of the Senate's 100 seats, and the GOP had some leeway. Democrats needed a net pickup of six to recapture the majority that they last briefly exercised in 2001-2002. On the ballots were 17 seats now held by Democrats and 15 seats now filled by Republicans, including the Tennessee post of retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist. Governors With 10 new governors guaranteed to come out of Tuesday's elections, state governments were in for their biggest shake-up in years — one that had a chance of being even more tumultuous if Democrats managed to reverse years of Republican dominance. Ten states had open seats because of retirements, term limits and primary defeat. Five other states were so competitive that incumbent governors were fighting hard to avoid being unseated. In all, 36 states chose their top leaders. The biggest names were in some of the least competitive races. Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California was safely ahead in pre-election surveys, while Democrat Eliot Spitzer — an attorney general famous for pushing for Wall Street and corporate reform — was far ahead in New York, and polls showed Democrat Deval Patrick on track to become Massachusetts' first black governor. He would be only the second elected black governor ever nationwide. GOP Gov. Rick Perry of Texas was a favorite to beat back a Democrat challenger and two independents, including musician and comic Kinky Friedman. The Democrats were hoping to reverse the Republican majority among governorships that the GOP has held ever since the landslide of 1994. Exit polls For voters in House races, national issues trumped local ones, according to national exit poll results released by the Associated Press. About six in 10 voters disapproved of the war in Iraq, and they strongly favored Democratic House candidates. Less than a third said the war has improved the long-term security of the United States, down from 46% in the 2004 national exit poll. While voters considered Iraq a very important factor in their decision, it lagged behind the economy, government corruption and scandal as a factor. Terrorism was rated at least as important as Iraq. More than twice as many voters said they felt angry toward President Bush as felt enthusiastic. About four in 10 voters approved of how Bush is handling his job, slightly more than for Congress, . Voting problems As both parties revved up their massive get-out-the-vote operations, programming errors and inexperience dealing with electronic voting machines caused some problems: • A federal judge ordered an Ohio county to keep 16 Cleveland-area polling locations open until 9 p.m. ET because of long lines and earlier problems with voting machines.There were reports some machines wouldn't function. "We got five machines — one of them's got to work," said Willette Scullank, a troubleshooter from the Cuyahoga County, Ohio, elections board. •In Indiana's Marion County, about 175 of 914 precincts turned to paper because poll workers didn't know how to run the machines, said Marion County Clerk Doris Ann Sadler. Election officials in Delaware County, planned to seek a court order to extend voting after an apparent computer error prevented voters from casting ballots in 75 precincts. • In Florida, voting was briefly delayed at four districts because of either mixed up ballots or electronic activators being unintentionally wiped out, according to Mary Cooney, spokeswoman for the Broward County Supervisor of Elections. Voters were forced to use paper ballots after an electronic machine broke in the Jacksonville suburb of Orange Park. • In suburban Pittsburgh, some precincts opened late because workers couldn't zero out voting machines, raising concern that votes from previous elections had not been purged • In Passaic County, N.J., Republicans complained that a ballot had been pre-marked on some machines with a vote for the Democratic Senate candidate; the state attorney general was looking into the matter. Voting experts had feared widespread problems this year, as a third of Americans faced voting on on new equipment this year as well as coming to grips with new registration and voter ID rules. "This is largely what I expected," said Doug Chapin, director of Electionline.org, a non-partisan group that tracks voting changes and procedures. "With as much change as we had, expecting things to go absolutely smoothly at the beginning of the day is too optimistic." In addition to voting glitches, the FBI is looking into election-related charges in two states. In Michigan, the FBI is investigating the hacking of the website of Mike Bouchard, Republican candidate for the Senate. FBI Special Agent Stephen Kodack Jr. also says the agency is also looking into reports of intimidating phone calls in Virginia, where people may have been steered to wrong polling places after being asked whom they supported. Overall, the Justice Department said polling complaints were down slightly from 2004 by early afternoon. Final pitches Bush pounded on the Democrats Monday night in a final rally in Dallas. He lowered the rhetoric today after voting, with his wife, Laura, at a fire station near his ranch in Crawford, Tex. "We live in a free society and our government is only as good as the willingness of our people to participate," said Bush, wearing an "I voted" sticker on his jacket. "Therefore no matter what your party affiliation or if you don't have a party affiliation, do your duty, cast your ballot and let your voice be heard," he said. In Chappaqua, N.Y., Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, took a nuanced approach when asked how she cast her ballot. "I voted for change, except for me," she said. Bush used the last day of a 10-state tour to stump for GOP gubernatorial candidates in Florida, Arkansas and Texas. In Rochester, N.Y., former president Bill Clinton campaigned for Democratic House candidates. "We've got to get all ours out, and then you've got to hunt for people still standing on the diving board," Clinton said. "And when you find one, tell them what the choice is. ... Grab them by the hand and tell them it's time to jump off to a better future." Contributing: Douglas Stanglin, Bill Nichols, Kathy Kiely, David Jackson, Andrea Stone, Randy Lilleston and the Associated Press. Enlarge By Amy Sancetta, AP Poll workers at the Garden Valley Neighborhood House in Cleveland try to get an electronic voting machine to start after polls had already opened.