On a historic Election Day in which voters across the United States turned out in epic numbers, many voters in southwestern Pennsylvania faced long lines, but found few major problems that interfered with casting their ballots.

A few voting machines malfunctioned in Homewood, Swissvale and the Hill District, among other areas.

A shortage of poll workers to handle overwhelming crowds required additional workers to be deputized on an emergency basis, especially in Oakland and other university neighborhoods where turnout swelled especially large.

A dozen women in labor at Magee-Womens Hospital and at Allegheny General Hospital finally obtained emergency absentee ballots last night, but their votes weren't submitted in time to be counted. And poll workers at a handful of polling places in Westmoreland, Beaver and Allegheny counties asked all voters for identification, although election law states that only first-time voters must show ID.

But overall, Election Bureau Director Mark Wolosik was pleased with how voting went yesterday, with turnout at some polling places reaching 50 percent or more by noon.

Mr. Wolosik has been through this before and knows a perfect election day is an unattainable goal, given the human element, the technology, the daunting logistics.

"There was nothing out of the ordinary for a jurisdiction our size," Mr. Wolosik said inside the often-hectic Elections Bureau on the sixth floor of the County Office Building on Ross Street.

"There are 1,321 voting districts, over 6,500 people you're counting on to be at polling places on time, 4,500 electronic voting machines and the polling places have to be open at 6 a.m. There's always a glitch somewhere. You can't expect a jurisdiction our size to be perfect."

Poll workers in two student-heavy Oakland precincts were swamped from the start, with lines so long before 8 a.m. in the University of Pittsburgh's Posvar Hall that they had to be divided into four lines, based on the first letter of the voters' last names.

Inside, Jason Bolton, a Pitt sophomore volunteering for the AFL-CIO and Election Protection, said more than 1,000 people had voted before 10 a.m. and that more than 10,000 were expected.

Several hours later, as President-elect Obama wrapped up his acceptance speech in Chicago, hundreds of Pitt students poured out of dorms and apartments into the Schenley Quadrangle and nearby streets to chant, scream and celebrate his victory.

Dozens of Pittsburgh police officers stood by and watched the exuberant crowd. Officers also shut off traffic on Forbes Avenue between Atwood and Bigelow Boulevard to protect students who began running around the campus and through the streets.

In Aliquippa, precincts 2 and 4 are two blocks from each other on Franklin Avenue. Poll workers at both said they had never seen the turnout they saw yesterday.

"It was wild," said Johnette Dinello, judge of elections at precinct 4, a former G.C. Murphy's with a tin-stamped ceiling. "How many words can I use? Wild, wild, wild."

The number of people who usually vote there in one day already had voted before 11:30 a.m., said Cheryl Palochak, a committeewoman, who was sitting outside with her husband, Dennis Palochak, a committeeman.

"A lot were first-time voters," said Ms. Dinello. "A lot of young people and a lot of young African-American voters."

"Most of the new voters are young people, and they couldn't wait," said Eugene "Salt" Smith, the Democratic chairman in precinct 2. "They want to be part of history, and they're coming out in record numbers."

When Rachel Anders got married, she filled out a change of address card and got a new Social Security card. Both times, she checked the boxes to make sure that her voter registration had been moved from her days as a student at Indiana University of Pennsylvania to her new home in Hatboro, Montgomery County.

But a few days ago, she learned her registration had not been moved. And she was still registered in White Township, Indiana County -- 258 miles from home.

So yesterday, she drove five hours each way to cast her vote for Sen. Barack Obama at the Mack Park community center. She's also seven months pregnant.

"As much of a pain as it is, I really wanted to vote," Ms. Anders said. "Something needs to change."

Turnout is generally on the low side in rural precinct 1 in Loyalhanna Township, where some 900 residents are registered to vote. Yet by 12:30 p.m., 266 people had cast ballots on one of three machines in the township's meeting room, which is tacked on the back of the red metal maintenance building off Route 28 in Saltsburg. That's about twice the number of voters who voted both during this spring's primary elections and the 2004 presidential contest.

"We actually had a line out the door," marveled Linda Murphy, township judge of elections since 1975. "Fifteen people at 7 a.m.!"

The mood was equally upbeat just down the road at Kiski Prep, where two students in teacher Andy Scott's industrial arts class extolled the virtues of voting for the very first time. Matt Froehlke, a 19-year-old senior from Fox Chapel, cast his vote for Mr. Obama by absentee ballot.

"I wanted to have my own little part of history, because this is a big one," he said.

Pat Petit, 18, in contrast, chose to cast his vote in person at a senior center in the Mount Vernon section of New Kensington. Voting, Mr. Petit said, made him feel just a little bit important, "like I was doing what I was supposed to do. It was a cool experience."

Both young men planned on watching the returns in the school's day room, though each is hoping for different results. But no matter.

"It's gonna change," said Mr. Petit. "We're making history either way."

This story was reported by staff writers Gretchen McKay, Michael A. Fuoco, Amy McConnell Schaarsmith, Diana Nelson Jones, Jonathan Silver and Paula Reed Ward.