South Asians, including Indian Americans, turned up in unusually large numbers to vote in New York City, reflecting what observers say is a nationwide trend in the 2004 presidential election.

"I have not only taken part in election, but have been an observer for many years. I have never seen such huge number of people from the South Asian community standing in queue to cast votes," said Morshed Alam, former NYC School Board member and commissioner for the city's voter assistance commissioner. "This is just unbelievable."

Unlike earlier, the turnout was unusually high in several parts of the country, including in battleground states like Ohio and California, a state not known for high polling.

Nirmal Sinha, a long-time resident of Ohio and a community activist, said he was surprised to see a huge turnout of voters, including South Asian voters.

"What struck me was how much politically charged people have become this year," Sinha said. "In many places, people had to wait for more than hour in the line before they could cast their ballot."

Alam, who was Democratic candidate from NY Senate and received about 42 per cent of the votes in 1998, said he saw the same scene wherever he went in Queens in the morning.

For instance, he said, in one of the polling centres in Jamaica, almost 40 per cent of those standing in the queue were South Asians.

"Between 10 and 11 in the morning I saw a huge number of people standing in queue. Almost 40 to 50 per cent of those standing in queue in PS (Public School) 131, were South Asian, including Indians and Bangladeshis and Pakistanis," Alam said.

Alam said this indicated that South Asians were taking the presidential election more seriously than they had in the past.

"The reasons are very clear. A lot of people from our part of the world have serious concerns about the immigration and other policies of the Bush administration. The large turnout is a reflection of a desire for change," he said.

Although NY's 31 electoral votes are believed to be going in Kerry's favour, that has not discouraged Republicans from voting.