Free Lance-Star reporters and photographers fanned out across the Fredericksburg area yesterday as residents flocked to the polls. Here are some of the more memorable sights and sounds from Election Day:

LIKE MOTHER, LIKE DAUGHTER OR NOT

Courtney and Joan Jones came to the polls together, stood an hour in the rain together and enjoyed some quality mother-daughter time together.

But 22-year-old Courtney and 59-year-old Joan didn't share the same candidate.

As a young woman worried about how the world is going to look in 40 years, Courtney said Barack Obama best fits the mold. Her mom decided to vote for John McCain.

"I lost $80,000-some in the last month in the stock market," Joan Jones said. "The economy is the biggest issue."

Her daughter also was worried about finances, but more over the long term.

"It's not looking good for my future," she said of Social Security.

The two don't agree on politics, so they agree to disagree.

"We just don't talk about it," Courtney said with a laugh.

--Ellen Biltz

EVERY VOTE COUNTS

An event at King George High included a poster with these interesting facts for those who think their vote doesn't matter.

In 1845, one vote brought Texas into the Union.

In 1868, one vote saved President Andrew Johnson from being removed from office.

In 1923, one vote gave Adolf Hitler leadership of the Nazi Party in Germany.

--Corey Byers

WORKING TO BUILD SUPPORT FOR OBAMA

The rusted burgundy truck pulled in front of New City Fellowship Church, decorated with Obama signs and toys from the Nickelodeon TV show "Bob the Builder."

Painted on the side of one of the ladders tied to the top of the truck was the message: "Bob the Builder and Barack Obama both say 'Yes we can!' You betcha we can, Sarah Palin!"

The decorated truck belongs to Bob Lowry, who has owned Lowry Construction in Fredericksburg for more than two decades.

"I've been minding my own business for 25 years," he said.

Lowry said he didn't buy into the McCain-Palin ticket's appeal for small-business owners.

"I'm the answer to Joe the Plumber," said Lowry. "McCain's tax cuts just don't cut it for me."

Lowry, who got the nickname "Bob the Builder" from his children, decorated his truck with Obama signs a week before yesterday's election. The truck has been photographed by friends and strangers.

"It's not just about my business, it's about everything," Lowry said. "Obama is a true uniter."

--Susannah Clark

TIME FOR A SNACK

The lines in some precincts yesterday snaked around buildings and down sidewalks. Voters stood in the rain and the cold, wishing for the lines to move.

But smiles could be seen across many of their faces as they approached refreshment stands.

Some of the vendors were selling for fund-raisers, others were giving away coffee and cookies in hopes of swaying undecided voters.

"It's the finishing fundraiser," said a woman who was selling doughnuts outside of Gayle Middle School. The money would go to her son's Eagle Scout project building a gazebo for the Hope House.

And at Stafford High School, voters who took their lunch break to vote could knock it all out in one trip.

There, a man named Sam was selling hot dogs and sausages. His setup looked like he should have been at a fair instead of a polling place.

--Ellen Biltz

A WHALE OF A VICTORY

John McCain won at least one election yesterday--a voting event for kids at King George High School.

The county's Parks and Recreation Department held an informational session on the U.S. voting system for children, with stations on topics ranging from the Electoral College to the president's job responsibilities. At the end, the kids voted for their favorite candidate.

McCain nipped Obama 65-64. One write-in vote was cast for the Green Party.

Included in the display was an Electoral College map of the United States, drawn and colored in by hand. It had the commonwealth of Virginia shaped like a blue whale. Fellow commonwealth Massachusetts looked like a chicken wing.

--Corey Byers

IT'S A FREE COUNTRY

About midday, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme were doing brisk traffic handing out free food and drink to voters. Starbucks offered a cup of coffee; Krispy Kreme gave a star-shaped doughnut with red and blue sprinkles.

Customers fresh from the voting booth seemed to have no trouble asking for their election gimmes, then walking out.

Lines at the polls might have diminished by lunchtime, but the line at the Central Park Chick-fil-A stretched out the door and into the parking lot. There was a similar backup at the drive-through.

The probable reason: One free chicken sandwich per voter, in return for that person's "I voted" sticker.

Greatest country in the world.

--Laura Moyer

DIVISION DOESN'T EQUAL SUBTRACTION

John McCain and Barack Obama spent much of the campaign courting voters in the middle. The situation at the Grafton Elementary polling place in Stafford County yesterday offered an unexpected explanation for that.

With the midmorning line stretching out the door to the sidewalk, poll workers tried to shorten it by explaining the setup inside. Three lines were set up alphabetically according to voters' last name: A-H, I-R and Q-Z. The ends of the alphabet offered little or no wait, a poll worker told those still waiting to get in the door.

"Anyone with a last name starting with A through G?" a poll worker asked. "You can go inside now."

A couple of people moved up.

"Anyone Q through Z?"

Nothing.

"Anyone want to change their name?" she asked with a chuckle.

--Phil Jenkins

'THE LEAST I COULD DO'

Under gray skies, Lisa Heinrichs, the wife of a Marine, handed out red sample ballots in the parking lot of Mount Ararat Church in North Stafford.

When voters approached her, she chatted with them, but if they gave the Republican booth a wide berth, she did not pursue.

"I do this the same way I sell Girl Scout cookies," she said.

One woman flashed Heinrichs a smile as she lifted her Halloween sweater to reveal a "Palin" T-shirt concealed underneath.

"I'm just a military spouse figuring this is the least I could do," Heinrichs said.

--Edie Gross

EFFECTIVE EXIT POLLING

An Edison/Mitofsky exit-poll worker was stationed at the front door of Falmouth Elementary School in Stafford, asking voters to volunteer the choices they had made inside.

When asked how things were going, she said she'd have to wait to count the ballots after she wrapped things up around 6:30 p.m.

The most surprising development?

"The number of rejections I've gotten," she said.

--Jonas Beals