Many Iowans cast their ballots before today. Almost 442-thousand votes were cast by absentee ballot, at satellite voting stations or in a county auditor’s office. Secretary of State Chet Culver, Iowa’s Commissioner of Elections, admits he was surprised by that figure.Iowans who were standing in line to vote at nine o’clock but hadn’t voted yet by law must be allowed to vote. Culver says turnout today is spectacular.Culver anticipates at least one-point-four and perhaps one-and-a-half MILLION Iowans will have voted in the election. Despite problems with a few voting machines and controversy over some move-on-dot-org workers standing too close to polling places, Culver doesn’t expect a legal challenge of today’s election results in Iowa. Culver says there have been very few reports of problems at polling sites, and he says it’s because 10-thousand poll workers across the state were well-trained. In addition, Culver says voters themselves were educated about what to do and where to go to vote.