Voters cast their ballots at the Wakeman Township fire station near Wakeman, Ohio Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011. (AP Photo/Mark Duncan) Photograph: Mark Duncan/AP
The Republican right appears to be heading for a major defeat in a referendum on proposed anti-union laws in Ohio, which has become the frontline in the battle between organised labour and the Tea Party movement.
Union leaders piled into Ohio to lead the fight against Republican governor Joe Kasich's proposed legislation that would roll back the right to collective bargaining and other basic labour rights of about 350,000 public sector workers. Polls show double-digit support for the unions.
The vote in Ohio is one of many across the US on Tuesday, ranging from governorship elections to referendums on abortion and other social issues.
Defeat for Kasich, who was elected in November last year with the support of the Tea Party, would be a signficant setback for conservatives.
Kasich has emerged as one of the favourites of the right, along with Republican governor Scott Walker who introduced similar, though less draconian, legislation in Wisconsin.
Kasich's proposed new law would restrict the bargaining rights of state employees, including police officers, firefighters and teachers. The governor argues that state employees enjoy better benefits than comparable workers in the private sector and that the changes are necessary to bring state spending under control.
Speaking on the eve of the referendum, Kasich said it would reduce taxes and make Ohio a magnet for companies starting up or seeking to relocate. He said that some public sector workers received automatic pay rises based on seniority and that bad teachers were able to hide behind their contracts.
The proposed law would ban strikes by public sector workers. It would end the right of unions to negotiate on health care provisions or pensions, two of the costliest items for the state. Although unions would still be able to negotiate on pay, annual pay rises for teachers would be ended.
Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, warned at a rally on the eve of the referendum that if the unions were to lose in Ohio, then other states could expect to see other onslaughts on union rights.
"Because if they can take collective bargaining away from one segment of our economy, they can take it away from the next segment and the next," he said.
Trumka and other union leaders took to the streets knock on doors in the final hours.
Trumka and other union leaders took to the streets knock on doors in the final hours.
Barack Obama's campaign team sent volunteers into Ohio, a traditional swing state and one of the pivotal states in Obama's bid to secure re-election in November next year. If he cannot take Ohio, his chances of winning the election will be slim.
Obama's team, which may struggle to attract volunteers on the same scale as it did in 2008, will hope mobilisation of the left in Ohio might be carried over into next year.
Obama publicly backed pro-union protests in Wisconsin earlier this year but has distanced himself from the Ohio confrontation. His campaign advisers may have decided that if the polls are accurate and the unions have won, there is no reason for him to be present and alienate even more conservative voters.
White House press spokesman Jay Carney was asked by reporters on Monday why Obama had not spoken out about the proposed Ohio legislation. Carney replied: "The president strongly supports the collective bargaining rights of Americans and strongly believes that voters should vote no."
In Mississippi, Democrat Johnny Dupree is battling for the governorship against Republican Phil Bryant. The contest is significant primarily because, given the state's racist past, Dupree is the first African-American from a major party to stand for the governorship. Polls suggest he is unlikely to win.
Also on the ballot in Mississippi is a proposal to define life as beginning at conception, a move that would make abortion illegal.
There is another governor's race in Kentucky, where Democrat Steve Beshear is expected to secure re-election. In Arizona, a Republican state senator Russell Pearce is facing a recall vote that could force out of office one of the leading figures behind the state's anti-immigration laws.
In Washington state, voters will decide whether to end the state's monopoly over alcohol states and allow big stores to sell drink. Other votes range from San Francisco, where the public is to decide on pension reform to help with the city's budget problems, to Oregon, where electoral reform is on the ballot paper, a proposal to allow people to vote by iPad.