Early Voting in Iowa Starts, President Obama ahead in Polls

Iowa's 2 percent of Latinos can begin casting their ballots Thursday as the first day of early voting unfolds across Iowa. Four years ago, about 50,000 Iowa Latinos voted in the presidential election, according to exit polls.

Iowa is a key battleground state and Hispanics are expected to play a role in which side of the aisle the state's six electoral votes swing.

The votes will not be counted until November, and over the next several weeks, early voting will also be offered at places like churches, college campuses, and grocery stores.

Iowa is one of more than 30 states, along with the District of Columbia, that allow early voting. South Dakota, Idaho and Vermont have already begun in-person voting.

President Barack Obama leads rival Mitt Romney in Iowa opinion polls.

Since the GOP nomination, Romney has visited the state six times and has poured $8 million into television advertising.

The Obama-Iowa campaign says it's "definitely putting an emphasis on early voting with supporters."

"Everybody's busy running around - kids, school, work, Iowa weather - you never know what can happen," Erin Seidler, the communications director for Obama's Iowa campaign, said. "And voting early really is easy and it's accessible."

Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said his team has expanded on its 2008 effort, including registering 147 percent more voters than it did four years ago.

Despite being behind in the polls, Romney hopes that the incumbent president's record will work against him.

"The key for Obama is getting the best votes out of their lowest-propensity voter," Romney political director Rich Beeson said. "With an intensity gap, that's the first problem they are going to have."

At close of business Tuesday, 114,585 Democrats had requested absentee ballots from election officials; compared to 22,364 Republicans, according to the office of Secretary of State Matt Schultz.

In 2008, 35 percent of Iowa voters cast ballots ahead of time.