President George W. Bush's Republican party vowed it would match or even outnumber the 10,000 lawyers monitoring battleground states for Democratic challenger Senator John Kerry on election day Tuesday. "When the other side says they're going to have 10,000 lawyers on the ground, we went out and got some for ourselves," Republican party chairman Ed Gillespie said. "But the fact is if it's a contest of which party has the most lawyers, I can tell you who will win that," he told CNN television.

The 2000 presidential election turned to catastrophe when the results in the decisive state of Florida were contested and held in limbo for 36 days of recounts and litigation. The US Supreme Court finally made a ruling that halted the recount and effectively declared Bush the winner over Al Gore.

Not taking any chances this time, the US Justice Department has announced it will send more than 1,000 federal election observers into 25 states - three times as many poll watchers on election day four years ago. Independent legal and civil rights groups have also recruited their own volunteers and set up hotlines to assist voters.

"We have received more than 40,000 calls since we opened hotlines in mid-October," said Kim Alton, spokeswoman for Election Protection Coalition comprising 60 groups to protect voters rights. The groups comprise the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and the National Bar Association. The Center For Voting and Democracy, another independent and non-profit group helping to monitor elections, charged that tens of thousands of people were on the voting rolls of more than one state. Yet, overall, states had failed to register nearly one out of every three American adults, it said.

"The expected chaos and confusion has inspired swarms of lawyers to pounce on flaws, meaning one again judges could effectively pick our president," said Rob Richie, the center's executive director. Poll monitors are not allowed inside polling stations but say they could play a crucial role in assuring voters who face unexpected problems get the chance to cast their ballots.

Following the 2000 election fiasco, Congress passed and Bush signed the Help America Vote Act to correct problems that plagued the polls but critics say loopholes remain for voter fraud.

New polls show Bush and Kerry in a neck and neck race in the elections.