Rhode Islanders made history yesterday, turning out overwhelmingly for Democrat Barack Obama and committing the Ocean State’s four electoral votes to the first African-American to be elected president of the United States.

Statewide turnout neared unprecedented levels, even though pollsters for weeks had seen the presidential election in Rhode Island as a foregone conclusion. More than 400,000 Rhode Islanders cast ballots yesterday, approaching the record of 453,477 set in 1992 when Democrat Bill Clinton defeated Republican George H.W. Bush and independent H. Ross Perot.

The final turnout probably will not be known until today, when officials complete the count of as many as 26,375 mail ballots and ballots from precincts that experienced problems with voting yesterday. Results were delayed in Smithfield, where ballots had been printed incorrectly and could not be read by vote-counting computer scanners, and in East Providence, where one precinct was closed for part of the day after a suspicious white powder, which turned out to be harmless, was found on the floor.

With 97 percent of precincts reporting, 435,261 ballots had been cast for president. Projected out for all precincts, that would be 448,723 votes. But that number could change depending on the turnout in the individual precincts remaining to report. Also, heavy same-day registration for presidential voting was reported in Providence, which could boost that total.

“After they add in the mail ballots ... and the record numbers of same-day registration, I wouldn’t be surprised if we break the record for Rhode Island,” Secretary of State A. Ralph Mollis said last night. “People felt that today was their opportunity to participate in the process and let their voice be heard.”

If the Ocean State were to fall short of the record, Mollis said it would only be “because we don’t have too much mystery about who was going to win at the top of the ticket.”

At a gathering of Democrats at the Providence Biltmore Hotel, Rep. Patrick Kennedy, flanked by his mother, Joan, his brother Ted, and several nieces and nephews, led the crowd chanting Obama’s campaign slogan: “Yes, we can. Yes, we can. Yes, we will.”

Kennedy said: “America is embarking on a new journey. ... This country has finally said enough is enough.”

Diana Rivera, an 18-year-old nursing student at Rhode Island College, said she will remember her first-time voting experience all her life.

“It was exciting. Something I was looking forward to for a while. It makes a difference,” Rivera said after she and her mother voted at Pocasset Manor in Providence’s Silver Lake section.

Like most of her friends, Rivera voted for Obama because “he touches the youth. He gives a better future for everyone.”

All day, friends sent instant messages that popped up on the screen of her T-Mobile Sidekick.

Messages such as, “Rock the Vote! Vote Obama,” and “Happy Election. Vote! Yehh dig?” (She said the latter message “is like slang.”)

Rivera reminds any friend who does not exercise the right to vote, “People fought for this.”

Small-business owners Alicia and Garath Warden, of Exeter, said they voted for Obama because they feared that John McCain would continue the policies of President Bush.

“We’re petrified of another four years like the last eight years,” Garath, 42, said.

“We’ve suffered under the Republicans,” said Alicia, 41.

The Republicans’ handling of the economy, the couple said, influenced their decision. But so did what they viewed as Obama’s more noble vision of America.

“This country is a melting pot and he’s an example of what this country should be,” Alicia said. “He’s got some good ideas. Let’s give him a go.”

The Wardens own a farm and Carpentry Works Unlimited, an architectural millwork company, on Ten Rod Road across from Exeter Town Hall.

Other factors influencing their decision, they said, were McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate and what Garath described as McCain’s “disturbing” temperament in the presidential debates.

Garath, who said he is an avid student of history, saw in Obama some of the qualities that John F. Kennedy brought to the White House.

“He’s a very eloquent individual.”

With reports by G. Wayne Miller, Karen Lee Ziner and Linda Borg.

pparker@projo.com