Labor pains can't stop Obama supporter

BEAUFORT, S.C., Nov. 6 (UPI) -- A 27-year-old woman in Bluffton, S.C., says she is happy she was able to vote for President-elect Barack Obama after going into labor hours before.

Lakisha Smith said while her water broke the night before Election Day, she was determined to put off her hospital visit until she was able to cast her vote for the U.S. senator from Illinois in the general election, The Beaufort (S.C.) Gazette said Wednesday.

"It was historic," she said of the Democratic candidate's Election Day victory.

After waiting in line at an area voting location Tuesday, Smith gave birth to a girl named Keyonna Marie Smith.

Meanwhile, a town clerk in Hilton Head Island, S.C., said another pregnant woman gritted her teeth through labor pains to cast her vote ahead of Election Day.

Diana Nicholson, the assistant town clerk for the South Carolina town, told the Gazette one female voter taking part in Monday's early election voting went into labor during the process.

"It was a young couple, and they were excited about voting and excited about having a baby," she said.

Nicholson told the newspaper the couple completed the voting process before racing away to a hospital.