Los Angeles - With the oldest ever candidate and the first black nominee the upcoming US election already has a lot of firsts. Now add another: drive-through voting.

For a few hours Tuesday night voters in car-crazy Orange County can perform their civic duty without leaving the comfort of their automobiles at eight electronic booths set up in a southern Californian parking lot. The booths are also available for voters to register on the last permitted day before the November 4 election.

The Los Angeles Times quoted Neal Kelley, the local registrar of voters, as saying that "as far as he knows the setup is the first of its kind."

The special drive-through voting booths were originally designed for disabled voters. They are lower than regular voting booths making them the perfect height for drivers to use through their open car windows.

Kelley said his office had been inundated with calls about the drive-through voting system, predicting that the number of last day registrations would triple the 1,200 people who registered on the last possible day prior to the 2004 election.

"I didn't think it would catch on," Kelley said. "It seems to have hit a chord with people ... they like the convenience factor." (dpa)