Same-sex marriagesVoters in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Oklahoma on Tuesday gave overwhelming approval to constitutional amendments banning same-sex marriages. Six other states were expected to follow suit, adopting amendments that restrict marriage to a union between a man and a woman and in some cases bar all cohabiting couples from receiving domestic partnership benefits.
Only Oregon, the 11th state where a same-sex marriage ban was on the ballot, remained in question.
The early votes were decisive. Voters in Ohio, Oklahoma and Kentucky forcefully endorsed the state constitutional amendments. A dominant majority of voters in Georgia said yes to a bill that not only defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman but strips courts of the ability to hear cases pertaining to same-sex partnerships.
Some advocates of the same-sex marriage bans quickly hailed Tuesday's votes as evidence of support for an amendment to the US constitution that would prevent gays and lesbians from marrying.
"This is further evidence that the American people do not want marriage to be redefined," said Mr Gary Bauer, head of the advocacy group American Values, in Arlington, Virginia.
With nearly all the same-sex marriage bans winning approval, Mr Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said: "Marriage equality is taking it on the chin tonight, but it's not a knockout. This is only round one."
Amendments banning same-sex marriages also appeared on ballots in Arkansas, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oregon and Utah.
None of the states voting on the ban currently permits same-sex marriage, although officials in Portland, Oregon, granted marriage licences to more than 3,000 same-sex couples this year before a court stopped the practice.
Earlier in the year, amendments banning same-sex marriage won the approval of more than 70 per cent of voters in Missouri and Louisiana. The Louisiana amendment was subsequently struck down in state court on grounds that it improperly dealt with two subjects: banning same-sex marriage while barring legal recognition of common-law relationships, domestic partnerships and civil unions.
Proponents of same-sex marriage in Georgia immediately vowed to contest Tuesday's vote there on similar grounds.
"Once the votes have been certified, we will challenge, absolutely," said Ms Karla Drenner, a Democratic state legislator who led the opposition to Georgia's amendment.
She said the same-sex marriage debate had "fuelled a conservative voting base here, and more or less turned into a national get-out-the-vote effort for conservative groups".
But Ms Sadie Fields, leader of Georgia's Christian Coalition, said: "The voice of reason has prevailed in Georgia. Marriage is too precious an institution to allow the social liberals to experiment with it."
The Christian Coalition of Ohio's executive director, Mr Chris Long, attributed his state's rejection of same-sex marriage to "the groundswell of support from churches all across Ohio". He said 550,000 signatures in support of the measure were collected by "churches and pastors throughout the state".
Ms Cheryl Jacques, president of the Human Rights Campaign in Washington, said the state marriage measures were used "in a sensational way during an election year as a divisive issue".
Still, she said, "obviously this is a huge disappointment, that voters in these states would vote to enshrine discrimination in their state constitutions".