With the 2012 Presidential Election currently underway and in a dead heat, many reports are indicating that President Barack Obama is holding an early advantage on the former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney. 

Romney, who used to lead a multi-million dollar private equity fund, would become the first Mormon president and one of the wealthiest individuals to be sworn into office if he were to prevail tonight. However, if Obama were to be brought back for a second term, then he'd be the first Democratic president to be re-elected since Bill Clinton in 1996.

While Americans began their trek to the voting booths earlier in the day, both of the candidates' campaign teams worked relentlessly up until the wee hours of Monday night with the hopes of raising their rate of approval. 

A minimum of 120 million Americans are projected to be lining up at the polls on Election Day. The collective decision of those respective voters, especially the individuals amongst the battleground states, will ultimately set the pace for the direction of the country.

The close race between Obama and Romney is turning out to be strikingly similar to the 2000 election, in which the results had to be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.  Nonetheless, both of the campaigns have compiled legal teams to deal with any potential voting discrepancies, recounts or unforeseen issues that may occur.

As a general rule of thumb, Republicans usually punch their votes in larger numbers on Election Day.  On the Democrat side, many individuals voters are said to vote in a different manner.

According to a source close to Business Week, top-line absentee/early voting data on five of the swing states was put out by Catalist as of 12:10 p.m. ET today.  Note that the statistics aren't the same as the exit polls. 

STATE                    TOTAL VOTES                     DEMOCRATIC       REPUBLICAN          INDEPENDENT

COLORADO           1,853,586                             44%                        43%                        12%

IOWA                      658,387                                50%                        37%                        12%

OHIO                      1,442,536                             50%                        36%                        14%

VIRGINIA                 316,158                               42%                        36%                        22%

WISCONSIN            270,664                               44%                        33%                        23%

Tags: mitt romney President Obama 2012 presidential election