ROUGH CUT - NO REPORTER NARRATION

President Barack Obama took a break from the campaign trail to head home to Illinois and cast his ballot at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Chicago Thursday. (October 25)

Before he was allowed to vote, he was asked for identification. Handing over his driver's license, he joked that his picture was taken before his hair went gray.

Obama became the first sitting president to cast his ballot before Election Day and his campaign hopes he will set an example for his supporter to follow.

"For all of you who have not yet early voted, I just want everyone to see what an incredibly efficient process this was thanks to the outstanding folks who are at this particular polling place. Obviously people in Illinois can take advantage of this but all across the country we're seeing a lot of early voting. It means you don't have to figure out if you need to take time off work, figure out how to pick up the kids and still cast your ballot, if something happens on election day you will have already taken care of it, if it's bad weather you won't get wet, or in Chicago snowy but this was really convenient," Obama said.

The Obama campaign has committed to an unprecented amount of resources in getting votes banked before polls officially open in twelve days. Among registered voters, 18 percent said that they have already voted, with 55 percent voting for Obama and 40 percent for Romney. Another 31 percent said they planned to vote before Election Day.