Dickens Olewe
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Many here in Kenya's capital, Nairobi, got up early to get near the front of the voting queue.

Among them is Henry Moi who started queuing on Monday at 21:00 GMT (11pm local time).

He said that he feels it is important to take part in voting and wants his vote to count.

Michael Wandera is a motorcycle taxi rider who got to his polling station at 4am local time but ended up in the wrong queue.

"I only found out two hours later after polls opened," he told me.

He says he moved to the right queue but there were 30 people ahead of him.

"I was planning to go home and watch the election coverage but on my way there I got a customer and he paid me well, so I thought I should hang around the polling station to make make some money."

A photographer for the Reuters news agency has snapped elderly men and women from the Turkana ethnic group going to vote in a small polling station near Bangaroy, in the north of the country.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Image source, Reuters

Kenya's election commission reports some problems with extreme weather, which meant that helicopters needed to be used:

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta had a similar message to his deputy (see below) when he went to vote at a polling station in central Kenya.

He is facing seven challengers in the race to become the next president, the main one being opposition leader Raila Odinga.

The BBC's Anthony Irungu snapped him as he was getting his identity checked using the electronic system:

He spoke to reporters afterwards, saying he would concede if he loses the vote and called for peace in the country.

"I have always preached peace and unity. I believe this country can't make progress unless we are one.

"I believe we will have peace and a free and fair election."

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Kenya

William Ruto, Kenya's Deputy President, has been speaking outside a polling station in Kosachei, 25km from Eldoret in western Kenya.

"We thank Kenyans for showing up on large numbers since dawn to exercise their democratic right, we urge you not to embarrass our country by engaging in violence," he said.

"We want peace during and after the voting process.

"We are democrats and we are ready to support whoever wins the elections.

"We will concede if we are defeated and we urge our opponents to make the same commitment."

BBC Monitoring
The world through its media

Kenyan vernacular radio stations are calling on their listeners to go out and vote, as the local language broadcasters report a smooth start to the election.

Kalenjin, Kikuyu and Luo language radio stations have been carrying live programming on the election since 03:00 GMT (6am) when polling stations opened.

Kikuyu-language Kameme FM has been playing patriotic songs while urging voters to ensure they cast their ballots. The main song that the broadcaster has repeatedly played is Mkenya Daima (Kenyan for life) by Eric Wainaina.

"Unity is our pride. We don't want hate and negative ethnicity," the opening lines of the song go.

The Kikuyu-language Inooro FM has been urging its listeners to go out and vote. The broadcaster has played gospel songs urging peace.

Kalenjin-language Kass FM and Chamgei FM have been speaking live to their reporters in western Rift Valley region on the voting. Correspondents report a smooth voting exercise despite long queues in many polling stations.

Callers to Luo-language Radio Nam Lolwe and Daala FM say they arrived one hour before the polling stations opened. Others said they were lining up to vote.

Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, who is leading the Carter Center's observer delegation, is at a polling station in Moi Avenue in the capital, Nairobi.

"A huge majority of Kenyans want peace and a peaceful election," he said.

"So far today it's been very interesting, but there's a lot of work to do still.

"It's too early to make any judgments but everybody is really patient, the lines are extremely calm and organised."

The BBC's Focus on Africa radio team are continuing their odyssey across the country from the west of Kenya to the capital, Nairobi.

Rob Wilson made a time-lapse video of the long queues in Kericho (see earlier post) and now he has spotted the similar scenes in Nakuru, 160km (100 miles) north-west of the Nairobi.

You can hear Focus on Africa live from Nairobi on the BBC World Service at 15:00 GMT.

Anthony Irungu
BBC Africa, Kenya

Some go for the practical woolly hat and warm jacket, but others have clearly put in a lot of thought into the question of what to wear to go and vote.

In Gatundu, Kiambu county, a family have come dressed as the Kenyan flag.

James Kimani says he always wears the suit on public holidays and patriotic days.

He says that his vote is not for individuals but for peace throughout Kenya.

James' wife even braided her hair with the colours of the flag.

The couple say they love the attention - they caused quite a stir when they came to the polling station.

The BBC's Emmanuel Igunza in Eldoret, western Kenya, reports some technical hitches with the biometric ID system for voters.

If that's not working details having to entered manually, which can make the process a bit longer. Though it does not seem to be affecting people's mood:

The BBC's Abdinoor Aden spotted this activist near a voters' queue in Kibera, which is in Kenya's capital, Nairobi.

He's known as Mr Peace and he's encouraging calm during the voting process and in the aftermath.

Zuia noma means 'stop violence':

And this picture that Abdinoor took inside the polling station reminds us why voting can take some time.

People are voting in six elections - from the president down to local representatives:

There have been reports of delays in voting at some of the polling stations in Kenya.

The electoral commission says it knows about the problems and is working to sort them out.

Polls are due to close at 14:00 GMT (5pm local time) - but will stay open to let those who are still in the queue to case their ballots.

The wait is on for President Uhuru Kenyatta to vote at Mutomo primary school in the Gatundu South constituency in central Kenya.

The BBC's Anthony Irungu said locals are waiting to see him cast his ballot.

A vehicle is ferrying elderly and disabled people to the polling station, making sure they are able to cast their vote.

Dickens Olewe
BBC Africa, Nairobi

Polls have opened in most parts of the country despite a few delays.

At the Westlands Primary School polling station in the capital, Nairobi; where I voted, people started queuing from as early as 23:00 GMT (2am local time).

When the gates did not open at 6am, as was expected, people became agitated and some approached journalists to vent their frustrations.

The gates opened at 6.23am and the already impatient crowd broke from their orderly queue to rush into the school compound.

After initally getting in the wrong queue I was shown to the right place to wait to vote.

I was then handed six ballot papers for the races being contested and proceeded to the voting booth.

Compared to the 2013 election, the queues are much shorter in general because the election commission - the IEBC - has set up more than 40,000 polling stations across the country which are supposed to have a maximum of 700 voters each.

Kenyans take pride in voting and they hope today is that the voting machines work and the system to transmit the vote result will not fail like they did in the 2013 election.

Image source, Getty Images

Speaking to the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza, voter Vicky Rono said the voting process was "very nice" and "organised" while she cast her early morning ballot in western Kenya.

The BBC's Focus on Africa radio team is making their way across the west of Kenya from Kisumu to the capital, Nairobi, today to see how voting is going in various places.

The BBC's Rob Wilson posted this time-lapse video of the two-hour long queue in Kericho, western Kenya, this morning:

But Rob found that it wasn't all long queues in rural parts of Kericho county - the centre of Kenya's tea industry.

Here's a picture he took of voters at the Kaplamboi tea-buying centre:

Voters in Kenya are making a special effort to get out and have their say on who should be running things.

The BBC's Ferdinand Omondi in the coastal city of Mombasa spotted this woman being helped to the polling station this morning:

Ferdinand says that it has just started raining, but voters are staying put. Some got there at 02:00 GMT (5am local time) to make sure they voted.

He adds that at the polling station where he is there are two snaking queues, both 80m long. But everything is calm:

And on the other side of the country, in Kisumu - in the west - the BBC's Odeo Sirari snapped these voters in a long queue:

Ahead of the vote, the BBC's Emmanuel Igunza spoke to some people in Eldoret, western Kenya, one of the areas worst hit by the election that followed the election in 2007.

He found that people were emphasising the message of peace:

Alice Njeri, a second-hand clothes trader and mother of three said:

John Muigai, who sells second-hand dolls said:.

In order to avoid someone trying to vote twice election officials mark people's fingers with a purple dye.

The BBC's Abdinoor Aden has sent us this picture of voters showing their marked fingers at a polling station in Kibera, a the large slum area of the capital, Nairobi:

He says there has been some frustration and anger where he is as some people cannot find their names on the voters lists and some of the electronic equipment used to identify voters has broken down.

People are also sharing pictures on Twitter of their inked finger nails to show that they have taken part in the vote:

Just over 45% of registered voters in Kenya are younger than 35 and a big portion of them will be first-time voters.

So what are they thinking? We've been hearing from two of them:

Sharon Ndoigo says:

Christine Mangi says:

Read more here: Kenya election: Views of first-time voters