NEW YORK, NY November 17, 2008 —Senator Charles Schumer plans to hold a statewide Internet lottery to handle the deluge of residents wanting to attend President-elect Barack Obama's historic inauguration.

Schumer's office has received nearly 100,000 ticket requests so far. It says it will distribute approximately 350 tickets in a random drawing held the first week in December.

New Yorkers can enter by going to Schumer's Senate Web site.

Meanwhile, New Jersey's two U.S. senators are also reporting being inundated with 60,000 requests for inauguration tickets so far. They only expect to be allocated about 300 to 500 tickets each.