Following two years of often intense campaigning, more than four million registered Scotland voters went to the polls Thursday with independence versus remaining in the United Kingdom at stake.

Voting began at 7 a.m. and continued through 10 p.m. Full results were expected early Friday.

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As voters flocked to the polls under cloudy skies enveloped in foggy mists, potential consequences were huge. Either the world welcomes in its newest state or it remains business almost as usual for one of the world's leading powers.

Scottish independence has been a simmering, and sometimes hot button, issue ever since the once-independent land united with England in 1707.

The election doesn't feature exit polling as U.S. elections sometimes do and British law precludes discussing elections while voting is in progress, so results won't be know until Friday.

However, election officials said record numbers of voters were casting their ballots in this election that divided households and was too close to call in pre-election polls.

Staying in the union won't end the political fallout from the vote either. British Prime Minister David Cameron faced a huge challenge from opponents in his own Conservative Party over autonomy pledges he made Scottish voters should they remain in the UK.

Should Scotland declare independence as urged by Scottish first minister Alex Salmond, a host of new national challenges will become immediately apparent, including what to do for a currency, how the new Scotland will end in world affairs and much more.

The nearly 4.2 million people who registered to vote represented 97 percent of the potential electorate. They included voters as young as 16 years old. Analysts said more than 80 percent of them were expected to turn out and cast ballots.

The ballot measure is disarmingly simple. "Should Scotland be an independent country?"

No matter the outcome, the results will prove anything but simple.

The remaining 60 million UK residents in England, Wales and Northern Ireland have no say in the results. Yet, they, too, will bear the brunt of the outcome that will result in political and economic changes no matter the outcome of the election set in motion when Salmond's pro-independence party took control of the Scottish Parliament in 2011.

TagsScotland, Great Britain, Scotland independence referendum, scotland vote, scotland independence, United Kingdom, david cameron, Alex Salmond