Ortega has overseen a period of economic progress in his five years in power,
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"He has helped the poor. Other presidents didn't do that," said law student Wendy Gonzalez, 19, after casting her vote in a poor area of the capital of Managua.
Ortega has a big poll lead over a conservative opposition whose two main candidates failed to unite against him. A recent CID-Gallup poll showed he was on course to win nearly half the votes in the election, well above what he would need to avoid a run-off vote.
He was able to run for re-election thanks to a 2009 ruling by the Supreme Court -- which his Sandinista party controls -- that did away with a ban on consecutive terms.
Backed by Venezuela, Ortega has reduced poverty in this largely agrarian nation and is credited with allowing the private sector to operate freely.