DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — Early voting results in Montgomery County tilted heavily for Democrat Barack Obama, a county spokeswoman said.

Obama got 43,951 or 65 percent of the early ballots in the unofficial count, said Cathy Petersen, communications manager for Montgomery County.

Republican John McCain got 24,136 or about 35 percent of the early and absentee ballots, she said.

Polling places throughout the area and the state closed at 7:30 p.m.

Those in line at closing time will be allowed to vote.

The biggest lines came early in the day as polls opened.

Election officials locally and at the state level expected record turnout.

Steve Harsman, Montgomery County Board of Elections director, predicted more than 300,000 votes would be cast, or 78 percent of eligible voters.

He said the process has worked well so far, noting this was the first presidential election that included touchscreen machines, a choice of paper ballots or touchscreen voting and the requirement of voter identification in order to vote.

Considering that, "It's already been a successful election," Harsman said.

The option of using paper ballots was attractive to many voters because the lines were shorter than for touchscreen machines.

Harsman said the board of elections conducted an emergency meeting Tuesday to settle a dispute over voter protection group volunteers. Poll workers said voter protection group members did not fill out proper paperwork to be inside the 100-foot line at polling places.

The board determined that voter protection volunteers could go inside the 100-foot line if voters requested their assistance.