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Driven by excitement over this year's presidential race, record-setting crowds of voters patiently stood in long lines to vote today in Prince George's County.

As polls around the county opened at 7 a.m., poll workers and voters said lines had begun to form as early as 4 a.m.

It appears to be high turnout — not voting machines — that caused the longer waits, election officials said.

"This is incredible. It's been nonstop like this since 7 a.m.," said Arthur Tanner, chief judge at the Langley Park-McCormick Elementary School polling place. "I've never seen anything like this."

Two hundred of the precinct's 1,800 registered voters had voted as of 9 a.m.

The real test of the system is expected to begin at 4 p.m., the traditional time when voters surge at the polls after work. Election officials have warned that people could still be waiting to vote by the time polls close at 8 p.m. but said anyone already in line will get a chance to vote.

Only minor glitches and confusion over polling locations were reported throughout the morning.

At High Point High School in Beltsville, one machine had to be repaired early in the morning before any voters had used it, election officials said.

At All Saints Lutheran Church in Bowie, election judges estimated almost half of the expected 2,000 voters registered at the polling place had cast their ballots by 10 a.m., and voters waited as long as three hours to cast their votes. Election Judge L. Lisa Hughes said larger voter turnout than usual coupled with confusion over the precinct, which was split several years ago, bogged down voters.

"We've had a 10 to 40 percent increase in voter registration since the last presidential election," she said.

Voters who were supposed to vote at a nearby polling site were allowed to cast provisional ballots, but Hughes said the fact the polling place was not given more than 38 voter access cards for their 17 voting machines was slowing down the process.

Lawrence Ukenye, 45, of Bowie waited three hours to find out he was at the wrong precinct, but rather than cast a provisional ballot, he said he'd prefer to wait another three hours at his correct polling place down the street.

"I want my vote to be counted immediately," Ukenye said.

At Adelphi Elementary School, a line of more than 150 people stretched from the school to Riggs Road before 7 a.m.

Charles Glasgow of Adelphi said he always votes, but he was especially looking forward to voting for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

"I'm very excited," Glasgow said.

Glasgow waited in line early this morning sitting in a folding chair, eating cereal. He was prepared for the wait due to media reports about high expected turnout. In previous elections, he has voted without a wait.

Glasgow said he planned to vote against the slots proposal.

"Nobody's going to benefit from it, except the people that own the machines," Glasgow said.

In addition to opposition to slots, many voters said they planned to vote against an increase in the county telephone tax from 8 percent to 11 percent, which would raise revenue for the school system.

"I don't want any more taxes. I'm just fed up with all of these taxes. A lot of people are welfare America, but we are the United States of America," said William Gorham of Hyattsville.

Election officials have predicted participation rates as high as 85 to 90 percent this year for the county's 497,000 registered voters.

At the Columbia Moose Lodge in Clinton, voters said they got in line as early as 6 a.m.

Judy Farmer of Clinton and her son, Wilbur Farmer IV, 18, arrived at the polling place at 7:45 a.m. and estimated the line would take about an hour and a half.

"I will stay to vote however long it takes," Judy Farmer said.

Voter rolls swelled this year in the run-up to the election, where Obama faces Republican John McCain in the presidential race. Last month, more than 20,000 new voters signed up in the county, many looking to elect the first black president of the United States.

"Many of us never thought we'd see the day," said state Sen. David C. Harrington (D-Dist. 47) of Cheverly. "I'll admit, at first I was attracted to him because he was an African-American. But now I see a leader who can take us to a higher place."

Rich Harmel of Upper Marlboro waited in line for about an hour to vote for McCain at Union United Methodist Church in Upper Marlboro.

"He's got a proven record," Harmel said of McCain.

Although Election Day is a day off for Prince George's students, for Jerron Clayton, 7, it was a chance to witness history, as he went with his mother, Ebony Hariston, of Langley Park to vote.

Jerron described the experience as "awesome" and displayed the "I voted" sticker given to voters on his forehead.

"This is a monumental election," Hariston said.

Election officials said they have fully staffed the county's polling sites this year and ordered 300 extra "e-poll" computers to scan and initialize cards for voters to use on the touch-screen voting machines. At a cost of $3,000 per machine, the county has spent an additional $900,000 on the election this year.

"The problems in the past were that the technology wasn't in place," said County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D).

Technology problems stymied voters and poll workers in the Sept. 12, 2006, primary, when crowds in Prince George's County waited as long as two hours to vote. The e-poll machines that register voters crashed repeatedly, and final results in Prince George's were delayed by a week after some workers forgot to retrieve memory cards from the voting machines that contained results.

Election workers immediately hired additional judges and technicians to work the polls, and few problems have been reported.

Lawmakers are hoping this year's election may transform the voting process. In addition to a state referendum on whether to allow slot machines at five locations in the state, voters are being asked whether to approve early voting in Maryland.

Early voting would allow voters to cast their votes up to 10 days before Election Day, a move supporters say will cut down on future lines.

"It's a lot easier to let voters who've made up their mind do early voting," said Terry Speigner, chairman of the Prince George's County Democratic Central Committee.

It is an option that Joyce Wiseman of Laurel, who voted at Oaklands Elementary in Laurel, said she supports.

"I'm all for that. It would cut down on the longer lines. I didn't wait long because I'm handicapped, but for other people, it would cut down that time," Wiseman said.

For Eileen McKenna, 85, of Bowie who was able to make it through the line at Kenilworth Elementary School to vote in 10 minutes, the prospect of early voting seemed absurd and opposed it.

"I think it's just ridiculous to allow people to vote ahead of time," she said.

Polls will remain open until 8 p.m. To see polling locations and election results, visit the county board of elections at www.co.pg.md.us/government/agencyindex/elections/index.asp.

E-mail Daniel Valentine at dvalentine@gazette.net

Staff Writers Megan McKeever, Greg Holzheimer, Jonah Schuman, Elahe Izadi and Andrea Noble contributed to this report.