"It's a good day," said Lee Thomas, chief election judge at Binkley Baptist Church in Chapel Hill. "A good, spirited electorate. Everyone seems to be glad to be here."

STATEWIDE: BALLOTS CAST (TURNOUT)

2,069,701 (36%)

TUESDAY'S PRIMARY*

Previous record, 1988: 953,759 (31%)

* NUMBERS NOT FINAL

TRIANGLE: REGISTERED VOTERS (TURNOUT)

Wake: 542,358 (46%)Durham: 156,648 (50%)

Johnston: 93,735 (35%)Orange: 96,606 (48%)

TURNOUT HIGHS AND LOWS

Highest: Tyrrell County (52%)

Lowest: Franklin County (6%)

ISSUES AT THE POLL

* A few polling places stayed open until 8:30 p.m. because of long lines at 7:30 p.m., the regular closing time. At one precinct in Pamlico County, a local chief elections judge failed to show up with the registration lists and other necessary information. A polling place in Cherokee County was closed for 30 minutes in response to a bomb threat. It stayed open an extra hour.

* Some Republicans wanted to vote in the Democratic primary, but state law prevents it.

COMPILED BY SARAH LINDENFELD HALL

VOTERS' VOICES

"This is just an important year to vote. Walk, crawl, hop, skip -- you got to come out and vote." Desman Paris, 26, Raleigh, call center representative, Democrat, who rode a scooter into the Pullen Arts Center in Raleigh due to foot surgery, and cast a vote for Sen. Barack Obama.

"I'm a Republican; I had one choice. To me it's not a race or gender issue. Everybody is saying change. But tell me how you are going to make improvements?" Darcy Dye, 42, Raleigh, Hospice of Wake County employee, a Republican who said she voted for Sen. John McCain.

"In the beginning, they were three-fifths of a person. Now he's No. 1. It's so beautiful that this has happened." Melvin Hooks Jr., 67, Four Oaks, Democrat, who voted for Obama. He was recalling the historic provision under which slaves were counted as three-fifths of a person for census purposes.

"I've always voted for who I wanted, but ever since the Republicans have been in there ..." He turned a thumb down. "I'm putting a Democrat in there. ... I think she's been there and has her husband to back her up, and I like her plans for health care. The United States ought to be able to help small business." Michael Glenn, 46, Durham, owner of a radiator/muffler repair shop, an unaffiliated voter who said he voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton.

"I voted for Ron Paul because I wanted to make a statement that not everybody voting on the Republican ticket thinks exactly the same way. And a lot of people want free markets and civil liberties." Jenna Robinson, 28, Raleigh, student outreach for public policy group, Libertarian who voted as a registered Republican.

"My parents liked when Bill Clinton was president ... the stuff she did with medical care. My mother adores her. She's the one who called and said, 'You better go vote.'" Giovanna Hernandez, 18, Raleigh, N.C. State University freshman, Democrat, voting for the first time Tuesday as she cast a ballot for Clinton.

COMPILED BY JIM WISE, TOMMY GOLDSMITH, PEGGY LIM AND CHRIS SEWARD