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RALEIGH (AP) — More than 100,000 voters in North Carolina cast a ballot on the first day of early voting in an unprecedented rush to the polls amid a historic presidential election, according to elections data released Friday.

Data from the State Board of Elections showed that 64 percent of voters who went to the polls Thursday were registered Democrats, while 21 percent of voters were registered Republicans. Another 15 percent were unaffiliated.

But millions of voters have yet to cast their ballots in North Carolina, and the GOP has carried an advantage in the thousands of mail-in absentee ballots requested around the state after state party officials encouraged some supporters to vote that way. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama had used a wide array of advertising to push his supporters to the polls on the opening day.

Numbers also indicate that Obama may encouraged a surge of black voters to the polls as he seeks to become the first black president of the nation. About 36 percent of voters who cast a ballot Thursday were black. Blacks comprise about 22 percent of the state's population.

Cherie Poucher, director of Wake County's elections, said about 8,000 voters cast a ballot there. There were some lines and one problem with a ballot box that overfilled, forcing a technician to fix the machine.

"That's the good thing," Poucher said. "I always look at the positive - that so many people were voting."

George Gilbert, who heads elections in Guilford County, said voters there were patient as they waited in hours-long lines. When the county planned their early vote strategy in March, they decided to only open two sites on the first two days of voting. He expected lines would subside as more sites open in the coming days.

"We've always just opened two sites to start," Gilbert said. "We didn't find that two and a half weeks ahead the election there was that great of demand. This year there is."

And while Gilbert said second-day lines were a little shorter - perhaps due to rain - voters were still waiting for up to 2 hours in Greensboro. On Thursday, Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan waited 3 1/2 hours to vote there.

Early voting ends Nov. 1.

North Carolina has become a battleground state after going more than three decades without voting for a Democrat. President Bush won the state by 12 points just four years ago, but Obama has aggressively campaigned here, trying to capitalize in changing demographics and a large number of black voters galvanized by his candidacy.

Republican hopeful John McCain will hold a rally in Concord on Saturday. Obama follows him with an event in Fayetteville on Sunday.