RALEIGH, N.C. — Early voting sites in North Carolina can stay open an extra four hours Saturday to help deal with record turnout, the state Board of Elections ruled Thursday.

The decision highlights the long lines that have formed across the surprise swing state since early voting began two weeks ago. More than 1.7 million people _ or 30 percent of registered voters _ cast ballots at one-stop sites through Wednesday night.

With about a third of voters nationwide expected to cast ballots before Election Day this year, Florida, Georgia and other early voting states have seen similar crowds at the polls.

In an emergency meeting Thursday, North Carolina's elections board unanimously agreed to extend Saturday early voting until 5 p.m. Counties can close their polls at 1 p.m. as scheduled if election commissioners from both parties agree without dissent. The meeting came after Mecklenburg and Guilford counties sought permission to keep the sites open longer.

North Carolina last cast its 15 electoral votes with a Democratic presidential nominee in 1976. But an Associated Press-GfK poll released this week shows the race too close to call, with 48 percent supporting Democrat Barack Obama to 46 percent for Republican John McCain.

In early voting, registered Democrats have outnumbered registered Republicans about two-to-one. Still, about 14 percent of Democrats in the conservative state said they support McCain, according to the poll. Four percent of Republicans said they'd vote for Obama.

According to the poll, 59 percent of early voters supported Obama, compared with 33 percent for McCain. Early voting has been a sensitive subject for the GOP this year because so many more Democrats are going to the polls, drawn in part by the Obama campaign's extensive effort to get them there before Election Day.

Story continues below

Larry Leake, the Democratic chairman of the state elections board, first proposed allowing counties to decide whether they wanted to extend polling hours. But Republican Charles Winfree questioned whether office-seekers could manipulate county boards controlled by Democrats.

"I'm concerned that some counties will and some counties won't and that will be manipulated by the campaigns _ they will hold them open later in Democratic counties and then will close them early in Republican counties," Winfree said.

So the board agreed to extend the mandate to all 100 counties, allowing them to opt out only if all members of county election boards agree.

In both Mecklenburg and Guilford counties, the lone Republican member of the counties' election boards halted plans to extend voting hours earlier this week. The two Democrats on each panel sought the change.

"There are people who cannot vote on Saturday because they can't get there by 1 p.m.," said James Turner, a Democratic board member in Guilford County. "If we want to get a vote from any of these people, we need to extend the voting hours."

Michael Kolb, a Republican member of Mecklenburg's election board, said he had no political reason to oppose extending the hours but questioned why officials would alter the schedule after spending such a long time establishing it.

"My qualm is extending the hours after we already published them," he said.