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The Massachusetts presidential primary is still three weeks away, but the anticipation is already building, local election officials said Tuesday.

They said an unusually large number of people have come to their offices in recent days to register to vote or to request absentee ballots.

"They are flooding in," Foxboro Town Clerk Marie Crimmins said.

The deadline to register is tonight at 8 and town clerks and election offices will stay open until that time to handle last-minute registrations.

Brian McNiff with the Secretary of State's Office said more than 19,000 people have already voted by absentee ballot, more than in past presidential primaries this far from election day. About 125 of those absentee votes came from Attleboro so far, he said.

"It's been heavy," he said.

McNiff said one factor creating interest is the large number of candidates. There are eight Democrats, eight Republicans and six Green-Rainbow party candidates.

Massachusetts favorite son Mitt Romney, the former governor, is competing in the Republican race, perhaps adding to the anticipated turnout.

Senators Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., are also drawing a lot of attention as they seek to make history as the first African-American and first woman to be elected president.

Other Democratic candidates include former vice presidential candidate John Edwards, U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, and former Sen. Mike Gravel, D-Alaska.

Some candidates who have dropped out of the race remain on the ballot, including New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Senators Chris Dodd, D-Conn., and Joseph Biden, D-Del.

On the Republican side, candidates include Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, and former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

Reps. Duncan Hunter, R-California, Tom Tancredo, R-Arizona, are on the ballot, but have dropped out of the race.

Voters can also cast a ballot for "no preference," McNiff said. Crimmins said she gets a request for an absentee ballot seemingly every 10 minutes in her Foxboro office.

She said the traffic in her office might be busier than normal because the state moved up its primary from March to Feb. 5, so people have less time to register.

Pat Dolan of the North Attleboro election office said she usually registers about 20 people per month in person in addition to mail-in registrations. So far this month, about 60 new voters have registered, she said.

"We do have more than normal," she said.

Attleboro also reported a steady flow of people joining the ranks of registered voters.

"We've picked up the pace, people are coming in," Maryann Draine of the election office said.