---

A record number of voters went to the polls in Massachusetts Tuesday.

The Secretary of State's office said at least 3 million votes were cast. The returns are incomplete because results from two towns, thousands of absentee ballots and several thousand blank ballots have yet to be added to the total, spokesman Brian McNiff said.

While the election saw the most votes ever, there are also more voters in the state than in the past, about 4.2 million.

So the 1960 election featuring Massachusetts native sons John Kennedy, the Democrat for president, and Henry Cabot Lodge, the Republican for vice president, still holds the record for highest percentage turnout at 92 percent.

About 71 percent of Massachusetts voters participated in Tuesday's election. The 3.04 million voters in the election topped the numbers from four years ago, when Massachusetts favorite son John Kerry was on the ballot for president, by at least 100,000 votes, McNiff said.

Analysts said the turnout locally and across the nation was boosted by an influx of new voters motivated by the historic nature of Barack Obama's campaign for president, the faltering economy and the war in Iraq.

Attleboro had a turnout of more than 70 percent and North Attleboro 75 percent, but several area towns were even higher.

Norfolk was one of the highest at 85 percent, followed closely by Wrentham at 81 percent.

There were some short delays at polling places, but area election officials reported no major problems.