COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) -- South Carolina's top election official says voter registration and absentee ballot records have been broken.

State Election Commission Executive Director Marci Andino said Friday that registrations are now more than 2.5 million people and 218,000 absentee ballots have been sent to voters.

Andino said by the end of Friday the lines stretching from county election and registration offices will beat the record of 160,000 absentee ballots cast in 2004.

Voters waited for a half hour or more in chilly rain in Richland County Friday where 1,000 people a day have been voting for a week. In Lexington County, lines were long, too. And Andino said voters were waiting two hours to cast absentee ballots Greenville County.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)