BOSTON (AP) - Lines snaked through parking lots, around buildings and down sidewalks early Tuesday as Massachusetts voters came out early to decide a historic presidential election and choose whether to eliminate the income tax, decriminalize a small amount of marijuana and ban greyhound racing in the state.

Richard Smith, a 76-year-old semi-retired truck mechanic, said the race between John McCain, who would be the oldest man elected president, and Barack Obama, who would be the first black president, felt more intense than previous elections.

"For months you couldn't turn on the TV without their faces," said Smith, who voted at a Topsfield church. "There's so much going on, there's the war, and the economy and everything. Nobody's satisfied with what's going on."

Polls opened in Massachusetts at 7 a.m. Of 11 congressional races, just five - including the seat of Democratic Sen. John Kerry - were contested. Kerry faced Republican challenger Jeff Beatty, a former CIA official and member of the Army's Delta Force.

Voters also must decide three ballot questions, which have been the focus of the most intense campaigning in the state.

Question One would eliminate the state's 5.3 percent income tax by January 2010. The second question would decriminalize possession of an ounce or less of marijuana in Massachusetts, punishing those caught with the drug with a $100 civil fine. And Question Three would prohibit any dog racing that included betting or wagering - essentially closing the state's two greyhound racetracks by Jan. 1, 2010.

Secretary of State William Galvin had predicted a record turnout Tuesday, with more than 3 million people - or about 71 percent of eligible voters - expected at the polls. A record 4.2 million people were registered to vote in Massachusetts in this election.

In suburban Natick, about 15 miles west of Boston, about 200 people lined up at one polling station before 7 a.m. A hundred more joined shortly thereafter.

Gov. Deval Patrick waited in line with other voters in Milton, just south of Boston, before heading to his native Chicago to attend Obama's election night festivities.

A line of about 50 people began forming at a polling station in Boston's heavily Democratic Jamaica Plain neighborhood well before it opened. A few minutes later, the number had nearly doubled.

Dewitt Jones, 51, waited in line while his 8- and 11-year-old sons did some last-minute campaigning nearby with Obama signs and stickers. His oldest son, Cameron, even had a chart to track the states when returns started coming in.

"He hasn't taken his hat off - he has an Obama hat - for several months," Jones said.

Polls close at 8 p.m.