PORTLAND -- A record number of absentee ballots have been cast in Maine and clerks in dozens of communities have begun processing them.

Deputy Secretary of State Julie Flynn says 197,484 absentee ballots have been received with thousands more expected by the time polls close at 8 p.m. Tuesday. Already, the number breaks the old record of 166,000 absentee ballots from four years ago.

Flynn says clerks in more than 70 communities were granted permission to begin processing those ballots Monday in hopes of lightening their load on Election Day.

Even with all of those absentee ballots, election officials say there could be as many as 550,000 votes cast on Election Day. Election officials say Mainers should be prepared for some lines at polling places, even under a best-case scenario.