Officials believe the number of people heading to the polls for the March 4 primary could shatter records in Travis County and across the state.

Thanks to the excitement surrounding the Texas primary, election workers expect to see a huge turnout in early voting, which will have a big effect on state and local races as well.

One group of University of Texas students were eager to kick off early voting Tuesday morning.

Members of the University Democrats were first in line to cast their ballots at the Flawn Academic Center on the UT campus. Dozens took part in an event called "Voterama" Monday night. They spent all night on the West Mall waiting for the polls open for early voting.

For close to 10 hours, students held mini-rallies, took part in games and debated the merits of each candidate.

Then at 7 a.m., all the students lined up so they could be the first ones inside to cast their vote.

Travis County Clerk Dana Debeauvoir says she hasn't seen this sort of excitement surrounding an election in a number of years, and that's the reason thousands of residents want to let their votes be counted this time around.

"I'd say about 30,000 to 50,000 people would vote in a regular primary, this time around I believe the number are going to look like on the Democratic side about a 100,000 are going to participate and on the republican side about 50,000 so we're doubling, tripling previous turnout trends," said Debeauvoir.

Early voting runs through February 29.

Travis County election officials are urging people to vote early, because they expect massive crowds on March 4.