Editor's note: This story was updated at 3:48 p.m. following an interview with Ruth Johnson, Michigan's Secretary of State.

Michigan looked like an election day battleground over the past several days, but Tuesday returned to a predictable quadrennial routine: Lines at polling stations across the state prove that voters are tuned into the presidential election.

The contest between Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton is driving most of the ballot interest across the U.S., despite a two-sided ballot in many Michigan communities, which also have races for the state legislature, school boards, county leadership and municipal offices in addition to local ballot issues.

Secretary of State Ruth Johnson said "turnout is robust" across Michigan.

She said that information from local clerks shows that absentee ballot returns are up 18 percent over typical elections, which tend to attract about two-thirds of Michigan's registered voters.

That indicates that Michigan could generate a record turnout for today's vote, coming after the most contentious presidential election showdown in memory.

"We did get a record turnout for the March presidential primary," Johnson said, noting it was 2.5 million voters - crushing the previous record set in 1972.

Gov. Rick Snyder cast his ballot Tuesday morning in Ann Arbor. He encouraged more of the state's voters to head to the polls.

"It looks like this precinct has had a lot of people turn out. I hope that happens throughout Michigan," Snyder said. "It's one of our basic democratic rights and it's great seeing people exercise that."

Poll-watchers are keeping track of voting in many areas, including Department of Justice workers who are monitoring the votes in Detroit, Hamtramck and Dearborn.

Long lines dominated many regional voting reports across the state. They included polling sites in Grand Rapids, where Trump campaigned late Monday - after stops in multiple other states.

"If we don't win, this will be the single greatest waste of time, energy and money in my life," Trump told his audience of several thousand. Hours earlier, Clinton campaigned nearby in Allendale, at Grand Valley State University.

In Ann Arbor, where President Barack Obama campaigned Monday for Clinton, some voters reported waiting up to two hours to vote Tuesday in the city's westside areas. Some other precincts had no wait at about noon.

Detroit voters found both long lines and some issues in polling places, including a report via Twitter that two-hour waits in Midtown, generated in part by poll disorganization, prompted some voters to leave. There also were some reports of ballot outages.

And at least one type of poll malfunction: "Detroit voter's hand stuck in ballot machine on east side. Firefighters en route," read a Tweet from Motor City Muckraker.

Things turned heated in Ypsilanti Township, southeast of Ann Arbor, where two voters got into an altercation about their respective candidates. A man ended up shoving one woman, with another woman spitting at people after a group of 5-6 people started to yell.

"It got out of hand," witness David Irvin said. "I thought it was really rather embarrassing."

Polls will be open until 8 p.m. today, with everyone in line at that point still able to vote - no matter how late that keeps the final count in Michigan open-ended.

Michigan is considered a "blue," or Democratic-voting state, but the presence of both presidential candidates, the sitting president, and a host of surrogates on the day before the national vote signals potential changes in voting patterns.

"This is the first time Michigan has been part of a presidential battleground since 1988," Johnson said.

As of midday, Johnson said, Michigan only had a few instances of voting machine issues that prompted calls from local clerks to election staff in her office. "So far, so good," she said.

Frankenmuth, located in mid-Michigan, is expecting about 80 percent turnout today.

"We've had a lot of young voters, which is nice to see," said city clerk Phillip Kerns. "And a lot of early voters coming in."

A few miles north in Bridgeport Township, deputy clerk Lisa Shaw said that community could end up setting a record this year.

"We've never really been this busy," she told MLive.com. "Ever."