Voters must register by Jan. 16 to be eligible to vote in the Feb. 5 primary.

Local and state voting officials are hoping for a smooth ride as they gear up for an earlier-than-ever presidential primary.

To make the commonwealth more relevant, the Legislature moved its primary from March to February last month, putting Massachusetts with 23 other states that have Super Tuesday primaries.

Voters must register by Jan. 16 to be eligible to vote in the Feb. 5 primary.

Local town clerks said they are beginning to alert unregistered and absentee voters.

"It's certainly something to deal with, but we're trying to do our best," said Natick Town Clerk Judith Kuhn, who appeared Tuesday on a local cable channel to discuss upcoming elections.

Kuhn said absentee ballots will be available by Jan. 15, three weeks before the election, but that Natick has already received requests from residents who leave Massachusetts for the winter.

Quincy City Clerk Joseph Shea said the earlier primary poses challenges such as alerting unregistered and absentee voters and getting election workers to rearrange their schedules.

"I'm optimistic," he said. "It's a little bit inconvenient, but hey, what are you going to do?"

Shea has sent letters to local schools and churches to publicize the change.

Brian McNiff, a spokesman for Secretary of State William Galvin, said the secretary's office will use local media to notify the public of the approaching deadlines.

McNiff said voter registration tables will be set up at MBTA stations in Boston and that all city and town registrars must keep their offices open until 8 p.m. on Jan. 16, which is also the last day to change party affiliation.

"We try to encourage everyone to vote and obviously we're going to do the same this election," said Marlborough City Clerk Lisa Thompson, who will primarily use local newspapers and the town's website to advertise the election.

Tuesday, Galvin drew candidates' names at random to establish the ballot order:

Republican

John McCain

Fred Thompson

Tom Tancredo

Duncan Hunter

Mike Huckabee

Mitt Romney

Ron Paul

Rudy Giuliani

No preference

Democrat

John R. Edwards

Hillary Clinton

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Christopher J. Dodd

Mike Gravel

Barack Obama

Dennis J. Kucinich

Bill Richardson

No Preference

MetroWest (Mass.) Daily News staff writer Lindsey Parietti can be reached at lindsey.parietti@cnc.com