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Earlier primary boosting Illinois voters' interest

Posted January 15, 2008 10:00 pm

Bernard Schoenburg

Moving Illinois' primary to Feb. 5 up from mid-March is making the state relevant, as intended, in the 2008 presidential race, some state and party officials say.

Early voting began Monday and runs through Jan. 31. In Sangamon County, more than 100 people had exercised that option by late afternoon Tuesday, said Stacey Kern, the county's election director.

"Anecdotally, from what I've been hearing from other election authorities … there has been a tremendous amount of interest in Illinois," said Dan White, executive director of the State Board of Elections.

Chicago election officials were "swamped" with about 10,000 new registrations over a two-day period, he said.

"I think the idea of moving up the primary is having its intended effect," White said.

Statewide, White said, registration as of the beginning of this week was about 7.1 million - about the same as for the 2004 presidential primary.

Steve Brown, spokesman for Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, chief sponsor of the legislation that moved the primary this year to Feb. 5, said the apparent lead of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., in the presidential race in Illinois, makes him unsure how contested the campaign will be on the Democratic side in the state.

"But it sure seems the Republican thing is pretty much up for grabs and shifting quite a bit," Brown said.

"By all signs, this will be over right after Super Tuesday," Brown said of the presidential contests, referring to Feb. 5, when Illinois is among about 20 states that will have primaries or caucuses.

"Had we waited (until March), once again Illinois would have been excluded from the decision-making process," Brown said.

Lance Trover, spokesman for the Illinois GOP, said Republican turnouts at the Illinois State Fair and at a grass-roots training session in Oak Brook are evidence of enthusiasm for the 2008 primary race.

"Clearly, Republican presidential campaigns have shown a heightened interest in Illinois," he said.

Despite the apparent enthusiasm, Kern said Sangamon County saw no "great surge" in voter registration. Registered voters in the county totaled 135,089 Monday morning, slightly up from the 133,417 at the April 2007 elections.

For the presidential primary four years ago, Sangamon County registration was 126,966, Kern said.

Bernard Schoenburg can be reached at (217) 788-1540.

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