Voter registration soars in Illinois

SPRINGFIELD -- Election officials across Illinois report a surge in registrations for next month's primary, driven in part by excitement over the presidential race.

News coverage of the campaigns reminds people about the looming Illinois election and competitive races in both parties stir people's interest, officials said this week.

The Feb. 5 primary could help determine whether Illinois Sen. Barack Obama wins the Democratic presidential nomination.

About 10,000 people registered in the week leading up to Tuesday's deadline -- roughly triple the figures from past presidential primaries, said Jim Allen, a spokesman for the Chicago Board of Election Commissioners.

"We've never seen anything like this," Allen said. "We've never heard this much buzz around an election. People are using two words: "change" and "history."

Some even registered Wednesday after the formal deadline. They took advantage of a "grace period" that lets people cast absentee ballots or vote at the local election office.

The "grace period" registration ends Jan. 22.

Official registration numbers for Illinois won't be available until next week.

The State Board of Elections estimated last week that 7.1 million voters were registered. The all-time high came in the 2004 general election, with 7.5 million voters registered.

The number is down not necessarily because of voter apathy but because election officials have worked hard to update voter rolls and remove duplicates and errors, said Executive Director Dan White.

Some local officials say they've seen a registration increase over past years.

Peoria County Chief Deputy Clerk Lyn Schmidt attributed that to local efforts to promote registration and news coverage of the campaigns.

"People are becoming aware of the election and it's jogging their minds," Schmidt said. "We've had a lot of phone calls the last couple of days from people to see if they are registered to vote."

Rockford Board of Elections employee Debbie Hopkins said her office experienced an unusually large turnout and expects registration numbers to surpass those of 2007.

"We've been extremely busy for the last few days," Hopkins said.

Tom Bride, executive director of the Peoria Board of Election Commissioners, said about 150 people registered Monday and Tuesday -- roughly 12 times the daily average.

Grace period registration began in 2006 with 2,367 signing up for the primary and 6,524 registering for the November general election.

In Sangamon County, there were six grace period registrations on Wednesday. Sangamon County Elections Office Director Stacey Kern believes there could be up to 80 grace period ballots in the next two weeks.

"It's really hard to guess," Kern said. "It is still a new process."