DECATUR - Local political observers are projecting a high turnout for the Feb. 5 state primary, thanks to factors such as a highly competitive presidential race, contentious local referendum and some features of recently updated election laws, including early voting, which began Monday.

Larry Klugman, Richland Community College political science professor, said he is anticipating Illinois will follow the national trends of higher turnout.

"This is anything but a lackluster primary," Klugman said. "You've got something we haven't had since 1952, which is no acknowledged frontrunner (for either party's presidential nominee)."

He said this year's race should excite local voters in both parties, with the Republican nomination wide open among several candidates and two potential nominees on the Democratic side with Land of Lincoln ties: U.S. Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton of New York, who grew up in the Chicago suburbs.

Macon County Clerk Steve Bean said he has been seeing more college students registering, which he attributed to enthusiasm about candidates such as Obama and Clinton, as well as Republican Ron Paul, a Texas congressman who has taken several positions at odds with his party, including opposing the Iraq war.

Still, Klugman is predicting this primary will be about much more than just the war, as anxieties about the economy surface, he said.

"You're going to see a lot of people turning out who wouldn't otherwise turn out," Klugman said.

Another big issue is a ballot referendum pushed by ChangeDecatur to switch the city's council-manager form of government to a commissioner system.

Organizers of ChangeDecatur initially sought to have voters decide whether to adopt a strong mayor form of government, but legal challenges by the group's opponents forced that question off the ballot.

The Greater Decatur Chamber of Commerce is encouraging voters to vote yes on retaining the current form of government.

Klugman said voter numbers might increase this year as voters take advantage of changes to election law. This is the first presidential election since Illinois adopted early voting and grace period voting.

Early voting is somewhat similar to absentee voting in that it allows registered voters to cast their ballots at the clerk's office from now until Jan. 31, but unlike absentee voting, an excuse for why a voter cannot or doesn't want to cast a vote on primary day is not needed.

Bean said early voting can be especially convenient because it's a way for voters to fit casting a ballot around their schedule and not have to worry about snowy roads or icy sidewalks keeping them from the polls on Election Day.

"People only have to remember the bad snowstorm we had in the March primary just two years ago," he said.

Grace period voting allows voters who have not yet registered but would like to cast a vote in the primary to go to the clerk's office from now until Jan. 22, fill out registration paperwork and vote at the same time.

"If you haven't changed your address or registered to vote, you can still do that, but if you want to vote, you have to do it at that time," Bean said.

During the early voting period, Bean's office will be open every day, including weekends and Martin Luther King Day on Monday. Bean said he hoped people who are downtown for the King parade might decide to cast their ballots at that time, as well as those who have the day off from work.

Both Bean and Klugman agree that this primary should have more local excitement because, unlike recent years, the party's nominees should not yet be decided.

Illinois legislators moved the state's primary from March to Feb. 5 to join 21 other states holding primaries or caucuses on that date, forming a mega-primary that's expected to give winning candidates the inside track to their party's nominations.

Still, Klugman said that after Iowa and New Hampshire each chose different winners for the Republican and Democratic parties, the races are more wide open than many expected.

"Feb. 5 may not be as definitive as we thought," Klugman said. "That may be the ultimate surprise."

Mary Tallon can be reached at mtallon@herald-review.com or 421-7984.