With a day to go before the first significant California primary in years, Kings County elections officials are hoping for high turnout and a smooth process.

The voting booths are in place and precincts should be ready to go at 7 a.m. Tuesday, said Ken Baird, Kings County assessor/clerk-recorder.

Polls close at 8 p.m.

Officials have, however, made a concentrated effort to get people to vote absentee.

The reason is that the county's touch screen voting machines were decertified by the California secretary of state last year, and then quickly recertified with conditions county officials say are impossible to meet.

So officials had to shelve the machines and scramble to return to the more cumbersome paper ballots, which take longer to count.

The county launched a campaign to get voters to register for mail-in ballots only.

Baird said this morning that the campaign has been "fairly successful" -- 25,000 people have registered to vote absentee, about 67 percent of the 44,500 registered voters in the county.

A little more thanr 10,000 of the absentee ballots had been received by Friday, Baird said, leaving a good 15,000 still out there.

Absentee ballot can be dropped off at any polling station until the polls close.

Baird said the high number of outstanding ballots could either be a sign of low turnout or it could mean that voters are waiting until the last minute because the presidential candidate they wanted to vote for may no longer be on the ballot.

This election has been marked by a lack of frontrunners, with several Democrats and Republicans in the hunt. Only recently has the race narrowed to what looks to be a two-way Republican race between John McCain and Mitt Romney and a tug of war between Democrats Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Baird said he is hoping for about 50 percent overall turnout, with possibly 10,000 going to the polling booths on Tuesday.

Typical primary elections in Kings County draw between 40 to 45 percent of registered voters.

"We're hoping this one is unique," Baird said.

A couple of voters who turned in their absentee ballots this morning at the government center indicated that this election has gotten them more fired up than previous ones.

"Actually, I am more interested in this one, because Hillary (Clinton) could get into office," said Lemoore resident Bill Wright.

Wright, a federal employee, said he always votes absentee because "I'm not home a lot."

Wright said he voted for John McCain.

"I just like his views, what he stands for, his prior military service, the whole thing," Wright said.

"I think this upcoming general election is really going to determine the direction this country is headed for a long time," said Hanford resident David Whitehead.

The reporter can be reached at 583-2432.

(Feb. 4, 2008)