Early voting for the June 3 South Dakota primary has been slow so far, according to Secretary of State Chris Nelson.

Nelson said that was the consensus of county auditors throughout the state who gathered in Pierre on Wednesday for a pre-election briefing.

"I think there are two things we need to watch," he said. "One, if the Democratic presidential race continues to remain competitive, and two, when we move closer to June 3, that may cause some of that early voting to pick up."

In Pennington County, early voting for the June primary is running at slightly behind the pace set in the 2004 primary, and registration figures are also similar to the 2004 primary season.

However, the number of voters coming in to vote early at the county courthouse is increasing almost daily, according to county elections supervisor Lori Severson.

As of Wednesday, the Pennington County Auditor's Office had a total of 649 ballots cast for the June 3 primary. Of those, 460 voted at the counter, and another 189 voters had mailed in their ballots.

For the same period in the 2004 primary, 676 people had voted early, Severson said.

But Severson said: "The first two weeks doesn't really project the total. When you look at the daily numbers of absentee voters, it's been steadily increasing." She said after early voting began April 22, 30 to 40 people were coming in to vote early each day. On Tuesday, 77 people voted early at the courthouse.

"In another week, if I see this continued daily increase, we kind of expect about 5,000 people to absentee vote," Severson said. In the 2004 primary, 4,468 people voted early in Pennington County.

Severson noted that early voting also has begun at Hill City and was set to begin soon in Wall, which could also raise the numbers.

Any registered voter is allowed to vote absentee and does not need a reason to do so.

With the presidential primary, especially the hot Democratic race, more people are registering to vote, but the registration numbers so far are not unusual, Severson said.

Through the end of April, 1,800 more people had registered to vote, and about 3,000 people had changed registration in Pennington County. Although she didn't have an exact breakdown, most of the changes were to change party affiliation, Severson said.

That is slightly behind the 2004 primary, when 1,900 additional voters registered through the end of April and 3,300 had changed registration, Severson said. In 2004, some Democrats and independents switched to Republican to vote in a number of Republican legislative primaries, including one race in Rapid City between Stan Adelstein and Elli Schwiesow.

As of Wednesday, there were 30,407 voters registered as Republicans, 17,392 as Democrats and 11,588 were registered with other parties or with no party, Severson said.

That compares with end-of-March figures of 30,300 Republicans, 17,022 Democrats, and 11,570 other registrations, showing the Democrats gained 370 voters and Republicans gained 107 voters in Pennington County. Of the "other" registrations, 3,200 didn't affiliate with any party, Severson said.

Statewide, the number of Republicans registered grew by 435, from 235,643 on April 1 to 236,078 on May 1, according to the secretary of state's Web site. The number of registered Democrats grew by 1,621, from 188,005 on April 1 to 189,625 on May 1. The number of independents grew by 341, from 76,212 on April 1 to 76,553 on May 1.

Those numbers will continue to change until the May 19 registration deadline.

Although the Democratic primary between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has drawn the most attention, and Sen. John McCain has wrapped up the Republican nomination, Severson pointed out that McCain still has three opponents on the South Dakota primary ballot - Ron Paul, Mike Huckabee and Mitt Romney - or voters can choose a slate of delegates who prefer to remain uncommitted.

Pennington County has sample ballots and other primary election information on its Web site: www.votepennco.com.

Contact Steve Miller at 394-8417 or steve.miller@rapidcityjournal.com.

Where to vote early

In Pennington County, voters may cast ballots early at the auditor's office at the county courthouse, 315 Saint Joseph St., Rapid City; at Hill City Finance Office, 324 Main St.; and at Wall City Finance Office, 501 Main St.

Where to register

Pennington County residents can register to vote in the following locations:

Auditor's office, county courthouse, 315 St. Joseph St., Rapid City

Rapid City Finance Office, 300 Sixth St.

Driver's license exam station, 1301 Catron Blvd., Room 105, Rapid City

Economic Assistance, 510 N. Cambell St., Rapid City

Department of Human Services, 725 N. La Crosse St., Rapid City

Military Recruitment Office, Rushmore Mall, Rapid City

Wall city finance office, 501 Main St.

Hill City finance office, 324 Main St.

Keystone City Hall, 408 Third St.

New Underwood City Finance Office, 501 S. A Ave.

How to vote

Deadline for registering to vote in the June 3 primary is 5 p.m. Monday, May 19.

People can vote early at the county courthouse or other designated early polling place through June 2, the day before the primary.

All voters are required to provide identification before voting or obtaining an absentee ballot.

The personal identification shall either be:

- A South Dakota driver's license or nondriver identification card

- A passport or an identification card, including a picture, issued by an agency of the U.S. government

- A tribal identification card, including a picture

- A current student identification card, including a picture, issued by a high school or an accredited institution of higher education, including a university, college or technical school, located within South Dakota.

If a voter is not able to present personal ID, the voter may complete an affidavit affirming identification.

An absentee voter desiring to vote by mail may apply to the person in charge of the election for an absentee ballot.

For more on voting requirements and the 2008 election process, go to the secretary of state's Web site at: www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/upcomingelection.htm