CROWN POINT | Lake County elections officials said early voting has been accelerating as Tuesday's primary election approaches.

Nicholas Gasparovic, assistant elections board director, said 7,700 had voted either in person or by absentee ballot by early last week, and he estimated the total Monday at about 10,000.

More than a dozen people stood in line early Monday outside the Lake County Elections and Registration office in Crown Point, where in-person early voting was taking place. Election workers said the line has extended many times that length during recent days.

"We should have a large turnout in Gary because Sen. Barack Obama is really and truly stirring up a lot of young people," Gary Mayor Rudy Clay said.

Local political leaders predict the race between Democratic presidential candidates U.S. Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will bring out the electorate in large numbers but debate the effect that will have on candidates in the nether regions of the ballot.

The Gary Democratic Party organization pasted Obama's name and picture atop its slate of state and local candidates.

"I think anybody on our recommended list will benefit from Barack Obama being on that slate," Clay said.

Lake County Commissioner Roosevelt Allen, D-Gary, said, "It may affect those on the top of the ballot, but I don't think it will trickle to the bottom through the ballot pages."

Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott, a Clinton supporter, said, "This will be one of the biggest elections anybody remembers. It will be historic, and if a lot of people show up, they have a tendency to vote for change. I don't think they are content with their government, which could be trouble for incumbents."