Voters continued taking advantage Wednesday of early in-person voting in Gary, Hammond and East Chicago while Republican efforts to close the sites continued.

A spokeswoman for the Indiana Supreme Court announced Wednesday afternoon the high court will name a new judge as early as today to hear a lawsuit by Republicans to have the early voting centers in those three cities deemed illegal.

Lake County Elections board Director Sally LaSota said 311 people voted Wednesday in the early voting site in Crown Point, and 100 voted in the Gary courthouse. She said numbers for Hammond and East Chicago weren't available. The Crown Point early voting site is not opposed by county Republicans.

Those numbers are well below the expectations of the Democratic Party, union and civil rights organizations that said last week they hoped between 18,000 and 30,000 would take advantage of early voting.

LaSota said Wednesday she hopes voters aren't being discouraged by Republican litigation to have the Gary, Hammond and East Chicago voting declared illegal.

Indiana Democratic Party Chairman Dan Parker and Kip Tew, a former party chairman, on Wednesday called on Republicans to withdraw their attack on Lake County early vote centers.

They said Wednesday via conference call they are convinced the lawsuit is a barefaced attempt by Republicans to suppress Democratic voter turnout in Lake County.

"It really shows the desperate nature of the McCain-Palin campaign and Republicans concerned about the competitive nature of Indiana as a battleground state," Parker said.

A spokesman for the Indiana Republican Party couldn't be reached Wednesday for comment.

Lawyers for Lake County GOP Chairman John Curley insist any voting outside of the election board's Crown Point office is illegal under a state law requiring unanimous approval by the Republican and Democratic elections board members. The satellite centers in Crown Point did not receive a unanimous vote.

Republicans claim multiple voting centers invite vote fraud.