BLOOMINGTON - With nearly a week left to cast an early ballot for the Feb. 5 primary, early voting turnout already has surpassed that of previous primaries in virtually every Central Illinois county.

"We're thrilled," said Executive Director Char Stanford of the Bloomington Election Commission, who had led a concerted effort to spread the word about the early voting option.

Registered voters can cast a ballot through Thursday under an early voting option that first became available in 2006.

That's also the last day a voter can apply for an absentee ballot. Returned absentee ballots have to be postmarked by Feb. 4 to be counted.

By Thursday, Bloomington already had 588 early ballots - that 15 more early voters than the city had for the 2006 primary's early, grace period and absentee voters combined, Stanford said.

Grace-period voting refers to people who registered to vote or changed their registration during the period of Jan. 9 to 22. They had to cast a ballot immediately upon making the change.

The same trend is being seen at county clerk's offices.

"It's significantly higher than the 2006 general primary," said Megan Nelson, McLean County deputy clerk for elections.

The McLean County clerk's office, which handles all voting outside of Bloomington city limits, offers four early voting sites: the county clerk's office, Normal City Hall and sites in Chenoa and Downs.

Nelson said 281 people have cast ballots through early voting, and 64 voted during the grace period, which ended Tuesday. The county also has received more than 100 absentee ballots.

In 2006, only about 300 votes were cast from the three early options.

LaSalle County clerk's office reported similar increases. It has had 292 early voters, compared to 173 in the 2006 primary; 33 grace period voters, compared to 10 in 2006; and 785 requests for absentee ballots.

So far 459 absentee ballots have been returned. A total of 611 absentee ballots were cast in 2006.

"It's been busy," agreed Pat Oltman, Livingston County deputy clerk for elections.

Livingston County has had about 250 voters cast ballots through the early, grace period or absentee options. In 2006, the three early options attracted 235, she said.

The number of early Tazewell County voters is up from 685 in 2006 to 760 so far this primary election.

DeWitt County is slightly below two years ago. The county has had 130 votes cast the early methods, compared to 161 in 2006.

Eighty-eight people have taken advantage of early voting options in Ford County; nearly 200 in Logan County; and almost 300 in Woodford County. Logan also has had requests for more than 400 absentee ballots.

None of those counties were able to provide numbers for the 2006 election.