Voter registration in Butler County has hit an all-time high, and the director of elections says he won't be surprised by a precedent-setting turnout in next week's primary election.

More poll workers and more voting machines will be deployed to keep Tuesday's balloting process a smooth one, said Butler County Elections Bureau Director Regis Young.

"We've got everything in place, and we've been running tests to make sure everything is ready," Mr. Young said.

From November to March 24 -- the last day to register to vote -- Butler County gained close to 3,000 new voters.

"That's a lot," Mr. Young said, though many counties across Pennsylvania had more new registrants.

About 1,000 registered voters switched their party affiliation to Democratic.

Of 116,177 registered voters, 44,876 now are Democrats and 58,377 are Republicans. The balance is a mix of independents and third-party groups.

In November 2007, the total number of registered voters was 113,481, with 42,377 Democrats and 58,220 Republicans.

Mr. Young links the reinvigorated interest to the key role that Pennsylvania is playing in the fevered race for the Democratic nomination.

"It's the first time in about 35 years that Pennsylvania is in the limelight and the primary has real meaning nationally," he said.

While Sen. John McCain is a presumptive nominee on the Republican ticket, the recipient of the Democratic mantle is less clear as Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama scuffle for delegates.

The Democratic tussle has worked its magic in Allegheny County as well, where the number of registered voters leapt by more than 19,000 from November to March and where the gap between the major parties expanded with Democrats gaining all of those and then some.

According to statistics from David Voye, Allegheny County manager of balloting and return sections, the total number of registered voters in November 2007 was 894,156 compared with 913,628 currently. The number of Democrats grew from 541,929 in November to 567,516, while the Republicans decreased from 252,434 in November to 250,427.

Mr. Young credits national campaign workers with "doing a very good job of getting people excited for this race." A registration drive was held at Slippery Rock University that netted a couple of hundred new voters, Mr. Young noted.

Independents and third-party voters -- anyone not registered as a Democrat or a Republican -- are unable to vote in a primary. The general election in November is open to any registered voter.

Mr. Young is expecting such a bumper crop of voters Tuesday that he is adding more voting machines and poll workers at the 85 precincts.

"We're treating this like a November election, [which traditionally brings out more voters than does a primary]," he said.

He recalled that he used about 400 of the county's total 490 touch-screen voting machines in November and, for the primary, he will send out about 470. He'll also add about 30 poll workers to the 425 or so who worked the precincts in November.

"It'll be an even flow of people signing in that way," he said, adding that he believes many people who come to the precincts will be voting for the first time on the new touch-screen voting machines. They were put into use for the primary election of 2006.

While the percentage of voter turnout was in the high 20s in November and in the teens for the last primary, Mr. Young said, he's expecting Democrats to turn out in big numbers -- 50 percent to 75 percent -- and Republicans to show up at a rate of 45 percent to 60 percent.

Both machines and man will be ready for the onslaught. An array of tests have been performed to make sure everyone knows what to do and is capable of doing it. A public demonstration of the voting system will be held at 1 p.m. today in the Election Bureau offices in the Butler County Government Center in downtown Butler.