SOUTH BEND — Indiana's much talked about presidential primary is one week away. The national race is tight between Democratic hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The most recent WSBT poll shows the Indiana race too close to call.

St. Mary's College professor Sean Savage said the recent primary election hype throughout the state could turn out to be interesting in November's presidential election. Savage also said Indiana is usually a very predictable Republican state in presidential elections.

"Who knows? Maybe Indiana will turn out to be a so called battle ground state in November," Savage told WSBT.

He also said Monday's U.S. Supreme Court ruling to uphold the Voter I.D. law could have an impact on voter turnout on May 6.

"One of the arguments the Democrats had made in opposing the law before the Supreme Court is they thought the photo I.D. law would have an effect in discouraging certain groups of voters — namely poor people, minorities, the disabled."

Savage also said voters who are currently 17 years old and will be 18 in early November will be able to vote in next week's primary.

St. Joseph County Clerk Rita Glenn told WSBT nearly 5,000 voters registered to vote absentee in the county. That's more than double the number of absentee voters from the presidential primary election in 2004.

"The absentee is so high, maybe people at the polls will reap the benefits that we're seeing here," Glenn said.

Glenn also said voters have the option to vote early at the County City Building in South Bend or at the voter registration office in Mishawaka. Early voting is available this Tuesday - Friday from 8 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. and next Monday from 8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

For more election headlines and voter resources, go to WSBT.com's Campaign ‘08 section.