ELKHART — With all the attention surrounding the Democratic candidates this election day, how will traditionally Republican areas shake out?

Many are crossing party lines when they cast their primary ballots.

“Oh, Elkhart County is overwhelmingly Republican,” said Elkhart County Democratic Chairperson Shari Mellin.

In past elections, the majority of voters in Elkhart County have cast their ballots for the GOP. But for the May 6 election, something's different.

Some Republicans are crossing over to the Democratic side.

"I've actually had a lot of phone calls from both friends and people I don't know, who say, ‘I've always voted Republican,’ or ‘I am a Republican, but I really like one of the Democratic presidential candidates, and I'd like to take a Democratic ballot,’” Mellin said. “And they're wanting to know how to do that."

There are other indications that crossover voting is taking place in Elkhart County, and that comes from the number of absentee ballots that have been cast.

"Our absentees came in at about 300 percent. We have three times what we had four years ago in this election,” explained Elkhart County Clerk Stevie Burgess. “We were noticing that about 75 percent of those requests were for Democrat ballots rather than Republican ballots."

Some Democrats feel the shift centers around dissatisfaction with the current administration in the White House.

But Republicans feel the crossovers will be limited to this primary.

"I believe it probably is very short term,” said Elkhart County GOP Chairman Dale Stickel. “There really has been no activity in the presidential primary for the Republican Party. I think in the fall that we're going to see that most of them will return."

He says there has been a heavy crossover vote in some county precincts and in others, not a whole lot.

Republican Party officials in Elkhart County say there were at least 22 precincts with major crossover votes. The county has 110 precincts.

Stay with WSBT News and WSBT.com for election results throughout the night.

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