Overall turnout in Pa. primary double that of 2004

Residents of the Fitler Square neighborhood of Philadelphia vote in the Pennsylvania Primary at a neighbor's garage in Philadelphia, Tuesday, April 22, 2008. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

PHILADELPHIA—Election officials projected turnout among Pennsylvania's 8.3 million registered voters at 40 percent to 50 percent for the presidential primary, double that of the state's primary four years ago.

Secretary of State Pedro Cortes said Tuesday that for the 2004 primary 21 percent of Democrats, Republicans, independents and other registered voters turned out. In 2000 the primary turnout was just 18 percent.

Democrats set their primary turnout record in 1980 when just under 55 percent went to the polls. An Associated Press analysis projected Democratic turnout at more than 50 percent, but a record-setting percentage was unlikely.

"I have never seen a polling book this thick," said Sheryl Simons, a poll worker in a West Philadelphia ward where voters include college professors, students and lower-income residents. "The debates and the candidates coming to campus ... really heightened interest."

A voting problem hotline run by the Philadelphia League of Women Voters received about 750 complaint calls, the most in at least a decade, said chapter president Kelly Green. Most came from the Philadelphia region.

Cortes said the problems statewide were comparable to previous elections he has run and may have been fewer. That is remarkable considering the microscope Pennsylvania was under, he said.