SALEM — College professor Elliot Maltz worried that he might misplace his ballot or forget to mail it in time for next Tuesday’s election.

So instead, he used his lunch hour to walk his ballot to a drop site at the Marion County courthouse to make sure he voted for one of the Democratic contenders in Oregon’s presidential primary. He wouldn’t say if he voted for Barack Obama or Hillary Rodham Clinton.

“It’s important that we change administrations from Republican to Democrat this year,” said Maltz, a marketing professor at Willamette University. “I wanted to get my ballot in as soon as possible.”

Around the state, other Democrats are showing the same level of enthusiasm about sending in their in their ballots, according to the latest voter turnout figures from the secretary of state’s office.

As of Wednesday morning, more than 237,000 Oregon Democrats had returned their ballots, or about 27 percent of the total number of registered Democrats. About 140,000 Republicans — or 21 percent of registered GOP voters — had turned theirs in by the same time.

Combined with an 11 percent turnout by nonaffiliated voters, total turnout for all voters is about 22 percent so far — well ahead of the 18 percent turnout at this point of the May 2004 presidential primary.

Scott Moore, spokesman for Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury, said if the trends hold up through Tuesday, Democrats might have a 70 percent turnout, compared with about 50 percent of Republicans and 25 percent of the nonaffiliated voters.

The high Democratic turnout, in particular, reflects strong voter interest in the hard-fought race between presidential rivals Clinton and Obama. Oregon’s late-in-the-game May primary usually isn’t much of a factor in the presidential nominating process, but this year the contenders are competing for every vote in Oregon and the few remaining primary states.

There’s no suspense in the Republican contest. Sen. John McCain is the all-but-assured GOP presidential nominee, although Texas Congressman Ron Paul is listed on Oregon’s ballot as well.

Perhaps reflecting the views of other registered Republicans, Wayne Foster trooped to the Marion County courthouse this week to place his mail ballot as well at the drop site — although he said he didn’t feel a sense of urgency about doing so.

“I almost didn’t vote this time. But it’s our duty, so I decided just to be done with it,” said Foster, who works as a mapmaker for the county. He said he’s not enthused at all with McCain’s candidacy.

Looking at the next highest office up for grabs, Foster noted that Republican U.S. Sen. Gordon Smith faces only token opposition in Tuesday’s GOP primary.

“There’s not much suspense there,” Foster said after placing his ballot in the drop box.

Besides the presidential sweepstakes, Oregon Democrats alsao have seen a lively Senate race among the two main contenders who hope to win their party’s nomination to challenge Smith in the fall — Oregon House Speaker Jeff Merkley and Portland political consultant Steve Novick.

Also, three Democratic state senators are competing for the secretary of state nomination and two Democrats are running for attorney general. Neither race is contested on the Republican side.

Moore, the secretary of state’s spokesman, said Bradbury isn’t making any prediction about total turnout for Tuesday’s election.

But Moore said given all of strong interest among Democratic voters in the presidential and Senate races, Bradbury believes Tuesday’s election could see a turnout of well over 60 percent. That would be substantially higher than the 46 percent turnout in the May 2004 election.

“You’re seeing a lot of passion surrounding these races that is bringing out a lot of voters,” Moore said.