presidential candidates

The hot presidential races featuring (from left) Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders has apparently motivated a spike in the number of unaffiliated voters who have decided to pick a party in time for the May primary.

PORTLAND -- The hot presidential election is apparently motivating a lot of Oregon voters who would otherwise be shut out of the state's closed primary to take steps that will let them choose a presidential candidate.

Data from the Oregon Secretary of State shows roughly 20,500 voters this year have switched to one of the three parties that can select a presidential candidate in the May contest. That's nearly three times the number of voters who made a switch during the same timeframe in 2008, the last presidential election with contested primaries in both major parties.

Of this year's figure, about 16,670 registered as Democrats, 3,200 as Republicans and 700 as Independents.

Most of these voters were previously nonaffiliated, which makes up about one-quarter of registered voters in Oregon.

"It is clear that national election coverage and Oregon's possible role in the presidential nominating contests have piqued voter interest. This is great news," Secretary of State Jeanne Atkins told The Associated Press.

Democratic contenders Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have both begun courting voters in Oregon ahead of the May 17 primary. Sanders drew about 11,500 to a rally in Portland on March 26 following a surprise stop by Bill Clinton earlier that week.

None of the Republican presidential candidates have brought their campaigns to Oregon so far.

Nearly three-fourth of Oregon's 2.2 million registered voters are eligible to vote in the state's presidential primaries. It's unclear whether the relatively tiny number of people who are changing parties will impact the outcome, said Paul Gronke, a political science professor at Portland-based Reed College who specializes in voter behavior.

But the numbers could certainly continue rising through April 26, the deadline for all voter registrations and changes.

"I would not be surprised if we break records here in this primary," he said.

Oregon posted a 58 percent primary turnout, or 1.17 million voters, in 2008, the state's highest for a presidential election year since the mid-1970s.

"The question is with all these new voters coming in, how will that impact these down-ballot races in unexpected ways," said Gronke, referring to local nonpartisan races such as the Portland mayoral contest listed further down on the ballot.

Another factor this year is that Democrats and Republicans are sharing the May contest for the first time with another party, the Independent Party of Oregon, which has about 110,600 registered members -- up from 16,000 in March 2008, according to the Secretary of State.

The Independent Party ballot is also open to the state's 540,000-plus nonaffiliated voters, a number that's been surging this year due to the state's new automatic voter registration system. Nonaffiliated voters must notify their counties by April 26 in order to receive an Independent Party ballot.

However, it's still unclear how the Independent Party's presidential nominee -- selected through write-ins on those ballots -- will be counted as part of overall primary results.

-- The Associated Press