Oregon Public Broadcasting

In Oregon, most people have already mailed in their ballots. Still, according to the Secretary of State’s office, 45 percent haven't been received yet, despite the excitement and enthusiasm around this year’s election.

Central Oregon correspondent Ethan Lindsey reports local "down-ticket" candidates are worried they could suffer.

In the final hours before Election Day, GOP representative Gene Whisnant is making calls to get out the vote.

In front of him, Whisnant has an updated list of Deschutes County Republnames who haven’t yet voted.

But he says while the state knows who has voted, they don’t know who they voted for. Or even which races they voted in.

Gene Whisnant: “Usually Republicans vote down the ticket, and that’s important. I think a lot of the new voters, for Mister Obama, may stop at the top, which I’m sorry, wouldn’t bother me too much."

But Democrats are hoping an expected turnout for presidential hopeful Barack Obama will trickle down to lesser-known races across the state.

And it could be particularly important in Central Oregon, where a strong Democratic showing could shift blue seats to red.

There are more registered Democrats in Deschutes County than ever before - again the Obama factor.

Jim Thomassen is the chair of the Deschutes Country Democrats.

Jim Thomassen: “So we’re pretty happy that we turned Bend blue, and now we just have to make sure people vote, that have registered.”

In a large office next to the library in downtown Bend, about two dozen Democrats buzz around from room to room organizing for city council, legislative, and congressional races.

Obama has even opened a field office here, in downtown Bend. But it's two blocks away from the Democratic headquarters, and some local Democrats say there is a gap between their operations and Obama’s.

Thomassen says local Democrats are working hard to make sure that separation doesn’t leave his hopefuls out in the cold.

Jim Thomassen: “Of course you always worry that some people are going to go in and just vote for Obama and stop. We have several people running in our state legislature here, that we think have a good chance of winning, so we want to make sure our Democratic voters vote all the way down the ticket.”

Some say that drop-off is the reason progressive attorney Steve Novick didn’t win the May primary against house Speaker Jeff Merkley.

In the primary, 100,000 Oregonians voted for president and then stopped.