Turnout in the special election in IL-14, in which Democrat Bill Foster is fighting to serve out the term of former Speaker Dennis Hastert, was expected to be relatively light today:

Like a typical election, polls are open from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham said he does not expect more than 20 percent of registered to voters to come to the polls. About 40 percent turned out for last month's primary.

Officials say that means they expect far fewer than the 197,000 voters who turned out in November 2006 or even the 155,000 voters who filled out a ballot Feb. 5.But that's not to say there's zero interest in the race. In Kane, home to more than half the district's voters, early and absentee voting has been stronger than anticipated.

Funny, i was just checking out Foster's website and the image on the front page is a big ole picture of George Bush with the warning:

If you don't vote, Bush wins!

Now, if that doesn't drive turnout...

But just because voter turnout may be light doesn't mean Foster doesn't have a solid army on the ground in district. As Prairie State Blue reports there's a real team effort going on on the ground on behalf of Foster:

The scientist and engineer activists are out in full effect, including current and former Fermilab scientists and support staff and academic colleagues of Bill's. There are several people here from around the country who went to grad school with Bill and are incredibly excited about his campaign.

Labor is on board with folks from IUPAT, SEIU, AFSCME, IBEW, and Letter Carriers everywhere. The Letter Carriers local in Aurora is one of the most militant unions I've had the pleasure to know and work with! You've got to love militant mailmen and women who want to see a change in their government.

The Seals campaign has sent a bunch of people and the Harper campaign, too. Obama's Illinois organization is on board, too. In fact, I received a call from Obama's Chicago headquarters this morning asking me to volunteer!

And this is always good to hear:

There's no sign of Oberweis' people on the street ANYWHERE!

But with just under 4 hours left before polls close, Foster can still use all the help he can get to drive voters to the polls, so if you're in-district and can volunteer, see how HERE but even if you're not, Barack Obama has set up a phonebank from home function on his website.