Organize the South

This is from today's AJC. Could be interesting for the presidential race, but it doesn't shed any light on anything beyond that.


300,000 more Georgians sign up to vote

By RHONDA COOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 07/01/08
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/07/01/voters_register.html

The number of Georgia voters has increased by 300,000 since the first of the year, with more than 4.7 million people on the active rolls for the July 15 primary, according to data released Tuesday.

Local registration officials have seen the number of people signing up to vote at a pace that picks up with each passing month.

The bump is significant, said Charles Bullock, a University of Georgia political scientist. As a comparison, he pointed out that there were 500,000 names added to the active voting rolls in the three years between the presidential election in 2004 and Jan. 1 of this year. "That is more than a 20 percent increase, so more Georgians are getting themselves signed up to vote," Bullock.

In the July 15 primary, Georgia voters will select nominees for a U.S. Senate seat, several U.S. House seats, the state Legislature and various local elections.

Bullock believes, however, that some of the increase before the July voting can be attributed more to enthusiasm for the November presidential election and the presumptive nominees, Democratic Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois and Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

"Obama is getting people to show up," Bullock said. "It may be people inspired by him or people who are scared of him. It could be any one of these. It could be both of these."

According to numbers released Tuesday, there were more than 4.7 million names on the state's active voter list as of June 16, the last day to register for this month's primary. That number is almost 39,000 more than it was two weeks earlier and almost 60,000 more than on May 31.

While Georgia was virtually ignored during the 2004 presidential race because the state was solidly Republican, both campaigns say it could be competitive this fall.

Obama is already running television ads, and the campaign said it has about 75 paid staffers and hundreds of volunteers in the state focusing just on voter registration and turnout. They are going door-to-door, often in their own neighborhoods, handing out mail-in voter registration applications. Their focus is on recruiting African-American and young voters.

The McCain campaign said it is working with the Georgia Republican Party to get people registered and voting. "The best way to encourage people to be involved is old-fashioned politics, friend-to-friend ... a common connection and shared values," said Ben Fry, executive director of the state GOP.

The racial makeup of the state's updated voter rolls is somewhat consistent with previous elections, and it also mirrors the state's population. More than 1.3 million African-Americans are on the active voting list; in November 2006 the number was almost 1.2 million. Then African-Americans accounted for 27 percent of the state's active voters, and now they represent 28 percent.

Both parties are predicting voter turnout in November that will top 90 percent in some counties because of enthusiasm for the presidential race.