Spring Break
Voter registration high, but no record
Issue date: 10/7/08 Section: Campus News
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - Tennessee registered more than 291,000 new voters between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, which is down from four years ago during the same period.
"Last time was huge," State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson said. "But this time is huge, too."
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2004, Tennessee saw more than 344,500 people register, according to numbers provided by Thompson.
But some counties saw record registration this year.
"We've never seen these kind of numbers before in the time I've worked here," Madison County Election Commission administrator Kim Buckley said of new registrations. "This is my fifth presidential election."
Buckley did not have data to compare this year with previous presidential election years, but instead judged by a different measure.
"I can tell from the number of people we're having to hire to do the work that we're well above what we've ever done before," she said.
In Nashville, Davidson County Election Commission administrator Ray Barrett said the office had processed 36,382 registrations between Jan. 1 and Friday morning.
"There are three or four cases that came in this morning and we'll be here on Saturday and Monday," Barrett said. "We might hit 40,000."
In 2004 the office saw 32,641 new registrations between Jan. 1 and the end of registration, he said.
The office has hired about seven temporary workers to help deal with the surge in applications and workers are staying until 8 p.m. and working weekends.
The Knox County Election Commission administrator said he can't make an apples-to-apples comparison to 2004 because the commission did a purge of the voter rolls that year, but he also thinks registration is up this year over four years ago.
Over 20,000 voters had registered this year as of Sept. 27, he said.
Mayra Yu-Morales, 37, registered to vote this summer after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen. The native of Mexico said she feels a responsibility to vote now that she is an American.
A group that won't be voting in this election is felons who owe outstanding court-ordered payments, such as child support or restitution.
The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a suit against the state hoping to overturn a law that requires felons who have completed all prison, parole and probation to also be current on court-ordered payments before they can request to have voting rights restored.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Wiseman Jr. dismissed the suit last month.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
"Last time was huge," State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson said. "But this time is huge, too."
Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2004, Tennessee saw more than 344,500 people register, according to numbers provided by Thompson.
But some counties saw record registration this year.
"We've never seen these kind of numbers before in the time I've worked here," Madison County Election Commission administrator Kim Buckley said of new registrations. "This is my fifth presidential election."
Buckley did not have data to compare this year with previous presidential election years, but instead judged by a different measure.
"I can tell from the number of people we're having to hire to do the work that we're well above what we've ever done before," she said.
In Nashville, Davidson County Election Commission administrator Ray Barrett said the office had processed 36,382 registrations between Jan. 1 and Friday morning.
"There are three or four cases that came in this morning and we'll be here on Saturday and Monday," Barrett said. "We might hit 40,000."
In 2004 the office saw 32,641 new registrations between Jan. 1 and the end of registration, he said.
The office has hired about seven temporary workers to help deal with the surge in applications and workers are staying until 8 p.m. and working weekends.
The Knox County Election Commission administrator said he can't make an apples-to-apples comparison to 2004 because the commission did a purge of the voter rolls that year, but he also thinks registration is up this year over four years ago.
Over 20,000 voters had registered this year as of Sept. 27, he said.
Mayra Yu-Morales, 37, registered to vote this summer after being sworn in as a U.S. citizen. The native of Mexico said she feels a responsibility to vote now that she is an American.
A group that won't be voting in this election is felons who owe outstanding court-ordered payments, such as child support or restitution.
The American Civil Liberties Union had filed a suit against the state hoping to overturn a law that requires felons who have completed all prison, parole and probation to also be current on court-ordered payments before they can request to have voting rights restored.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Wiseman Jr. dismissed the suit last month.
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press.
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