County Voter Registration Hits All Time High

With almost three more months for people to register to vote in the November general election, Highlands County already has more registered voters than ever in its history.

As of Monday morning, the county Supervisor of Elections office listed 64,439 voters.

That is more nearly 4,400 more voters registered than the previous all-time high of 60,083, recorded in 2004 when President George W. Bush won re-election to a second term over Democrat John Kerry.

Deadline to register in the Nov. 4 general election always comes 29 days before Election Day, which makes the deadline Oct. 6.

Chances are good that there will be thousands of more people registered to vote by the end of business hours Oct. 6, according to Norma Stokes, the county's assistant supervisor of elections.

"We usually do have more people coming in to register at the last minute, before the deadline," said Stokes, who has worked full time for the elections office since 1997. For the 20 years before that, she worked as an Election Day poll worker.

"We try to send out a lot of publicity reminding people that if they need to register to vote, what the deadline is," Stokes said. Still, she said, many people do wait to register during the final two weeks of registration.

Republicans hold the lead in registered voters in Highlands County, but the Democrats appear to be catching up.

Stokes gave the following breakdown on the county's current registered voters:

•Republicans still have the most, with 28,321;

•Democrats are not far behind at 25,438, which leaves them less than 2,900 behind Republicans with 85 days left to register;

•Independents, or the people with no party affiliation, total 10,680;

•A total of 10,680 people are listed as having an "other" or "minor party" political affiliation. The various minor parties are not listed because there are so many of them, Stokes said.

Joyce Whitman, co-chairwoman of the Highlands County Democratic Party, said voters are registering here in record numbers because people are fed up with the Republicans who have been controlling the federal government for eight years and they want to see dramatic change.

"It's the Iraq war, it's Barack Obama, it's young people wanting to vote for the first time, it's the economy, and it's $4-a-gallon gas," Whitman said as to the record voter registrations both locally and nationwide. She spoke from the Democratic Party's headquarters in Sebring.

Because of the great interest in voting, which Obama has sparked in young people who didn't vote before, Whitman said the Democrats have a chance to catch up to and pass the Republicans in Highlands County.

"I think we're going to see a major change (in Washington) this year, and I really hope so," Whitman said. "And I think there are a lot of young people voting this year who never voted before. That's not something I'm saying, it's something you keep hearing all over the television news."

Republicans did not answer their phone at the county's Republican headquarters. Nor did a party person call back, as requested in a voice mail message on their headquarters telephone.

Joe Campbell, county supervisor of elections, said it's not unusual for the number of registered voters to climb in a presidential election year.

"Unfortunately," Campbell said, "some people sit back and don't think about voting until it's a presidential election year. They don't worry about the governor, they don't worry about the state legislature, they don't care about the board of county commissioners, and they don't worry about the county's constitutional officers.

"But when the presidential year comes that's all they see on television and so they decide it's time for them to vote again."

People who have voted in either of the past two general elections automatically remain registered to vote. Stokes said a person is taken off the voter registration rolls if he or she fails to vote in three successive general elections."