Presidential race brings out potential voters

<p>Driven by intense interest in the presidential campaign, voter registration in Sonoma County has jumped 5 percent, chiefly because large numbers of new voters signed up as Democrats during the past two months.</p><p>Since Labor Day the number of registered voters has increased by 12,000, from 236,000 to 248,000.</p><p>"Looking at the big number of new voters, I am confident there will be record turnout in the county and it looks like record numbers in the state as well," said Gloria Colter, the county's assistant registrar of voters.</p><p>She predicts turnout will be a record 90 percent, probably more. New voter registration closed Monday.</p><p>Voters who declined to state a political party preference soared 8.2 percent to 47,071 registrants. They now comprise 19 percent of the voters, compared with 52.4 percent who are registered as Democrats and 23.6 percent who claim Republican Party affiliation.</p><p>Elections experts said that enthusiasm for the Democratic ticket led by Illinois Sen. Barack Obama was largely responsible for the registration surge. Slightly more than half of the 12,000 new voters registered as Democrats.</p><p>Stephen Gale, chairman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, said that the surge in party registration stemmed from more young people and more Hispanic voters registering to vote. Party registration had been static for the past five years, he said.</p><p>"We believe that the large number of new voters who will vote for Obama will translate into interest all the way down the ballot, from supervisor to city council to the measure on rail transit," Gale said. "Many of the new voters are very conscientious and want to make sure their votes make a difference at the local level."</p><p>Democratic Party registration increased 5.5 percent over early September, compared with a 1.7 percent increase among Republicans.</p><p>In February, 231,748 voters were registered for the presidential primary election. Seventy-six percent of voters cast ballots, a record turnout for a primary.</p><p>Despite enthusiasm for registering to vote, Colter said return of absentee ballots is slow.</p><p>Of 162,180 absentee ballots mailed out, 32 percent had been returned as of late Friday, she said. Still, that was more than twice the rate of absentees returned statewide, which is about 14 percent.</p><p>"There are a lot of people that we know intend to vote in this election," Colter said "We encourage them to get them in now rather than wait so that their votes get counted in the first run of absentees on election night."</p><p>Despite a surge in voter interest, the total number of voters does not beat the record set in the 2004 presidential election when there were 248,997 registered voters in the county. Colter said reductions in the rolls occur regularly, whenever the elections office mails postcards, sample ballots and absentee ballots preceding an election gets them returned as undeliverable.</p><p>You can reach Staff Writer Bleys W. Rose at 521-5431 or bleys.rose@pressdemocrat.com.</p>