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Manchester registers more democrats mostly indies { October 25 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13217709&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=13217709&BRD=985&PAG=461&dept_id=161556&rfi=6
Numbers game: Registrars report "all heck' breaking loose; thousands of new voters rush to sign up
By Kimberly Phillips, Journal Inquirer October 25, 2004
As the deadline for voter registration crept closer last week, the stack of registration cards in the Manchester registrars' office kept growing.
With at least two new voters at the counter in the office at the Weiss Center during most times, the pile of registration cards on Democratic Registrar Frank Maffe Jr.'s desk measured at least 6 inches thick just days before the Oct. 19 deadline.
"It didn't look like it was going to be terribly busy, but then all heck broke loose," Maffe said recently. "It's going crazy."
And that's the trend local registrars in Andover, Bolton, Coventry, East Hartford, East Windsor, Ellington, Enfield, Hebron, Manchester, Somers, South Windsor, Stafford, Tolland, Suffield, Vernon, Windsor, and Windsor Locks are reporting.
In one day the Manchester office processed 250 new voters, Maffe said, for a total of 31,891 voters as of late Sunday; that's 2,220 new voters since Oct. 1.
This number won't reflect the total number of voters in town until all registration forms are processed, however. The office has hired additional help to do so, but that worker was sent home early several days last week because the state's voter-registration database kept crashing, putting staffers behind schedule on data entry.
A spokesman for the secretary of the state's office said the centralized voter-registration system was brought down Oct. 17 for maintenance and the next day registrars throughout the state had trouble access the database.
They still were able to accept new voters early last week, he said, but many were unable to process the paperwork for several hours on Oct. 18.
Gregg "Rock" Regan, chief information officer for the state Information Technology Department, which operates the voter database, said last week there were problems with the network that caused the glitch in the system. It was not a problem with information overload, he said.
Before the database problems arose, Manchester's Republican registrar, Barbara A. King, said it'd take days for her staff to enter the new data in the system, long after the Oct. 19 registration deadline.
Now, with the problems that day, continued computer interruptions throughout the rest of the week, and mailed-in registrations that had only to be postmarked by Oct. 19, it'll likely take until Tuesday, she said.
Although official numbers aren't available yet, King said, "I haven't seen voter registration like this since Ronald Reagan ran."
As of late Sunday figures show the town has 10,964 Democrats, up from 10,419 on Oct. 1. There are 6,530 Republicans, up from 6,252 on Oct. 1; 14,334 unaffiliated voters, up from 12,946 on Oct. 1; and 63 registered with another party, up from 54 on Oct. 1.
King said she expects the town to hit 32,000 voters when all is done and should brace for an 85 to 87 percent turnout Nov. 2.
A large number of registrants are coming from the Buckland area, King said, which means there could be an especially high number of voters at Robertson Elementary School. Also, she said she's expecting so many voters at Manchester High School that she and Maffe are considering adding a fifth voting machine there.
As for election predictions, King said that many of the walk-in registrants are in their late 20s and early 30s; and Maffe said many are women. Nevertheless, King and Maffe agree that people of all ages and of both genders have come in to register.
Maffe said that of those who are choosing a party, most are registering as Democrats, which could give Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry the advantage here in Manchester.
"When people are registering in a large number that means they're usually going to vote the person in, out," Maffe said. "Because if they're happy they just don't bother."
More unaffiliated voters
Enfield's Republican Registrar Vaughan Vanderscoff said registration picked up dramatically in the last three weeks before the registration deadline.
More than 1,520 new voters registered between Sept. 27 and Oct. 19, she said, adding that many of this year's new registrants are between 18 and 30 years old.
Of Enfield's more than 45,500 residents, 26,603 are registered to vote.
Unaffiliated voters are by far the largest group of voters with 12,157 registered. Democrats, with 9,486 voters, run a distant second but nearly double the number of Republicans, with 4,899 voters.
Sixty-one residents, a fraction of a percent, are registered with third parties, including the Enfield Taxpayers Party and the Green Party.
Vanderscoff attributed the increase in registered voters to the media's heavy election coverage as well as voter education in the schools.
"They've been made more aware," she said.
Registrars in Vernon also recorded a sizeable increase in new voter registration. Since September, the office had more than 1,200 new registrations in town.
"Over the years, people have become more interested in voting," Democratic Registrar Judith A. Beaudreau said. "It's been busy."
As of mid-day Friday, Vernon had 16,245 people registered to vote, officials said. More than half of those registered, 8,595 voters, did not register with a political party; whereas, 4,528 are registered as Democrats, and 3,086 are registered as Republicans. The remaining 36 voters belong to other political parties in town.
Last year, 14,135 people were registered to vote, down from the last presidential election in 2000 when Vernon had 15,446 voters.
Republican Registrar Patricia Noblet described the recent registration period as "a circus."
"I don't know what it indicates. I expect people just want to vote. It is a good thing," she said.
On Friday, registrars were still counting mail-in registrations postmarked by the Oct. 19 deadline. In addition, officials were removing voters from the list who have moved out of town.
Official numbers won't be available until week's end, Beaudreau said.
Registrars work through weekend
East Hartford's Democratic Registrar Margaret A. Byrnes and Republican Mary J. Mourey worked through the weekend, entering data from stacks of registration cards into the computers.
Mourey said Friday her office likely wouldn't have an accurate count until Tuesday. As of late Friday about 25,335 voters were registered. That's up from about 24,000 last November, Mourey said.
In a town where Democrats have outnumbered Republicans 4 to 1, Democrats' new political opponent might be the large number of unaffiliated voters.
Thus far, out of the 25,335 voters Friday, 12,085 registered Democrat, 3,130 registered Republican, and 10,081 registered unaffiliated.
Monita Hebert, Bolton's Democratic registrar, said her office was "bombarded" with last-minute registrants.
"Since I've been a registrar, we've had very, very few people," she said. "I can count them on one hand. Usually all of our registrations are in the mail or people go to the town clerk's office."
Hebert said she couldn't say if the high registration would help one presidential candidate more than another, but added, "There's definitely a movement going on. I don't know who or what is responsible for it. People are just registering to vote who haven't bothered to do it before."
Town Clerk Susan DePold said an unusually high number of young voters registered this year.
"We see many young people registering, and we are getting many absentee ballot requests from people who are in college," DePold said.
All towns see increases
In Coventry, 2,101 Democrats are registered, along with 1,488 Republicans, 4,019 unaffiliated, and 28 belonging to other parties for a total of 7,636 voters, Republican Registrar Blanche Strater said last week.
That's up from the last presidential election when 1,958 Democrats, 1,469 Republicans, and 3,263 unaffiliated, and a small number of third party members were registered for a total of 6,690, Democrat Registrar Marjorie Roach said Friday.
Ellington has a total of 8,638 voters, up from 7,686 last year, Democratic Selectman Dennis W. Frawley said, adding that many are registering as unaffiliated.
In East Windsor, Republican Registrar Linda C. Sinsigallo said 663 new voters registered between Sept. 9 and last week, the largest number of voters she's seen register in such a short period in 23 years.
The new registrants bring East Windsor's voter rolls to a 6,318 people. Of those, 3,121 voters are unaffiliated, 1,941 are Democrats, and 1,245 are Republicans. Eleven voters are registered with the Green or Libertarian parties.
Tolland's Democratic Registrar R. Michael Wyman said he was surprised by the influx of new registrations, 600 new voters since September. Some 1,191 new voter registrations have come during the last four years since the last presidential race -- 209 new Republicans, 216 new Democrats, and 766 unaffiliated registrations.
"I was surprised by the amount of new registrations, particularly for a town of our size," Wyman added.
Tolland now has 2,168 registered Republicans, 2,251 Democrats, and 4,982 unaffiliated voters, for a total of 9,401.
Stafford is following suit.
Susan Houle, the town's Democratic registrar, said much of the interest in voting could be attributed to publicity campaigns to get out the vote.
"The media and television really helped and pushed for voter registration this year," she said.
Since the second week of October the registrar's office has seen as many as 75 new voter registrations each week, up from a steady flow of between 25 and 35 each week during the previous month, Republican Registrar Ann Haraghey said.
"All summer it's been pretty busy, but as it gets closer to the election we've been getting a lot more," she said.
As of September there were 7,080 registered voters in Stafford -- 2,938 Democrats, 1,090 Republicans, 3,030 unaffiliated, and 12 others.
Increases in presidential years
Hebron officials are reporting 1,526 Democrats, 1,498 Republicans, 2,943 unaffiliated, and 13 third-party registrants for a total of 5,980, Republican Registrar James L. Derby said last week.
In 2000, 5,466 people were registered with 1,427 Democrats, 1,424 Republicans, 2,613 unaffiliated, and two from third parties, Derby said.
"Every four years it seems to increase," Derby said. "It's been a massive race to register. It's almost as though other business has stopped."
Somers had 5,937 voters as of last week, according to Republican Registrar Marjory Madden -- 491 more than last year at this time.
More new voters registered as Republicans than Democrats, with 1,346 Democrats and 1,524 Republicans. Some 314 of the people who registered in the last several weeks classified themselves as unaffiliated. Seven registered with other parties.
Madden said 253 people registered during October alone -- more than five times the number that usually registers the month before a presidential election.
"It's staggering. This is a lot more than we've ever had register," she said, adding that voters don't fit one certain demographic. "It's everybody -- old, young. Anybody who can walk."
Darlene Burrell, Suffield's Democratic registrar, said Friday there are more than 900 new voters compared to this time last year. About 600 registered in the past two months alone.
"There was a tremendous amount of unaffiliated voters who registered and the increases in the two major parties was about the same," Burrell said.
As of Oct. 31, 2003, Suffield had 7,505 registered voters, but as of Friday that number had increased to 8,412 -- 2,070 Democrats, 2,447 Republicans, and 3,877 unaffiliated.
Borrowing voting machines
South Windsor officials have "absolutely" noticed a spike in the number of people registering this year, said Janis K. Murtha, the Republican registrar.
As of Thursday, 15,950 people had registered, with more being processed on Friday. Last year, there were 14,885 registered voters in town, Murtha said.
"We've had to go to another town and borrow machines" for Election Day, she said, noting that East Hartford officials are lending them several voting machines.
By noon Friday, Windsor Locks had 7,496 voters, including 2,507 Democrats, 1,372 Republicans, 3,596 unaffiliated voters, and 21 in other parties.
The registrars said they'd still be counting voters today, as they've seen hundreds of people register as compared to past years.
Democratic Registrar Eleanor Leonard and Republican Sandy Hebert said they've seen a large number of people who've never voted opt to do so this time. Many are in their 30s and 50s, Hebert said.
In Windsor, Democratic Registrar Anita Mips said about 1,000 new voters registered in the past couple months. The total number of registered voters is 18,059, with 7,185 Democrats, 3,101 Republicans, and 7,748 unaffiliated.
"We're up considerably in the past two months," Mips said.
Finally, Andover has a total of 2,119 voters -- 655 Democrats, 533 Republicans, 909 unaffiliated, and 22 third party members, Republican Registrar Louise F. Parkington said last week.
These numbers are up from 2000, when only 1,928 voted in that year's presidential election, Parkington said: "It's unprecedented."
Staff writers Cara Baruzzi, Evan P. Emmott, Luke Foster, Max Heuer, Amy Johannes, Sarah Netter, Mark D. Simpson, Christine Stuart, Candace Taylor, Jim Tierney, and Alex Wood contributed to this report.
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