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Tuesday, Oct. 07, 2008

Thousands register to vote in Bibb Cocunty before deadline

Thousands of people had added their names to Bibb County's voter rolls as registration for the Nov. 4 general election came to a close Monday.

As of Oct. 1, nearly 10,000 people had registered to vote in Bibb County this year alone, said Elaine Carr, elections supervisor for the Macon-Bibb County Board of Elections.

That's more than double the 4,399 people who registered to vote during the same time period in 2004, the last presidential election year, Carr said.

In all, about 81,600 voters are registered in Bibb County. The next official count will occur Nov. 1.

"It's such a historical election," Carr said. "I think that has just generated an enormous amount of interest."

Statewide, more than 406,000 new voters have been added to the rolls since January. That's up by about 9 percent from the same period leading up to the last presidential contest in 2004, The Associated Press reported. There are 5.6 million registered voters in Georgia.

Some of the most significant growth has been among minority voters. While whites still make up the majority of the state's registered voters, their influence is slowly slipping.

Today, whites make up 63.5 percent of the state's electorate. That's down from 68.1 percent four years ago. In 2004, blacks made up 27.7 percent of the electorate, and now that has inched upward to 29.2 percent.

In Bibb County, voter registration drives - by churches, civic organizations, candidates and the local parties - played a large roll in attracting potential voters.

"We've given out close to ... 10,000 blank registration cards to people wanting to hold drives," Carr said.

The Macon branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has held about 10 voter drives since its big kickoff in July, said Al Tillman, the group's president.

About 1,500 to 2,000 people have registered as a result, he said.

Now the focus is shifting to getting those registered voters to show up at the polls on Election Day, Tillman said. The NAACP is urging people to bring friends to the polls with its "arrive with five" campaign, he said.

Carr predicted record voter turnout in November.

The last time Bibb County had record voter turnout was in 2004, when 78 percent of registered voters showed up at the polls, she said.

"We're going to break that this year, I believe," she said.

So far, more than 6,500 votes already have been cast during early voting, Carr said. Voters may cast an early ballot at the Board of Elections on Pio Nono Avenue through Oct. 31.

To contact writer Jennifer Burk, call 744-4345.