Officials anticipate rise in voter registrations

Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz reports the number of Connecticut
residents registering to vote is "off the charts," and is offering some
impressive statistics to prove her point.

According to a news release issued by her office on May 9, in the 90 days
since the February 5 presidential primary, nearly 34,000 residents
registered to vote in Connecticut. She also stated that young people (18-29
years-old) appear to be the driving force behind the latest registration
surge, with more than 12,000 of them registering in the last 90 days. In
addition, the secretary noted the latest registration numbers closely mirror
the registration over the ninety day period prior to the Feb. 5 primary when
40,000 Connecticut residents registered to vote.

n the report, Bysiewicz said, "With young people leading the way,
Connecticut residents are registering to in impressive numbers. There is an
incredible renewed sense of enthusiasm and interest in the political
process, and the surge in voter registration we experienced before the
February 5 primary has continued through April and into May."

According to the records at the Secretary of State's office, there are
currently 1,925,328 registered voters in Connecticut.

But the figures offered by Bysiewicz did not seem to impress local
Registrars of Voters in Southington or Plainville. Bysiewicz reported that 432 voters registered to vote in Southington from Feb. 5 through May 5. "That's not a particularly big increase for us," said Robert Sherman, the Southington Republican Registrar of Voters. "We did have an increase before the February primary, but that's not unusual. Since then, it's been kind of quiet. But historically, in a presidential election year, we will have a large increase beginning in October."

He also called the Secretary of State's numbers, "correct as far as they
went. We did register 432 voters in that time frame, but we also lost 124
voters from the rolls at the same time. They either died or moved out of
town. So the overall impact on our voter list was minimal."

Sherman reports that as of May 12, Southington had 8,248 Democrats, 5,664 Republicans, 12,292 Unaffiliated and 183 "Others" on the voting list, for a total of 26, 387 registered voters.

Jean Lombardo Democratic Registrar of Voters in Plainville echoed Sherman's thoughts. "I don't think you can call it 'off the charts' in Plainville," Lombardo said, "but we are seeing a slight increase in registrations, much like a normal presidential election year. "We usually register about four or five voters a week in an election year, but now we're signing up about eight to ten a week.

"Like Bob, we also expect to have a very busy fall. That's when people
usually realize there's an election coming up, so they come down to
register. We'll be running straight out probably from late September on,"
Lombardo stated.

She then pointed out that if there is a primary election in August, the
dates will change. "If any of the state or congressional candidates who lost the nomination decides to fight on, then our busy time will start in late July or August," Lombardo said.

As of April 30, there were 9,981 Plainville residents eligible to vote, with
3,711 of them on the Democratic rolls, and 2,008 listed as Republicans.
Another 4,054 voters designated themselves as "unaffiliated' voters," while
eight voters signed on with "other" parties.