District residents who haven’t registered to vote have until Monday to sign up with the Board of Elections and Ethics or facenot participating in what might be the most important election in decades.
With the mayor’s office, D.C. Council chairman and six council seats up for grabs, campaigns are driving the get-out-the-vote effort before the Aug. 14 registration deadline.
For example, the Marie Johns for Mayor campaign went all out Sunday on a “voter round-up” event in Ward 8, complete with ponies, hayrides and a catered barbecue.
“We usually have cheaper events, meet-and-greets and others like that,” Liz Rose, Johns’ campaign spokeswoman said. “But we’re very mindful of the voter registration deadline.”
Ron Eckstein, spokesman for Linda Cropp’s mayoral campaign, said the organization has been registering voters all along, but “our efforts have been more focused on identifying voters and getting them to the polls.”
And there are more to identify this year than in recent memory.
The number of registered voters has soared since Mayor Anthony Williams took office — from 345,199 in 1998 to 381,253 as of June 30, a 10 percent increase in less than eight years.
More than 73 percent of all District voters claim Democratic affiliation, 16 percent Independent, 8 percent Republican and 1.3 percent Statehood Green.
Primary turnout generally hovers around 33 percent when the mayor’s seat is contested.
Despite a Republican president and what appears to be a growing, more affluent District population, Republicans have yet to make a substantial dent. In 1998, when a Democrat controlled the White House, 24,726 voters were registered with the GOP, only 6,000 fewer than today.
The Sept. 12 primary is closed, meaning Democrats can only vote for Democrats. The only other political party with a contested primary on the ballot is Statehood Green, though there are write-in candidates running in several races.
Residents can register online or bymail, so long as the completed applications are postmarked by Aug. 14.
All party affiliation and name changes must also be completed by Monday.
For more information, visit www.dcboee.org.
