State and local elections officials are still processing the flood of new voter registrations that came in by last Tuesday’s deadline to sign up for the Nov. 4 election.
As of Friday morning, 29,478 new voters had signed up since the beginning of the week, and new Democratic voters outnumbered Republicans by ratios of 3- and 4-to-1.
“The number of registrations is off the charts,” said Mary Wagner, head of the registration unit at the State Board of Elections. “Baltimore City reported they got 14,000 on deadline day plus five bags of mail.”
Katie Brown, director of the Baltimore County Board of Elections, said more than 3,000 registrations came in over the counter last Tuesday, and 1,000 people came through the door. At least 2,000 more came in by mail.
“We’re overwhelmed but we’re handling it,” Brown said.
Democratic Party officials had made a major push for registrations this year, as Barack Obama has created enthusiasm among black voters, who make up more than a third of Maryland’s Democratic electorate.
More than 200,000 new Democratic voters have signed up since Jan. 1, almost 54,000 just since Sept. 30, compared to 62,000 Republicans since the year began and only 8,700 in the past three weeks.
There is still a wide gap between registrants and those eligible to vote, according to U.S. Census estimates. More than 1.5 million Marylanders age 18 or over are not registered to vote, though that figure includes noncitizens and felons.
The deadline for applying for an absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 28, and the application for a ballot must be mailed or faxed by that date. So far, 150,000 absentee ballots have been requested statewide, almost 20,000 of those in Baltimore County.
“We’re keeping right up on it,” Brown said.
Registered voters
By the numbers
Total voters: 3,377,850
Democrats: 1,909,483
Republicans: 921,524
Independents: 476,790
Other parties: 70,053
Source: State Board of Elections
