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"Surge of new voters approaches record
ELECTION, REGISTRATION DRIVES BRING LEAPS
By S.L. Wykes
Mercury News
Tens of thousands of voter registration cards are pouring into election offices in the Bay Area and across the country in what's expected to be a record-breaking surge of new voters, driven by a heated presidential election and aggressive registration campaigns.
Some new registrants are people who never registered to vote, or are just coming of age to cast a ballot. Others admit they can't remember the last time they went to the polls -- but want to this time.
With Monday's deadline to register looming, Santa Clara County's registration of eligible voters has pushed past 80 percent for the first time in the 12 years that officials have been keeping track. The county has added 84,000 names to its voter rolls since January -- nearly 24,000 in the last month alone.
Alameda and San Mateo counties have registered 76 percent of their eligible voters, with Alameda adding almost 25,000 voters in the last six weeks.
Nationwide figures aren't available yet, but battleground states such as Ohio, Florida, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Missouri are seeing the biggest boost in voter rolls. Cleveland has almost doubled its share of new voters compared with 2000, and other cities such as Philadelphia and Miami also are reporting record leaps.
``This year, more than any year in the past, lots of outside groups have focused exclusively on getting voters registered,'' said Thomas Holbrook, editor of American Politics Quarterly.
Their efforts have been so successful that now they're paying the price: The pool of potential voters is dwindling for the hundreds of workers dispatched by political parties, political action groups, labor unions and youth-oriented programs like ROCKTV.
``I'm starting to see people I know I've already registered,'' said Mary Rose, who travels the country from her home in Studio City, collecting signatures for petitions and registration drives as a full-time job.
Rose tried her luck recently at Foothill Community College in Los Altos Hills, she said, but the campus was swamped with competitors. For the past two weeks, she's set up a table at the Menlo Park Safeway to register voters -- especially Republicans. The GOP pays Rose $20 for each registered Republican, and $25 apiece if she registers more than 60 in a week.
Plenty of other new voters like Regina Garcia are motivated enough to head over to county election offices. The 24-year-old loan processor had registered when she was 18, but never voted. Now, she said, ``I think it's important to get involved, instead of just going along.''
Some political observers say they haven't seen such a registration movement in 40 years, since Lyndon Johnson defended his presidency against Conservative Barry Goldwater. Memory of the hair's breadth margin between George W. Bush and Al Gore four years ago spurred Stanford graduate student David Hendricks to finally update his registration after moving from his native Texas a few years back.
``I thought my vote might not count there,'' Hendricks said.
Election officials are bracing for another onslaught of registration cards early next week. Those postmarked through Monday will be accepted -- even if they don't arrive until later.
Santa Clara County called in two dozen temporary workers to help plow through the steady flow of registrations, but also pulled in other county employees, too. As Monday's deadline approaches, the intensity has built and no one has it easy. Gerry Rabe, 71, has worked 11-hour days, seven days a week, for the last three weeks, she said, ``and we're behind.''
It's even worse now than it was before California's historic recall that sent Arnold Schwarzenegger to office, said Rabe, who has worked this seasonal job for 10 years.
Tucked between stacks of towering mail trays, she opens, inspects and sorts cards so voters get the proper ballots. The county has 207 different ballots, in five languages.
San Mateo County election officials have made their own push to register voters in under-represented neighborhoods. They enlisted community groups, made door-to-door visits and organized gatherings in people's homes.
``We hope that some of these people we've touched might just feel more confident to go to a school meeting and speak out, and some of their kids might be inspired to register to vote when they're 18,'' said Warren Slocum, the county's elections chief.
Despite all the new voters, an analysis San Mateo County elections manager David Tom did this week showed that only 10 percent of the newly registered voters in San Mateo County are 25 and younger. ``Just looking at that number is enough to let me know there needs to be more effort,'' he said.
Rabe and many of her colleagues will be continuing their effort until Thanksgiving nears. After the election, there'll be all those late absentee ballots to count before the election can be officially certified.
``You do get tired,'' she said.
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