Georgians rush to register to vote as deadline nears

With only a few days left before the deadline, Georgia election workers are getting a last-minute rush of residents registering to vote in the Nov. 8 General Election.

But that doesn’t mean those newly registered voters will cast ballots.

Nancy Boren, executive director of the Muscogee County Board of Elections and Registrations, said her office always has an influx of voter registrations in the waning months of a presidential election year, but not necessarily a corresponding jump in voter turnout.

This year, factors other than a competitive presidential race are playing roles.

Organizations such as the Voter Participation Center in Washington, D.C., and the New Georgia Project are looking for residents who haven’t registered and recruiting them to do so.

Those groups use signature forms that then go to the elections office, and Boren said her workers have seen a lot of those this year.

But sometimes the registration forms are duplicates, and some come from people who’ve already registered to vote, she said.

Another factor driving voter registration is that residents now can do it online through the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, with its Online Voter Registration or OLVR system, which also has Apple and Android apps users can use at sos.ga.gov.

Those with smart phones can send a text to “2vote,” type “Georgia” into the message and send, and in reply get a registration link, Boren said.

Anyone registering online must have a driver’s license or state identification number. The deadline to register is Tuesday. Those unsure of their registration status can check it through the state’s “My Voter Page,” www.mvp.sos.ga.gov, where they also can view and download sample ballots.

Residents also can register when they get or renew their driver’s licenses at state bureaus, or by mail. Forms are available at local libraries and online at the Secretary of State’s website or the local elections office site, http://www.columbusga.org/elections/.

More than 6.5 million voters are registered in Georgia, according to the Secretary of State.

Boren said that as of Oct. 1, Muscogee had 96,045 registered and “active” voters, meaning they voted this year, changed their registration or had some other contact with the election process. The number has steadily increased, from 85,717 during the March 1 presidential primary and 89,952 during the May 24 state party primaries and local elections.

It’s not as many as the county had during the past two presidential elections. Columbus had 105,326 active voters in 2012 and 103,697 in 2008. Those were historic events, when America elected and then re-elected its first black president, and that drove up voter participation.

In 2004, Columbus had 88,223 active voters. In 2000, the number was 80,799.

According to demographics from the Georgia Secretary of State, of the active voters registered in Muscogee County as of Oct. 1, 45,587 were black; 40,711 were white; 2,068 were Hispanic; 1,308 were Asian or Pacific Islanders; 69 were American Indian; and 6,302 were designated as “other” or “unknown.”

After Tuesday’s registration deadline, only a week will pass before advance, in-person voting starts.

Early voting here will be Oct. 17 through Nov. 4, every day, including weekends.

All advance, in-person voting will be in the community room of the City Services Center, 3111 Citizens Way, off Macon Road by the Columbus Public Library. The hours are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. All Georgia voting precincts will be open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, Nov. 8.

This story was originally published October 5, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Georgians rush to register to vote as deadline nears."