Voter registration jumps in NC

An elections watchdog group warned today that voters could face long lines at the polls in November, judging from increases in voter registration.

“You can look ahead and see this horrible traffic jam," Bob Hall, executive director of Democracy North Carolina, a Durham-based research and advocacy center, said in a news release.

Hall urged election officials to add more staff and one-stop voting venues before Election Day.

Statewide voter registration reached nearly 5.9 million as of last week, an increase of nearly 5 percent since Jan. 5. In April alone, 100,000 voters were added just before the May primary, according to Democracy North Carolina.

In the Triangle, voters have registered by the thousands since January. Wake County registration is up 6 percent to 551,209; Durham County is up 7 percent to 174,522; Orange County is up 6 percent to 96,549; Johnston county is up 5 percent to 95,621; and Chatham County is up 5 percent to 39,961, according to Hall's analysis.

Statewide, Democrats have added eight times as many new voters as Republicans since the beginning of the year, Hall said. He noted that there are fewer registered Republicans today in 15 counties than in January, including Durham and Orange, the release said.

According to Hall's analysis, one-third of the new voters are black; two out of five live in the state’s six largest counties; and 10,000 identify themselves as Hispanic -- a 25 percent increase in this new category.

In the next few weeks, county boards of elections will finalize plans for how many polling sites to open during North Carolina’s 17-day early voting period from Oct. 16 to Nov. 1.

The new state budget, combined with federal funds, provides more than $2 million for counties to open additional early voting sites, for more days, with increased staffing to handle same-day registration, the release said.

Several counties, including Wake and Durham, already plan to extend weekend hours in anticipation of record turnout, the release said.

More than 2 million voters cast ballots in the May primary -- double the previous record for a North Carolina primary -- and all the key factors boosting turnout will be present again in November, the release said.

"Those factors include North Carolina’s first competitive presidential election in a generation, other hotly contested races, a surge in voter registration, the wild card of same-day registration and voting, and new levels of enthusiasm among young and African-American voters," Hall said in the release.