I received an e-mail press release from the state Division of Elections today that touches on a story we published in Thursday’s South Brunswick Post on the growing voter numbers in South Brunswick.
The gist of the story is that there has been a tremendous interest in this year’s presidential race and that it is likely to draw more people to the polls than ever before.
Numbers released today by the state appear to back this up:
As of October 1, a total of 5,127,790 New Jersey residents were registered to vote, an increase of 330,445 voters since the last General Election in November 2007.
That’s an almost 7 percent increase in registered voters since last year and there are still 11 days left to register.
That may not seem like a large percentage, given that we moved from a year in which the state Senate was the highest office on the ballot, but it is combined with a level of excitement that I think will lead to a higher percentage of those registered actually going to the polls than in many years.
State officials see the same thing:
“I’ve been active in the elections process for more than a decade, and I’ve never witnessed anything like the excitement out there right now,” said Robert Giles, director of the state’s Division of Elections. “The response to these voter registration efforts has been excellent, and the number of new registrations has exceeded our expectations. I urge every citizen to register now, because there are less than two weeks to go before the deadline.”
We at the Post urge the same thing.
Hank Kalet 