Voters getting the message

Iredell County’s population boom and a surge in community groups’ efforts to recruit new voters for the November election have pushed the county’s voter registration tally to new heights.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 11, the number of registered voters in Iredell swelled by 9 percent, jumping from 88,743 to 96,871.

Iredell County’s population boom and a surge in community groups’ efforts to recruit new voters for the November election have pushed the county’s voter registration tally to new heights.

Between Jan. 1 and Sept. 11, the number of registered voters in Iredell swelled by 9 percent, jumping from 88,743 to 96,871.

“It always increases dramatically before a presidential election,“ said Becky Galliher, Iredell County Board of Elections director. “We have until Oct. 10 to put registrations in. We are expecting to key in registrations up to the deadline.“

Galliher said she didn’t know exactly how many registration drives have been conducted this year.

The chairmen for Iredell County Democratic and Republican parties said the drives are a good way to generate support for their party’s presidential candidates.

Charlton Allen, chairman of the Iredell County Republican Party, said the county is growing and there is a lot of enthusiasm about the upcoming elections.

“It would not surprise me to see some more come in between now and the deadline,“ he said.

Both parties have voter registration forms at their headquarters in downtown Statesville and conducted drives at their booths at the Iredell County Agricultural Fair.

“The driving force behind it is to get as many new voters as we can and include them in the process,“ said Robert Stidd, chairman of the Iredell County Democratic Party.

Stidd said the party, which has around 33,216 registered members, is aware that it trails the Republicans by 7,587 voters, but they are working to close that gap.

Stidd said Democrat Presidential Candidate Barack Obama’s campaign was planning most of the voter registration events. However, the local chapter was planning a few small events.

Galliher said voter registration drives are useful not only to bring in new voters, but for anyone who needs to change their address or their name.

“If everyone will try to make sure their registration is current, it will be less time consuming for them,“ Galliher said.

By Bethany Fuller

Posted on 09/21/08 at 08:39 AM
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