Virginia’s voter registration sees high numbers

With the presidential election less than two months away and the deadline for registering to vote Oct. 6, it’s getting busy in area voter registration offices.
Across Virginia, the state Board of Elections reports a net gain of 211,000 new voters in the state this year, including a larger number of younger voters.
Staunton Registrar Amanda DiMeo expects an uptick in voter registration during a presidential election year, but she is not accustomed to the diverse number of groups seeking to register voters.
“We have a steady flow of applications. There is Mary Baldwin College and people for churches and the hospital,’’ said DiMeo.
She said 14,301 voters were registered in Staunton as of Wednesday, up from 13,672 at the start of the year.
    Lisa Wells, Mary Baldwin’s director of student life, said a Constitution Day voter registration drive Wednesday at the college found many students already registered.
  “There was a high degree of interest,’’ said Wells, who added that the registration was conducted in the college’s dining hall during lunch.
Waynesboro Registrar Mary Alice Downs said the increase in that community is “what we see” every presidential election.
“There is a lot of activity,’’ she said. Waynesboro’s voter registration stood at 11,895 as of Wednesday.
Downs expects steady registration activity to continue into next year, when the commonwealth will elect a new governor to succeed Timothy M. Kaine.
In Augusta County, registration and absentee ballot work is so busy that the registrar’s office has added two part-time employees.
“Our mailbox is full every morning with voter applications,’’ said Augusta County Registrar Brandi Lilly. “It is both new people and those who have moved.”
Since early January, registered voters have increased by about 1,500 in Augusta County to 41,780 as of Wednesday.
Lilly would not speculate on what is driving the registration.
“I am glad they are registering and have such interest in updating. There is no way to determine why. I assume it is because of the presidential race,’’ she said.