Usually, I like to read my grandma's paper before I go to school but I was in a hurry, so I didn't get to. So after I was back home I sat down with my grandma's copy of the Detroit News. On the front page the headline blared Mich. voter roll surges to 98%. College towns, Democratic Wayne Co see big registration hikes.
More below the break
Now, I knew the Obama campaign was working hard, I saw it with my own eyes. I go to Macomb Community College in Macomb, Michigan. If you remember, Obama gave a town hall there early in the year. Here. As most of you know, Macomb County is famous for "Reagan Democrats." It was the county that spurred pundits to create that term.
Well, like I was saying, ever since I started school back in August, the Obama campaign had between 2-6 volunteers on campus registering people to vote EVERY DAY till registration ended on October 6.
Plus I have talked to people at the other big universities (Wayne State, Michigan, MSU, Oakland etc.) and the same story is being told. The Obama campaign has had a constant presence there too.
Well their registration efforts had paid off!
The Detroit News had a story on the front page today saying that 98% of eligible voters are registered to vote.
Read the whole article here.
A record 7.47 million Michiganians are registered to vote in the Nov. 4 general election, state officials announced Wednesday, including sharp increases in Democratic bastion Wayne County and several college areas where Barack Obama's campaign has been especially active.
That's a 4.6 percent jump from January and represents a whopping 98 percent of the state's voting age population, reported Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land.
It's also a 4.3 percent increase from the 2004 presidential election, even though the state's population has dropped off by 30,000 in the past year alone. Since July, 230,000 new voters have registered.
Wow. So even though 30,000 people have left Michigan the number of registered voters goes up by 4.3%
The effort has led to strong numbers in college towns and democratic areas.
Democrats have made a concerted push to register voters this year, and it appears to have paid off. In Wayne County, registration is up 6.4 percent since January, to 1.44 million voters.
Counties that contain major universities also saw big jumps: 10 percent in Washtenaw, home to the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University; 8 percent in Ingham, where Michigan State University is located; 14 percent in Isabella, home of Central Michigan University; and 7 percent in Kalamazoo, site of Western Michigan University.
Overall, there were four times more new voters in heavily Democratic counties than in heavily Republican counties.
Also good news for the Obama team.
The Secretary of State reports that 53 percent of voters are women and 47 percent are men. That's also good news for Obama. Polling has indicated that women are more likely than men to support the Illinois senator. A News poll in September showed women favoring Obama over John McCain, 51 percent to 34 percent. Men in that survey supported Obama over McCain, 44 percent to 42 percent.
More good news.
In Oakland County, registration is up 4.3 percent from January to 915,537 voters, and Macomb County saw a 4 percent increase to 610,708. Livingston County had a 3.2 percent increase to 132,151 voters.
...
In a new offering this year, the Macomb County Clerk's Office remained open until midnight Oct. 6, the last day to register for the November election. Between 5 p.m. and midnight, 120 people came through the door to register.
"Right now, we're anticipating a possible voter turnout of 80 percent to 85 percent," Sabaugh said.
Also, the article had a list of some counties and registration totals. I couldn't find them on the website but here they are.
Wayne County- 6.4% to 1.435 million
Oakland County- 4.3% to 915,537
Macomb County- 4% to 610,708
Livinston County- 3.8% to 132,151
Kent County- 5% to 420,721
Ingham County- 8% to 218,300
Washtenaw County- 10% to 273,955
Genesee County- 3.3% to 347,366
Kalamazoo County- 7.2% to 192,248
Isabella County- 14.4% to 45,163
Plus, the article said 82 out of 83 counties reported an increase in registrations. Only Ontonagon County reported a slight decline.
Now, we only need to get these newly registered people out to the polls on November 4th!
Update:
I thought it would be nice to include Real Clear Politics Average of polls for Michigan.
RCP Average 10/08 - 10/22 56.0,38.0 Obama +18.0