Last Day Of Voter Registration ‘Pretty Wild,’ Official Says

Benny Shaffer sat in a chair at the Sullivan County Election Office on Monday with a voter registration application in one hand and a pen in the other.

It was the last day for citizens to register to vote in the Nov. 4 general election and the first time the 62-year-old had ever made the effort.

“It’s embarrassing, but this is my first time,” said the Bristol, Tenn., resident. “I guess I just decided that I needed to get out and make a difference.”

Registration ended at 5 p.m. Monday, and local election officials in Virginia and Tennessee say the number of voters has risen in comparison to the 2004 election.

“It’s been pretty wild so far,” Gena Frye, Sullivan County administrator of elections, said Monday afternoon. “The last time I checked, which was the end of last week, the county had about 88,000 registered voters, and that doesn’t include absentees and the folks we’ll get the remainder of the day. In 2004, we had from 84,000 to 85,000 registered voters.”

Frye attributed some of the increase to the fact that an incumbent is not on this year’s presidential ticket.

“The primaries, and this whole election cycle, have been pretty heated, and the effort to get voters to identify with not only their party but a new name has been pretty high,”  she said. “I know there’s been a big push on college campuses to get students out to vote, but I’m also seeing older people coming out to register. The state of the economy, gas prices and the war – these factors are also spurring people on to register.”

Penny Limburg, Bristol Virginia’s general registrar, said she also has seen the number of registered voters rise. Limburg was registering new voters Monday, and fielding questions on the phone about changes of address and other requirements and from those calling just to make sure their names were still on the rolls.

“It’s been pretty steady here today,” she said about the city’s registration office at City Hall. “We’ve added 831 new voters to our rolls, and I think that’s about a 6 [percent] to 7 percent increase.”

“I’m very pleased, and I’ve seen more interest in the election this year,” she added. “There’s been more women register to vote, and many of them are older – even in their 90s. It’s interesting to think what might be motivating them.”

Diana Daily, of Bristol, Va., went to the election office Monday to notify Limburg of her 23-year-old son’s change of address.

“He’s a procrastinator,’ Daily said of her son, who was working and could not make the change himself. 

Meanwhile, Joyce Kistner, Bristol, Va., Republican Party committee chairwoman, was at the GOP headquarters at 509 Cumberland St.  on Monday.

“I wonder why anyone would want to wait until the last minute to register, buy they are,” she said. “We’ve been signing up a lot of people, and many of them are taking extra registration forms with them to give to other people. A lot of young people have already registered, and the majority that are coming in today are older people. But I think all age groups are realizing the importance of this election.”

On the other side of the political aisle, Catherine Brillhart, Bristol, Va., Democratic Party committee chairwoman, said the office had also been busy throughout the day.

“We’ve had 10 people come in and register, and normally we might get one a day,” Brillhart said from the office on Lee Highway. “We’ve also had a lot of people getting information about absentee voting, and people have also been stopping in to get yard signs and stickers.”

Voters are encouraged to take identification such as a driver’s license or voter card when they go to vote on Election Day, Nov. 4.

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