Election officials report brisk business on last day of voter registration

October 15, 2008 03:09 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff

With America embroiled in two overseas conflicts and its economy faltering, people are rushing today to meet an 8 p.m. deadline to register to vote in the presidential election, several election officials said.

“All I can tell you is, it’s constant, nonstop, counter full of people waiting in back of people, phones ringing off the hook,” said Kathy Hoar Fleury, election commissioner in Springfield. “I have never seen anything like this.”

“The race, the presidential race, that’s all they talk about,” she said. “I think it’s great. I hope that all these people that are registering go out to vote. But they certainly seem excited.”

“It’s certainly going to be impressive. ... I think we’re going to see a real bump in the numbers when we finish processing all these registrations,” said Gerry Cuddyer, chairwoman of the election commissioners in Boston. She said that the city would probably break registration records this year.

“I think we’re at least as strong as any voter registration cycle in our lifetime,” said David J. Rushford, the Worcester city clerk.

Data on the number of people registering statewide weren’t immediately available, at least partly because mail-in registrations will trickle in over the next couple of days, said a spokesman for the secretary of state, Brian McNiff.

Still, McNiff said, the office is expecting that the state will break registration records this year.

In Oct. 2004, the previous record was set when 4,098,634 voters were registered. But by August of this year, 4,093,503 people had already registered, McNiff said, meaning only 5,000 new registrations are needed to break the record.

Secretary of State William Galvin has predicted that 100,000 more voters could register by today's deadline.

City and town halls will be open until 8 p.m. to register people. Even in towns with fewer than 1,500 voters, registration will be available from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 7 to 8 p.m.

Voters in the Nov. 4 election will also select a senator, all 10 congressmen, governor’s councilors, state lawmakers, and certain county officials.

They will also decide on ballot questions that propose to abolish the state income tax, decriminalize marijuana, and ban dog racing.