Waiting to the last minute

The Associated Press
Published: October 6, 2008

RICHMOND — The numbers in the corners of the Express Mail envelopes told the tale: $16.50, $14.65, $12.60 — the price some Virginians would pay to make sure their voter registration forms made it in before Monday’s deadline to register to vote in the November election.

More than 306,000 new voters already have registered in Virginia this year, and local registrars and state elections officials spent Monday taking in thousands more through the mail and in person.

They came in flip flops and in three-piece suits to the State Board of Elections office in Richmond, carrying backpacks, briefcases or expensive handbags.

While some, like 18-year-old Sneha Kondragunta and 19-year-old Toshie Ahluwalia, were there to register for the first time, others simply wanted to make sure their voter information was correct so there would be no problems when they went to the polls on Nov. 4.

Gina Burgin and a friend organized a voter registration drive and registered about 300 people in their Catholic church and in their community. Burgin stopped by the elections board office Monday to check the voting status of her mother, who recently moved to Virginia from Maryland.

“A lot of people really feel invigorated,” said Burgin, a commercial real estate attorney who still is deciding between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain. “I don’t really care who anybody votes for, it’s just nice to see everybody getting involved in the process.”

Of the new voters already registered, 42 percent were under the age of 25.

Kondragunta and Ahluwalia, both Obama supporters and premed majors at Virginia Commonwealth University, downloaded the forms online and dropped them off on Monday.

Like them, Michael Paparo said he didn’t want to be one of those young people who talked about politics but didn’t vote.

“Most of the people I know my age, they have a lot of opinions but they’re just too lazy to register to vote,” said Paparo, a 24-year-old community college student.

Obama blanketed the state with e-mails Monday reminding supporters of the deadline and encouraging them to forward the message to friends, family and neighbors.

“This election is going to hinge on unprecedented voter turnout — especially in Virginia,” the e-mail read.

Republicans didn’t have any last-minute voter drives, state GOP spokesman Gerry Scimeca said.

Final registration numbers won’t be available until next week, elections board secretary Nancy Rodrigues said. Mailed registrations had to be postmarked by Monday.

“We always see an increase every four years and we forget that,” she said. “But this one is running about 100,000 more than in previous years.”

The state board usually is closed on the weekends, but a team fielded 4,000 calls on Saturday and another 2,000 on Sunday. On Monday, the phone rang continuously.

Rodrigues has made other changes this year to keep up with the demand.

A registration table was placed in the hallway on Friday to keep people from crowding the board’s office. On Monday, 16 volunteers manned a call center, answering questions about polling places, registration status and directing those wanting to get their registration in by the deadline to their local registrar’s office.

“We are in the business of democracy, so we just want to make certain that everyone who is qualified to vote has that opportunity,” Rodrigues said.

As she talked, workers in a back room opened envelopes and stuffed each registration into one of 134 cubbyholes along the wall tagged with each of Virginia’s localities.

“We’ve got 13 buckets of mail sitting at the post office,” a worker opened the door and shouted.

“Thirteen buckets, that’s great,” she replied. “That’s what it’s all about.”