(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-06 11:17

Not all of the registrants are new to politics. A newly registered voter might be one who has moved to a new state. But the onslaught of registrations has overwhelmed election organizers, resulting in a mix of both excitement and anxiety as they prepare to count ballots cast by millions of new registrants.

North Carolina officials expect a turnout of around 50 percent in Tuesday's primary election -- double the rate of past primaries. Almost half a million voters cast early ballots, more than half the number who voted in the state's 2004 primary overall.

Special coverage: 2008 US Presidential Election Related readings:  New poll finds Clinton leads Obama nationwide  Clinton, Obama, predict fight stretches to June 3  Obama wins Guam caucuses by just 7 votes  Clinton calls for gas tax vote, Obama calls it 'shell' game  Obama once again fails to impress in sport  Obama's lead over Clinton in national poll shrinks to zero  Obama is 'outraged' by former pastor's comments  Poll: Clinton leads McCain by 9 points

In Indiana, which also votes Tuesday, a flood of recent voter applications slowed election systems to a crawl and forced some counties to keep staff working around-the-clock to process the backlog.

In April alone, Hoosier election staffs processed 130,000 new or updated voter registrations. Many more people cast ballots in early voting.

"Those numbers completely obliterate any numbers from 2004," said Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita. For the primary, he said, "I've been pulling my staff in for war-game meetings, playing out every scenario. They're almost paramilitary tactics in terms of strategy."

David Woodard, a professor of political science at Clemson University who has advised Republican candidates, acknowledged the GOP is concerned about what appears to be a movement to voters to the Democratic Party attracted by Obama. But he noted that Ronald Reagan was supposed to lead the GOP to long-term political dominance but was never able to do so.

"These tides come in and wash in a personality," Woodard said. "But the tides of American politics are still pretty much the same, and the excitement of one candidate or one personality is not really long lasting."

It works both ways. In 1980, four years after Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter swept the South on his way to the White House, the Democratic Party slipped and Republicans returned, largely dominating the region.

"People have had big impacts," said veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick. "But you also see that some things don't last that long."

And then there is the reality that registration numbers don't always add up to high turnout in November.

Historically, only a little more than 50 percent of voting-age adults cast ballots in U.S. presidential elections. By comparison, more than 70 percent of those in France and the United Kingdom go to the polls.

   1 2 3   

   1 2 3