BY TOM SHAW
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Nebraska is still red, but the shade is a little lighter these days.
Although Republicans continue to dominate statewide voter registration rolls, Democrats have made substantial gains this year.
Democrats have added about 30,000 names to the voter rolls since January, while Republicans added only 1,200.
As of Tuesday, Republicans accounted for 48 percent of statewide voter registrations, Democrats 34 percent and independents 17 percent.
The Republicans' share dropped slightly from 2004, and the independents' share increased some. The Democrats' proportion remained the same.
Both parties have been working to register voters before the Nov. 4 election. The last day to register in Nebraska is today.
Secretary of State John Gale said he expects the same number of people to be registered in the state as in 2004 - about 1.16 million.
Early voting in person continues statewide through Nov. 3.
Election officials in Buffalo and Hall Counties reported some lines Thursday, but bad weather made it less busy than earlier in the week. The activity seemed higher than four years ago, according to the election offices.
Lines extended outside the Douglas County Election Commissioner's Office in Omaha as people registered to vote and cast early ballots. This week, people have been waiting in line for two hours or more. Sarpy County also reported steady voter traffic.
Dave Shively, the Lancaster County election commissioner, said Thursday that his office had manageable lines, with waits of about five to 10 minutes. He predicted that today would be more hectic as people try to beat the deadline for registering to vote.
"It will be very, very busy here," Shively said.
According to the latest registration figures, the number of registered Democrats in Douglas County outpaced Republicans for the first time in 14 years.
The numbers showed 125,602 Democrats in Douglas County, compared with 122,955 Republicans - an edge of 2,647.
"Obviously I'm not happy about it, but it appears it's the Democrats' turn to be on the positive side," said Mark Quandahl, chairman of the Nebraska Republican Party.
He added: "I certainly would hope that would be a wakeup call to all Republicans to get registered if they're not registered and to get out there and vote."
One advantage for the Democrats in Douglas County is the large campaign operation that presidential candidate Barack Obama has in the Omaha area.
Obama is trying to win one of Nebraska's five electoral votes by beating John McCain in the 2nd Congressional District. The 2nd District also has a hotly contested U.S. House race between Republican incumbent Lee Terry and Democrat Jim Esch.
"We're just excited about a lot of people going out to register, and we're doubly excited if it's as Democrats," said Eric Van Horn, spokesman for the Nebraska Democratic Party.
"There is just an unprecedented interest in this election."
The year began with the Republicans holding a 12,000 registration advantage in Douglas County. That means Democrats have made up a lot of ground - and then some.
Randall Adkins, a political scientist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, said the registration trend is surprising for a red state such as Nebraska but is less startling given national trends toward the Democratic Party.
"If we're seeing people actually changing their party - Republican to Democrat or independent to Democrat - it's a signal of a realignment," Adkins said.
Quandahl said some of the Democrats' gains could be attributed to people who are switching back to the Democratic Party, after registering as Republicans two years ago to vote in the GOP primary for governor. But he acknowledged that the Democratic registration trend could not be explained by that alone.
The last time Democrats enjoyed a voter registration advantage in Douglas County was in 1994.
Gale said his office has not received any complaints about the presence of the voter registration group ACORN in the state. ACORN has drawn criticism in other states because a few of its workers tried to register fake names.
The Iowa secretary of state said earlier this month that ACORN did not have operations in that state.
3 comments:
I think that most new voters are registering democrat solely because they blame the republican party for the current state of the economy. Democrats do equal change, beacuse it will be a different party than we have now.
The high registration turn out is a result of voters actually becoming interested in this election. Most are democrat because Obama's charisma tends to excite the younger generation.
I think these elections are getting out of hand. I was watching a couple of adds for the president and for congress( Nebraska) and they were way nasty. I have a feeling that people are now going to the poles not because they want to change but for something else.....I don't know yet though.
I'm sorry to burst your bubble "Poprox" bit you won't see immediate change like a lot of the Democrats are preaching. Everything takes time. The sooner people realize that the better.
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