INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — New numbers from the Indiana Secretary of State’s office show that 200,000 more residents have registered to vote in this year’s presidential election than four years ago.
The Indianapolis Star reported that 4.7 million residents are currently registered to vote — more than the 4.5 million who were registered in the 2008 race between President Barack Obama and U.S. Sen. John McCain.
There is still more than a week to go before the Oct. 11 registration deadline.
“The Indiana Democratic Party and our campaigns are running a robust program, including voter registration, early voting and turnout efforts across the state,” said Drew Anderson, communications director for the Indiana Democratic Party.
Republican Party Chairman Jeff Cardwell also said his team has been driving voter registration statewide. “We’re expecting this race to have a large turnout, similar to what we saw in May during the primary,” Cardwell said.
Social media site Facebook began running a promotion Friday, providing links for its users to register to vote. That day, 21,000 signed up to vote in Indiana. That number rose to 30,000 through the weekend.
“Going back to 2008, we’ve been reminding people on Facebook to vote on Election Day and directing them to information on where to vote,” said Samidh Chakrabarti, Facebook’s product manager for civic engagement. “This is the natural next step. We want people to have a voice in the process, and getting registered means that there’s one less hurdle for them.”
The secretary of state’s office said Friday was the third-highest daily total ever for online registrations.
