More Dems, GOPers eligible to vote in primary
Voter registration numbers released this week by the Maryland Board of Elections show that both major parties have grown their ranks between the primary election two years ago and the one in two weeks.
Voter registration closed last week and will not reopen until after the Sept. 14 primary election. Only registered Democrats and Republicans may vote in the primary -- leaving some half a million Maryland voters at home until the Nov. 2 general election.
In raw numbers, there are 2,860,126 registered Democrats and Republicans this year, compared with 2,622,951 registered for the 2008 presidential primary election, which was in February. This year, Republicans make up about 32 percent of major party voters, down slightly from 34 percent two years ago.
Baltimore Sun colleague Mary Gail Hare noted here earlier this month that Harford County had tipped from being majority Democrat to majority Republican, possibly thanks to a less-than-exciting field of Democratic primaries.
Also of note is the enormous bloc of registered Democrat in Prince George's County -- 400,577 compared to 330,758 at this point two years ago. Some of that increase is no doubt thanks to the Obama effect. Record numbers of African-American and young voters registered to participate in the 2008 general election.
Let me know if you spot any other interesting numbers in the registration data.
Comments
Why is it that some counties do not appear to report their non-major party registrants? Counties either have some non-zero number in every category other than Dem and Rep, or they have zero everywhere escept the two bigs ones.
It's hard to imagine that there is a difference in reporting requirements, but it can't be the case that Baltimore County has nothing but D's and R's.
Calvert is not slightly higher on D's than R's--is that new? I presume it's been trending that way, but had it flipped over before? Charles had already gone that way; is St. Mary's next?
Posted by: David | August 31, 2010 12:18 PM
Excuse me, but I am reading different numbers in the PDF file.
As of 8/29/10, there are 1,944,620 registered Democrats and 915,506 registered Republicans.
Posted by: Mark | August 31, 2010 12:54 PM
@ Mark
1,944,620
+ 915,506
-----------
2,860,126
the writer was saying that the number jumped from a total of 2,622,951 to 2,860,126
this is both parties not just dems/reps.
Posted by: Nina | August 31, 2010 1:17 PM
Why don't you do an article on how Independants get screwed in this state when it comes to primaries. Massachusetts has 50% independant voter base, somehow they make it work!
Posted by: Joe | August 31, 2010 1:48 PM
How many are legally eligible to vote? That's the number I'd like to see. If someone goes to vote on Nov 2 and they do not have a sufficient command of the English language to do so, in English, wouldn't that indicate they are not a legal citizen and therefore ineligible to vote? One of my co-workers is a legal immigrant and said they had to pass an English test to become a citizen.
Posted by: RobertJ | August 31, 2010 2:27 PM
With the current system, there is no point in being a registered Republican in the state of Maryland. The Republican primaries are almost always pointless while the Democrat ones generally have more at stake. Thats why this Republican is a registered Democrat.
Posted by: Aaron | August 31, 2010 2:36 PM
A few observations:
1) The makeup of the party registry for 18-24 year olds is almost identical (8% of all Republicans are 18-24 vs 9% of all Democrats).
2) Democrats 65+ is by far the biggest difference many of whom are probably blue dog--will they stick with party loyalty or give it a rest?
3) Republican voter registration female to male is about 1:1 (448k to 466k). But with Democrats, females make up ~60% of their electorate or 1.2:1 (1.14mil to 800k).
4) The 1st district is less than 1,000 vote difference?!
Posted by: Joe | August 31, 2010 2:45 PM
I find it interesting that some more conservative parts of the state have more dems than Reps. I find it more interesting that some jurisdictions have no third party voters registered! I'm a democrat, but I'm voting almost striaght third party this coming election. Allegany County has 2 constitution party members reported. At least they were reported! Maria Allwine runs as a Green Party candidate whenever she gets the chance, she lives in Baltimore City and there are no registered Greens in Baltimore City. Please give third parties more credit! It's about the only thing we have that can keep the major two in line.
Posted by: Ted | August 31, 2010 2:54 PM
I switched to Democrat from Independent just so I can send patricia jessamy out to pasture.
Posted by: jay | August 31, 2010 5:53 PM
Baltimore city baltimore county harford Anne arundel all have LESS tottal voters.Prince Goerge's Montgomery frederick and Charles all have more regstered voteers than in 2008. The state center is shifitng radically
Posted by: telecommutenow | September 1, 2010 8:44 AM