I’ve been working in our local Registrars of Voters office since 2007. In my private life, I’m a very passionate Bernie supporter, but in the Registrars of Voters office I maintain my neutrality, especially during primary process. I need to keep my anonymity, but I wanted to share my observations regarding the impact that the presidential primary campaigns are having on voter registrations.
There are two Registrars of Voters: One Democrat and One Republican. Our office is a small one. And while we may disagree on a whole host of issues regarding politics, we all live in the same town — we are neighbors. We are not enemies. We have more in common than we have differences. As you can all imagine, even on the Democratic side of the office, we have a spectrum of beliefs on issues and candidates.
So when Bernie Sanders says that we need to find common ground and find solutions to the problems the majority of people agree on, I believe that his approach is a more attainable and sustainable one than making the Republicans into the enemy. Americans have been subjected to fear and hate from the 24 hour news cycle. I for one am tired of it.
I live in Connecticut, a blue state. However, overall, my suburban town is politically moderate.
In our town:
- In the August 8, 2006 Democratic Primary for U.S. Senate, Joe Lieberman beat Ned Lamont.
- In the 2008 Presidential election, the Obama/Biden ticket beat the McCain/Palin ticket.
- In the 2014 Gubernatorial race, Tom Foley beat Dan Malloy .
- In the February 5, 2008 Democratic Presidential Primary, Hillary Clinton beat Barack Obama.
As you can see, it’s pretty moderate. It’s a town predisposed to Hillary Clinton winning the Democratic primary in April.
As part of my job, I enter in new voters. In our town, as well as Connecticut in general, most voters register with no party affiliation (Unaffiliated). The Democrats are the next largest group and then the Republicans are third.
Over the summer, as Bernie Sanders’ campaign took off and the news covered his rallies, I saw an uptick in people registering to vote or changing their party status to the Democratic Party. I tracked by age group and compared the increase of Democratic voters to that of Republican and Unaffiliated (no party affiliation) voters. At one point in September, the percentage of voters registering as Democrats was higher than those registering as Unaffiliated.
The largest increases of Democratic voters were ages 30 and under. Many of the voters registering in this age group and older were people who have never registered to vote in Connecticut before.
It would be difficult to know if the women registering in the Democratic Party want to vote for Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders or Martin O’Malley. It would be presumptuous assume that a woman would vote for Hillary just because she’s female. I’m glad when any voter registers as a Democrat.
However, during that time, these were some of the headlines:
How Bernie Sanders is plotting his path to the Democratic nomination
Bernie Sanders: Hillary Clinton Camp 'Getting Nervous'
Bernie Sanders’s Liberty University speech, annotated
Sanders racks up celebrity endorsements
Looking at the data and from my observations of the news, I think it’s fair to say that there is evidence of excitement by the Millennials and disaffected voters for Bernie Sanders, even in my politically moderate town. Excitement is translating into registered voters.
Alternatively, in December, when Trump started spewing his hateful remarks to Ban all Muslim travel to U.S., there was a marked increase in voters registering Republican.
I was disheartened and troubled by this increase. Fortunately, after the holidays, I’ve begun to see an increase in Democratic registrations again.
Connecticut’s Presidential Preference Primary is scheduled for April 26, 2016. It’s a closed primary state. January 26, 2016 is the deadline for those already registered in a party (Republican, Green, Independent) to switch to the Democratic party to be eligible to vote in the primary. New and Unaffiliated voters have until April 21, 2016 to register as a Democrat online to vote in the primary. Registering to vote online is an easy and painless process.
Being a small state with a small number of delegates, Connecticut will not be a big player in the primary process, but we can still do our part — vote, volunteer, contribute.
Thanks for reading.