Graham County prefers to vote: Arizona’s registered voters on the rise

By Eastern Arizona Courier March 4, 2012
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STEPHANIE MAE ROBINSON, EASTERN ARIZONA COURIER

With the highest turnout since 2004, the voices of Graham County had something to say in this year’s Presidential Preference Election on Feb. 28. Arizona also showed one of the highest increases in voter registration in the nation at 66 percent in 2012.

“(We) have the opportunity to voice our opinions when we vote,” said Judy Dickerson, Graham County election director.

While the national average of registered voters is more than 67 percent, Arizona’s registered voters rose by several percentage points in 2008 and continued to climb through 2012. Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett said increases produced more than 255,000 voters in the state. Bennett also reported an increase in independents and close to 32 percent of registered voters as “other.” Approximately 44 percent of the Republican and Green Party voters of Graham County participated in the Presidential Preference Poll, up from 18 percent in 2004 when Democrats voted. In the 2008 Presidential Preference, a little more than 27 percent of Democrats and Republicans participated in the election, according to the Graham County Recorder’s Office.

“The presidential election always brings out more voters than any other election, and that is exciting for us. The work in preparing for an election is tremendous and is very rewarding when we have a good turnout,” said Graham County Recorder Wendy John.

Front-runner Republicans Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum collected the most votes in the county, with 67.5 percent for Romney and 19.4 percent for Santorum. Newt Gingrich ended up with 6.3 percent of the votes polled in Graham County. Romney took 47 percent of the votes in the state, while Santorum gathered 26.6 percent and Gingrich had 16 percent of state votes.

The County Rec-order’s Office reported 18,369 registered voters, with 36-percent Democrat, 42-percent Republican and 22-percent party not designated. The Democrat Party lost some 41 members from Jan. 1 to March 1, while the Republican Party gained 46 registered voters for early 2012.

Graham County has a population of 37,220 people, with about 28 percent under the age of 18 years. If all eligible voters in the county were registered, that number would be roughly 28,000 people.

Gaining registered voters is a goal for the local office, according to John, especially when it comes to young voters. According to Washington, D.C.’s, Project Vote, as of November 2008, 49 percent of the 3.7 million 18-year-old citizens were registered to vote, a rate 22 points lower than the general population. Voters 18 to 29 years old made up only 17 percent of the actual voting population, and approximately 21 million citizens under the age of 30 did not vote in 2008.

“Voting is not only our right, it is our responsibility to educate ourselves about the candidates and the propositions,” John said.

Press Inquiries

Project Vote is a national nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that promotes voting in low-income and minority communities. With an office in Washington, DC, Project Vote’s staff are experts in the fields of voting rights, election law, and large-scale voter contact programs.

Members of the media interested in reporting on Project Vote, general voter registration issues, election law and policy, or registration and voting trends among low-income or minority Americans should contact:

Michael McDunnah
Communications Director
mmcdunnah@projectvote.org
Tel: (202) 905-1397