Rockdale sees slight increase in voter registrations

Rockdale County’s Elections Supervisor Cynthia Welch said Rockdale added 1,258 voters to its number of registered voters by the Oct. 11 registration deadline, a small number compared to four years ago. Welch said with the additional applications, the number of eligible voters in Rockdale rose from 48,745 to 50,003.

“We expect an increase whenever there is a Presidential election. We actually had more—about 3,500—to register just before the General Election in 2008 and 2012,” Welch said. “It’s typical to see people registering just before an election because they want to participate in the General Election.”

In 2008, Rockdale ushered in its first set of black elected officials due to the excitement surrounding President Obama’s election as the first black President of the U.S. The 2012 elections matched that level of excitement in Rockdale with Obama’s second term and the election of Rockdale’s historic “slate of eight” black elected officials.

Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp said statewide, 74,425 Georgians took advantage of the state’s Online Voter Registration System to register to vote or update voter information to take part in the General Election on Nov. 8. In 2014, only 12,018 Georgians used the online system.

All applications must have been submitted or postmarked on or before Oct. 11, 2016 to be processed for this November’s election.

Currently, there are more than 6.6 million registered voters in the Peach State.