An unprecedented number of East Lansing residents registered to vote in the Nov. 4 election, which means voting officials have their work cut out for them during the next two weeks.
But in this case, East Lansing City Clerk Nicole Evans said the extra work is welcome.
“We definitely got dumped on,” Evans said. “The fact that (so many people registered), I’m absolutely fine with that.”
Nearly 37,000 East Lansing residents are registered to vote this year — nearly 8,000 more than the number that voted in the 2004 election, Evans said. About 13,500 of those registered are students.
“I’m speechless,” she said. “It’s definitely an overwhelming response. It’s just exciting to see how many students really care about what’s going on.”
Ari Ginez, chapter coordinator of MSU Students for Barack Obama, said the group registered about 10,500 students, far surpassing its goal of 6,000.
MSU College Republicans spokesman Brad Dennis said his organization also registered hundreds of students.
“It’s just a lot of youth stepping up and realizing this is our chance to say something,” Dennis said.
Evans refuted concerns of voter fraud caused by duplicate registrations and said the applications screening process makes it difficult for fraud to go unchecked.
The 1,000 duplicate applications her office received were more likely caused by overzealous voters making sure their applications cleared, Evans said.
“I’ve put out a lot of requests to have everyone confirm that they’re registered,” she said. “It might have been because of my request.”
An estimate of the number of people who registered statewide could be available as early as today, Michigan Secretary of State spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said.
The influx of extra registrations in East Lansing has forced Evans to double her full-time staff since September.
“We are doing some overtime, working some weekends,” she said.
Bob Foster, a poll worker at Precinct 7, St. Paul Lutheran Church, 3383 Lake Lansing Road, said he is expecting a “very long” day on Nov. 4. Foster will be up before dawn setting up equipment and working long into the night processing ballots.
“Let’s just say you don’t have any free time,” he said. “You’re so busy that the day passes fast.”
With most of the registrations now processed, Evans has begun planning for Election Day. She already has hired extra workers at each precinct and ordered extra tabletop voting booths, but lines will still be long.
“It’s pretty much a done deal,” Evans said. “Bring a sandwich.”
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