Spurred by the frenzy over presidential politics, Long Island Democrats are outdrawing Republicans in attracting new voters by better than two-to-one in the last three months.
Since Dec. 1, Nassau Democrats have enlisted 2,571 new voters compared to only 966 who signed up as Republicans; In Suffolk, Democrats picked up 2,253 new voters, while Republicans added just 868.
“It has a lot to do with presidential politics,” said Richard Schaffer, Suffolk Democratic chairman, along with the number of high profile demcoratic officials who have elected in recent years.
William Biamonte, Nassau’s Demcoratic election commissioner, said presidential politics is only accelerating gains Democrats have been making in closing the GOP enrollment edge. “
“Eight years ago, we were 100,000 down, now its only a handful,” he said, “Last year, I thought would take 18 months, but with presidential reace, this could be a Democratic county before the year is out.”
Tony Santino, Nassau GOP spokesman, said the trend is nothing new and dates to 1998 when the Motor Voter law was passed, allowing people to register to vote when submitting driver’s license applications. “The Democrats’ registration spiked then and has continued to outpace Republicans ever since,” he said, “Obviously, there’s a big difference between registering and turning out the vote.”
Rick Brand
Comments (1)
One more reason that it is time for Joe Mondello and the rest of the DEAD REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP TO PACK IT IN
RESIGN BEFORE IT IS TO LATE.
VJ Machiavelli
www.r8ny.com/blog/vj_machiavelli