Voter Registration
Tuesday, August 12 2008
by Jessica Jones
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Voter registration among African Americans is growing faster than it is among whites in North Carolina. The number of black registered voters has increased by almost ten percent since Election Day in 2004. The biggest increase has come over the last year. Gary Bartlett is the executive director of the state Board of Elections. He says he’s thrilled to see more people registering to vote, especially in the African American community. Bartlett says the numbers tell a familiar story.
"That they were underrepresented and now they’re catching up. I think that’s the biggest point to make."
When he started his job fifteen years ago there were just over three million registered voters. Bartlett says he’s expecting to have six million registered voters in the state by Election Day.
More Election 2008 stories from WUNC News and The State of Things are available here
