Voter registration spikes ahead of presidential election
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — We are five weeks from the November election, and counties across the country are seeing a spike in voter registration numbers this month.
In Greene County, more than 10,000 new people registered to vote since the beginning of the year — many of them first-time voters — and more than 1,500 people registered in September alone.
There is still time for others to register to vote, as the deadline to register for the November election is October 9.
"I think any time you have a presidential election, people are paying attention," said Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller. "And part of that is just because you turn on the TV, you're hearing about the presidential election. There's always those different opportunities that you don't get in any other election in terms of hearing about the election that's upcoming."
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Over the last three months, more than 4,600 people in Greene County registered to become voters. Schoeller says he hopes more people, especially young adults, take advantage of this important opportunity.
"For example, my daughter turned turns 18 this week. She's already registered to vote. She will be eligible to vote in this November election," said Schoeller. But if you wait until after that period of time, you won't be able to have your voice heard," said Schoeller. "So we want to make sure those who are going to be 18 by the day of the election, they get registered as well."
Schoeller says the Greene County Clerk's Office has partnered with several local schools to raise voter awareness.
"Of course, we've worked with different groups like the League of Women Voters to make sure part of their registration efforts and that we're going to be around Rogersville High School here this week as well," Schoeller said.
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The clerk's office is even helping out at the Voting Fair at Missouri State University later this week, hosted by the voting awareness group Paws to the Polls.
"In the 2022 midterm election, we actually had 80% of people registered to vote here on campus, which was a really big achievement," said Paws to the Polls member Kinli Miller. "However, we still do not have a lot of people engaged in the actual voting process. And so that's why we're really pushing people to try and register here to reduce the amount of barriers."
The voting fair will be held at the West Lawn on the Missouri State campus from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., where people will have the opportunity to visit with some of the local candidates running for different positions.
