Ohio voter rolls
Democrats far outnumber Republicans
<!-- begin creation date --> Friday, August 22, 2008 3:14 AM
<!-- end creation date --> By
Darrel Rowland and
Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
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<!-- /ptr --> As Ohio Democrats pack for their national convention in Denver next week, they have quietly rolled up an advantage that almost no one has noticed: nearly a million more registered voters than Republicans. Almost three times as many Ohio voters have become Democrats as have become Republicans since the summer before the last presidential election.
William C. Binning, political-science professor at Youngstown State University and former Mahoning County Republican chairman, acknowledged that the surge of Democrats shows that the party is energized and motivated in Ohio -- and that Republicans have a lot of work to do.
"I certainly think it's a good sign for the Democrats," he said.
The Democratic explosion stems from two factors, experts say:
Ohio's political pendulum is swinging toward the Democrats, as Republicans by and large get the blame for an unpopular president and war, a sour economy and recent scandals in state government.
Boatloads of new voters -- and even a smattering of Republicans -- showed up at this year's Democratic primary because of the hot race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
Ohioans become officially registered with a political party when they actually vote for candidates from one party or the other in a primary election. Unlike in some states, Ohio voters do not declare a party when registering to vote.
While Ohio's playing field has tilted toward Democrats, that doesn't automatically translate into a Buckeye State victory for Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain.
Binning noted, for example, that Clinton drew strong support among Democrats in Ohio -- outpolling Obama in all but five of the state's 88 counties -- and it's unclear how effective Obama will be in winning over Clinton supporters.
Former Ohio Democratic Chairman David J. Leland, who headed a nonpartisan voter-registration effort in 2004 called Project Vote, said this year's primary brought many "nominal" Democrats to the polls who already supported the party's candidates in general elections.
"It looks more dramatic than it probably is because of the way we do voter registration in this state, but there's no question the enthusiasm for voting in the Democratic primary was palpable, not only in Ohio but throughout the country," Leland said.
Democratic voter registration totals are up nationwide, bolstered by the Obama campaign's aggressive recruitment of new voters, said Dan Seligson, editor of the nonpartisan electionline.org.
Although it's difficult to compare Ohio with other states because not all follow the same rules for registering voters, the Democrats' advantage in the Buckeye State is striking, said Doug Lewis, the executive director of the nonprofit Election Center in Houston.
"It means there's obviously a concerted effort by Democrats and Democratic forces there," Lewis said.
Ohio now has more than 2.4 million registered Democrats compared with almost 1.5 million Republicans. (A slight majority of voters -- 4 million -- are not affiliated with either party.)
The new Democratic dominance shows up in some unexpected places.
Four years ago, Butler County was one of the keys to George W. Bush's re-election. With turnout exceeding 90 percent in some precincts, the Republican president beat Democratic Sen. John Kerry almost 2-to-1 in the area northwest of Cincinnati.
But this year, Butler County has more registered Democrats than Republicans. The GOP has added more than 11,000 to its rolls there, but Democrats have attracted nearly 33,000 new members in the past four years.
Democrats grew more than Republicans in all but 12 of Ohio's 88 counties.
Franklin County showed the largest numeric increase, nearly 123,000 additional Democrats -- almost four times the GOP total.
Former Dispatch chief librarian Jim Hunter contributed to this story.
drowland@dispatch.com
mniquette@dispatch.com
