Superstar musician Taylor Swift publicly backed Kamala Harris for president last week, leading to speculation the endorsement would motivate her fan base — and possibly those who are not fans — to register to vote in this November's election.
Hamilton County Elections Deputy Director Alex Linser says it's too early to see a bump here.
“We are seeing about 2,000 new registered voters a week, over the last couple of weeks. That’s up. Over the course of the summer, it was about a thousand,” Linser says. “That said, presidential elections tend to bring a surge of voter registrations with them.”
Linser says Hamilton County usually has between 590,000 and 610,000 registered voters. As of Sept. 13, he says the number was at 596,000, and counting. He expects that number to climb.
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“We gear up for people to start paying attention after Labor Day, and we definitely have seen that this year, with the amount of new registrations coming in almost doubling,” he says. “We’re also seeing a large amount of people updating their voter registration because they’ve had a change of address.”
Linser says it's impossible to tell if Swift has inspired more Democrats to head to the polls, or motivated more Republicans to sign up.
“Because in Ohio, you affiliate with a political party when you vote in that party’s primaries,” he says. “So when a new voter registers they are unaffiliated, and that’s the case for most of Hamilton County’s 600,000 registered voters.”
Time is running out to participate in the November election. Linser says the last day to register is Oct. 7. He says the election board will stay open late, and online sign-ups are valid until midnight.
Linser says if you are already registered, it's a good idea to make sure all the information is correct. That can be done online.
