Montgomery, AL – Alabama's voter registrations have surged with the approach of the primary Tuesday and they are much higher than they were in the last two presidential primaries.
That surge and a flurry of visits by candidates have Alabama's chief election official, Secretary of State Beth Chapman, predicting a higher-than-normal turnout. Chapman says she's expecting 31 percent to 33 percent of Alabama's 2.5 million registered voters to turn out Tuesday.
Ed Packard, the state's interim director of voter registration, says 58,341 people have registered to vote in the three months leading up to Alabama's presidential primary. That compares to 43,702 four years ago and 36,898 eight years ago. But in those years, Alabama's presidential primary coincided with the regular state primary in June.
Alabama will be a focal point of presidential campaigning tomorrow, with John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Bill Clinton in the state.
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)