Indiana's registration deadline to vote in November's election is Tuesday. More Hoosiers are registered already this year than in any election for more than a decade.
The total number of registered voters is approaching 4.8 million as the registration deadline nears. It's about 200,000 voters more than any election since at least 2002. Downs Center for Indiana Politics director Andrew Downs says the surge is in part new voters, but he notes he's often found many people on the voter rolls don't realize they're registered.
"They may have gone to get their driver's license and registered to vote and didn't think about it," Downs says. "Or they registered to vote at the last presidential election and didn't realize that was still in play."
And Downs says it's hard to predict the election impact of voter registration numbers. He says producing results is more about getting people to vote – and he adds campaigns focus more of their time on regular voters than new or infrequent ones.
"If you're talking to someone who is not registered, you're actually convincing them, number one, to register; number two, to vote; and number three, to vote for you. That's a lot of convincing that you have to do," Downs says.
The registration deadline is Tuesday. Early voting begins Wednesday.