DeKalb officials register record number of voters

By Tammy Sholer

More people registered to vote Oct. 11, the final day to register, than DeKalb County has ever seen in a single day, said DeKalb County Clerk Terry Desmond.

Desmond said his office registered more than 1,000 people in one day. He said, “It was the biggest day DeKalb County has ever seen.

“I can’t lessen the importance of local candidates (but) the predominant reason for registering was to vote in the presidential election,” Desmond said.

“All sections of the DeKalb communtiy registered,” Desmond said. Between one-fourth and one-third of the people that registered last Tuesday were related to NIU, which were mostly students, Desmond said.

He said his office remained open until 9 p.m. instead of the regular closing time of 4:30 p.m. so that everyone in line could be registered.

In Desmond’s office about 25 people stood in line for about a 10 minute wait all day and into the night, he said.

DeKalb City Clerk Peggy Hoyt said her office registered about 300 people. She said last Tuesday “doubled the record for a single day of four years ago.”

Mostly college students registered because they wanted to vote in the presidential election, she said.

Hoyt said her office also made address changes for about 50 people. She said some students wanted to change their addresses so they can vote in DeKlab and do not have to travel home to vote, she said.

Hoyt said her office stayed open until it ran out of registration forms. The office had 100 forms and Hoyt said she believed that would be enough.

She said she received additional forms throughout the day, but at 5:30 p.m. she closed her office doors and left a note for people to register at Desmond’s office.

In march, about 30,000 people were registered throughout DeKalb County, Desmond said. Since then, about 36,000 people have registered—about a 20 percent increase, he said.

A secretary at the State Board of Elections said that results of the number of people who registered statewide would not be available until Oct. 28.

According to a document of the United States Illinois Student Association about 80 percent of people between 18- and 24-years-old will vote once they are registered.

Experts predict based on past performances of the 18-24 age group, about 15 million young people will not vote in the 1988 elections, the document stated.

Laura Saunders, student government president at Borough of Manhattan Community College, said young people are most likely to vote and express an interest in the effects of their vote.

However, she said politicians spend less time and resources on outreach programs to young voters than to any other age group of the electorate.

Catherine Crane, director for the National Student Campaign for Voter Registration, said, “It’s a catch-22 situation. Politicans write off the student vote because politicans ignore them.”