The 2020 presidential election was on track to see a huge surge in new voters, far outpacing the registration in 2016. But as the pandemic shut down the country, voter registration flatlined — which could reshape how the electorate looks in November.
"February we had a net 7,000 new registrations. And in March we had a net 500 new registrations," said Adams, a Republican. In April, the state's voter rolls shrank by more than 1,000.
Kentucky is hardly alone. Virginia saw 73% fewer registrations last month than it did four years ago. Officials said one reason is the shutdown of Department of Motor Vehicle offices, where voters routinely register. North Carolina had a similar decline and has expanded online registration to pick up some of the slack.Political parties, which often take an outsize role in registering new voters, have also adjusted.
Dickey thinks the pandemic has probably had more impact on some of the party's other activities."It was our plan to be doing all of our voter persuasion and voter turnout efforts in person," he said. They're now doing it over the phone. "We're having an avalanche of people come to us," as a result of groups ditching their in-person campaigns, said Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey.
"We used to point people to a library if you didn't have a printer, and say go to your nearest library, get them to print it out, but you know libraries are closed right now," she said.
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