news-record.com

Charlie Collicutt can’t even get a bathroom break.

As deputy director at the Guilford County Board of Elections, he has been too busy this week as voters register right down to the deadline: 5 p.m. today.

“It’s been wild here,” Collicutt said Thursday morning. “Anyone who wants to vote on Election Day, or vote absentee by mail, has to be registered by (today). This morning the phones wouldn’t stop ringing.”

Voters can still register during one-stop early voting — but they must then vote the same day, not on Election Day.

Early voting will begin Thursday, and Election Day is Nov. 4.

Guilford County has registered 18,258 new voters since the primary May 6. More than half are Democrats, and almost a third registered as unaffiliated.

“The Libertarians just qualified before the primary,” Collicutt said. “I’m sure we’ll see more of them from here on.”

New registrations been overwhelmingly Democratic, which Collicutt said is the result of registration drives.

“We’re not seeing as many Republican groups dedicated to registering new voters this time,” Collicutt said. “The Democratic Party and the Obama campaign have been doing a lot of drives.”

The new registrations bring Guilford County’s registered voters to 339,753 as of Wednesday. Of those:

• 167,583 are registered Democrats
• 102,364 Republicans
• 69,721 unaffiliated
• 85 Libertarians.

Contact Joe Killian at 883-4422, Ext. 228, or joe.killian@news-record.com