County elections officials in North Georgia are preparing for record turnout in next month’s primary and even more in November, based on the increase in new voter registration.

Numbers of how many new voters registered by Monday’s deadline to vote in the July 15 primary won’t be available for a few weeks, especially because mailed-in registration applications needed only be postmarked Monday, according to the Secretary of State’s Office.

However, Catoosa County Registrar Donna Bomar said she has seen a notable rise of first-time voters register in her office.

“The new voters we’re getting are really interested in November, not only July,” she said. “A lot of people say, ‘I never voted in my lifetime,’” adding these new voters include supporters for both presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.

Recent voter drives at high schools put on by the county have boosted first-time voter numbers, as well as fiercely competitive local Republican primary candidates for county positions who are going door-to-door campaigning and helping people to register, Ms. Bomar said.

To prepare for the expected flood of primary voters, she said the county is encouraging advance voting, is studying crowd control methods at polling places and “sending out every machine,” which hasn’t been done before.

All of this is a dress rehearsal for the even higher turnout expected for the Nov. 4 general election.

“We’ll see how it works in July and make adjustments in November,” Ms. Bomar said.

Walker County also should have more crowds at the polls this primary, including plenty of newly registered voters, said Krista Hawkins, administrative assistant for the Walker County Board of Elections. The draw is heated primaries for several county government positions, including sole commissioner and the clerk of court race with three Democratic and two Republican candidates.

“Last election, there were a lot (of county positions) unopposed,” Ms. Hawkins said. “This year, there are only a couple on the ballot unopposed.”

To handle the extra voter volume, she said Walker County is opening three satellite polls for advance voting in which a person doesn’t have to live in the precinct of the poll to vote there. Also, absentee voting in-person is open now to those who want to vote with an absentee ballot on a machine and not through mail.

North Georgia elections officials said they have had few problems with the state’s law that requires people voting in-person to show proper photo identification when voting in person. Those voting by absentee ballot in the mail don’t need to show identification, and people without it can have one made by elections officials.