People wait this past week to get driver's licenses at the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles office on Mike Padgett Highway. Motor-voter legislation has increased registration in the state since 1995. KATHY MOORE/STAFF

Registration growth sparks candidates

Since Mr. Millner won the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1994, only to lose to Gov. Zell Miller in the general election, voter rolls have swelled 38 percent

Web posted June 29, 1998

By James Salzer
Morris News Service

ATLANTA -- Signing up to vote has become so easy that 1.1 million Georgians have been added to state rolls since the last time there was a primary election for governor.

Now candidates are trying to figure out if they can get these voters to the polls, and whom they'll likely support.

It also means that even the best-known contenders for higher office, such as two-time statewide Republican nominee Guy Millner, are having to spend time and lots of money telling their story anew to voters.

Since state Rep. Roy Barnes, a leading Democratic gubernatorial hopeful this year, first ran for governor in 1990, there has been a more than 50 percent jump in registered voters. Since Mr. Millner won the Republican gubernatorial primary in 1994, only to lose to Gov. Zell Miller in the general election, voter rolls have swelled 38 percent.

Even since Mr. Millner won the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate in 1996 before losing the general election to Max Cleland, registrations have climbed 13 percent.

In the last four years alone, the count of Georgians eligible to vote in the primaries has gone from 2.95 million to about 4.08 million.

Click on the chart above to see a larger version.JOHN W. FLEMING/STAFF

That fact hit home for Mr. Millner, an Atlanta multimillionaire who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in May on biographical television advertisements, giving viewers the same rags-to-riches story he did in 1994 and 1996.

``So many new people have moved into the state or registered, we felt it necessary to introduce Guy Millner to the new voters,'' said Gregg Kenyon, the candidate's spokesman.

``It has evened the competition a little bit,'' said Georgia Secretary of State Lewis Massey, who is running as a Democrat for governor and whose office oversees elections.

Part of the surge in registrants has been caused by the state's population boom. However, the ``motor-voter law,'' which has made it exceptionally easy for Georgians to register, is playing an equal if not larger role.

For example, the state's population grew in the 1980s before the motor-voter law, but registrations only climbed from 2.46 million to 2.69 million between the 1980 and 1990 primaries.

Between 1990 and 1994, registrations grew from 2.69 million to 2.95 million.

After motor voter took effect in January 1995, registration rolls exploded.

Under motor voter, Georgians can register when they get their driver's licenses, apply for welfare benefits or check out library books.

Republicans initially opposed the law, fearing it was stacked to add traditionally Democratic voters signing up at social service offices.

However, only about 5 percent of new registrants since January 1995 have joined the rolls at welfare agencies, according to Mr. Massey's office. More than 64 percent have done so at driver's license centers, another 19 percent via the mail and about 9 percent at libraries.

With suburbs hosting much of the state's population growth, University of Georgia political scientist Charles Bullock speculates that motor voter is more likely to help Republicans.

``The new people who are moving in probably have a tendency to pick up a Republican ballot,'' he said.

The numbers make that difficult to tell. Figures from the state Department of Public Safety, which issues driver's licenses and now registers voters, show 133,025 people have joined the rolls since January 1995 at their offices in Cobb County and 102,318 in Gwinnett County, two Republican strongholds.

Other solid Republican counties, such as Columbia County (16,956), Cherokee (29,723) and Forsyth (13,645), also have shown substantial gains.

Mr. Millner and his closest Republican rival, former state Attorney General Michael Bowers, are spending a lot of time in those areas.

However, Cobb and Gwinnett have been rivaled in new registrations by two decidedly more Democratic counties: Fulton (164,358) and DeKalb (111,485).

The area of Fulton County north of Atlanta is Republican. However, the county also is partially represented by Congressman John Lewis, D-Ga., a longtime civil-rights leader. DeKalb County is home to U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., who once earned the nickname ``Hanoi Cynthia'' for speaking out against the Persian Gulf War.

Counties that elect both Republicans and Democrats -- such as Chatham, Richmond, Muscogee and Bibb -- also have picked up more than 20,000 registrants at Department of Public Safety offices.

Likewise, the number of black registrants has increased at a faster rate than whites: 57 percent to 31 percent since the 1994 primary. The percentage of total registered voters classified as black or another minority grew from 22.5 percent in 1994 to 26.5 percent this year.

Voting patterns in Georgia suggest blacks are more likely to support Democrats than Republicans.

``I think it (motor voter) has been fairly neutral,'' Mr. Massey said.

The second part of the equation is whether the motor-voter crowd will make it to the polls.

Turnout rises and falls depending on voter interest.

In 1990, when there was a hot Democratic gubernatorial primary among Mr. Miller, Mr. Barnes and former Atlanta Mayor Andrew Young, the media saturated viewers and readers, and 1.17 million Georgians voted. Four years later, Mr. Miller was running for re-election virtually unopposed in the Democratic primary and Republicans had a good scrape going, but turnout was just 761,371.

Turnout also depends on competitive local races that catch voters' interest.

Dr. Bullock, the University of Georgia political scientist, isn't particularly optimistic about a high turnout this year, despite the fact that virtually every statewide race -- from governor to insurance commissioner -- has a contested primary.

``There isn't a tremendous interest out there in the Georgia public about what's happening,'' he said. ``It's strange because there are a lot of important decisions to be made.''

Pundits have called 1998 the year of incumbents: Voters are satisfied with the way things are going. That may suppress turnout by voters who might be driven to the polls by an urge to ``throw the bums out.''

There are no incumbents running for re-election in the governor's and lieutenant governor's races.

But Georgia is a habitually low-turnout state. It always ranks near the bottom nationally, and the 62 percent turnout for the 1996 general election was the lowest for a Georgia presidential election in 25 years.

An analysis of the 1996 election showed new registrants went to the polls at about the same rate as people who had been signed up in Georgia for years, Mr. Massey said.

``That was somewhat of a pleasant surprise,'' he said.

To reach the new voters, candidates are relying more heavily than ever on advertising. Mr. Barnes, Mr. Massey and Mr. Millner have all spliced bits of their backgrounds into TV commercials loaded with platforms on education reform, health care and tax cuts.

``You get to those folks through the media, and that's why, out of necessity, you are seeing such a media-driven campaign,'' Mr. Barnes said.