NORFOLK, Va. — The Norfolk elections office was one of several to see a jump in new voter registration applications in Virginia. It came after President Joe Biden stepped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris announced her run for the 2024 election on the Democratic ticket. Now, they’re seeing continued interest in the presidential elections.
“We’re receiving additional voter registration applications as well as absentee requests as our college students are getting ready to school,” said Norfolk General Registrar Stephanie Iles.
She said it has come in waves over the past couple of weeks.
“We received several hundred daily,” Iles said. “We are very happy that people are engaged, especially our young people.”
Iles attributed the increase to several factors including her team’s outreach effort to high school and college students.
“A lot of them, this is their first time voting," she said. "And many people only vote in presidential elections which is unfortunate. We hope that they will vote in every election.”
She adds since the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s easier for voters to cast a ballot.
“In the past, if you wanted to vote an absentee ballot, you had to have a reason, you used to have to have somebody witness the fact that you voted your absentee ballot," Iles said. "That has all changed.”
Iles expects voter registration and absentee ballot interest will continue to increase until the October deadline. She expects 10,000 to 15,000 absentee requests before their initial mail-out.
The Virginia Beach General Registrar also noticed an increase in voter registration, seeing nearly 265 new voters between August 1 and 8. In comparison to 2023, the Virginia Beach election office saw 184 new voters.
The Chesapeake General Registrar said the office saw a steady increase when President Biden dropped out but it did not increase more last Monday.
In Portsmouth, the main increase the election office has seen is in people requesting applications to vote by mail and information on voter registration drive training. The general registrar said the office receives an average of 45 online voter registration applications daily which comes from people registering to vote through the Department of Motor Vehicles and from people submitting voter registration applications online via the Department of Elections website. She said it's at least 300 applications a week including first-time registrants, young people between 16 and 17 pre-registering to vote, and people resubmitting voter registration applications to ensure they are registered to vote.