Registered Voters

FOUR YEARS AGO, voter turnout in Anne Arundel was abysmal. Of 184,094 registered voters, 41 percent turned out for the primary.No one expects the figure to improve much tomorrow, reflecting the general apathy of the American electorate. Only about half of the people old enough to vote in the county bother to register in the first place.A closer look at the 1994 turnout is even more disturbing: Only about 22 percent of young adults, ages 18 to 35, who were registered to vote did so. People older than 35 cast 86 percent of all votes in the last primary.

CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE Lawrence H. Rushworth made the only decision the law allowed when he disqualified three Annapolis aldermanic candidates from the Sept. 16 ballot.Although the candidates met the residency requirements, they had not been registered voters long enough in the wards they sought to represent. In light of Judge Rushworth's decision, the council should re-examine this provision of the city charter.Voters -- rather than mandates in the city charter -- should determine suitability for public office.

Michael T. Brown, who wanted to run for city council as an independent in Ward 6, does not have enough valid signatures on the petition for candidacy he submitted in July, the city Election Board ruled yesterday.A review by the board's administrator found that only 88 of the 130 people who signed petitions supporting Brown's candidacy were registered voters when they signed the petitions, according to Deborah Heinbuch, election administrator.City code requires at least 100 valid signatures.

WHAT IF they gave an election and no one came?We almost found out last Tuesday, when only 22,000 voters in the 7th District -- just 8 percent of those registered -- turned out to elect their next congressman.When the smoke cleared, Democrat Elijah E. Cummings had ridden a landslide of 17,912 votes to Capitol Hill over Republican Kenneth Kondner, who picked up only 4,131 votes in the special election to replace Rep. Kweisi Mfume.To put that in perspective, consider that each of Maryland's eight congressional districts has about 600,000 people in them, and in the 7th, which includes much of the city and western Baltimore County, about 270,000 are registered voters.

Mirroring a national trend, a record number of Marylanders are registered to vote in the election Tuesday, mostly owing to new registrations from the so-called "motor-voter" law.But as the election -- a presidential race and congressional contests that many are greeting with a yawn -- nears, officials, party operatives and political observers are wondering how much of the sleepy electorate will actually turn out to exercise their franchise.The state has 2.5 million registered voters -- a figure that is up by roughly 125,000 since the 1992 presidential election.

Maryland Republicans joined their counterparts in states from Georgia to Colorado to Maine yesterday, providing Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole a powerful push toward the GOP presidential nomination.Mr. Dole dominated Maryland, capturing 53 percent of the vote with 94 percent of precincts reporting. He was the top vote-getter in each congressional district, winning all the state's 32 convention delegates.His support was widespread -- from moderates and conservatives alike. Patrick J. Buchanan, the TV commentator with the anti-abortion, America-first message, was running a distant second with 21 percent.

The Howard County Council asked a citizens commission reviewing the county charter yesterday to consider 18 changes, including ones that would allow the council to meet only nine months of the year and raise the number of voter signatures required to put charter amendments on ballots.Nine of the requests sent by the council yesterday to the county's 15-member Charter Review Commission were new. The other requests were included among three dozen suggestions from residents and County Executive Charles I. Ecker already submitted to the commission.

My husband's recent fishing trip to North Carolina brought to our home a tangible reminder of the blessings and responsibilities we share as United States citizens.Midway through Stan's vacation, he and his five buddies chartered a boat for a day of ocean fishing. In addition to catching 178 pounds of tuna, they retrieved a six-foot oar that had been painstakingly carved by hand from some type of white wood.A wide paddle, which had been bolted to the sturdy handle to help guide a small boat or raft, had been traveling in the ocean long enough to attract seaweed and barnacles.

1,300 additional voters register since primaryAbout 1,300 more Carroll County residents have registered to vote since the Sept. 13 primary, according to unofficial statistics from the Board of Supervisors of Elections.In that time period, Republican registration outnumbered Democrat registration by more than 3 to 1.The deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 8 general election was Oct. 11.As of yesterday, the county had 64,455 registered voters.Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 3,848 voters.

In a spot survey of state offices, the American Civil Liberties Union found only sparse compliance with a law requiring state agencies to make voter registration forms available to the public."

Voter turnout in Maryland was not as overwhelming as expected. About 76 percent of registered voters headed to the polls or voted absentee, far short of the projected 85 percent turnout that would have set a record and that elections officials had predicted. The number of ballots cast, however, did reach a high of 2.6 million, according to the Maryland State Board of Elections. Only 66 percent of registered voters in Baltimore City turned out, according to preliminary data. Turnout was higher in Baltimore County, at 75 percent.

The polls weren't even open early yesterday when Heru-ka Anu began to rally his fellow voters. Anu, who said he had been waiting with his wife at the head of the line at Baltimore's Dickey Hill Elementary School since 4:30 a.m., led a chant of Barack Obama's campaign slogan, "Yes, We Can." Moments later, his wife Nana emerged from the voting booth with her thumbs poking skyward. "Yes," she exclaimed, "we did!" Across the Baltimore region and beyond, a crush of voters queued up early, often enduring waits of an hour or more with little if any complaint.

By the time polls open tomorrow morning, officials predict that as many as 35 percent of Florida voters already will have cast ballots via early voting or absentee ballot. Good thing. That's nearly 4 million people who can stay away while the rest of the state's Nov. 4 electorate - an estimated 5.6 million people - votes the old-fashioned way: at the precinct polling place. Early and absentee voters have relieved pressure on polling places in advance of what many say will be a monumental turnout.

Maryland officials are urging voters to double-check precinct locations so their ballots are counted on Election Day, when an exceptionally high turnout is expected. State elections administrator Linda H. Lamone said yesterday that nine out of 10 registered voters might turn out Nov. 4 in some parts of the state, and she expects a statewide participation rate of about 85 percent. That would eclipse the most recent high of 81 percent in 1992. Four years ago, 78 percent of registered voters went to the polls.

Harford County residents are registering to vote in record numbers, often as many as 500 daily in the days preceding the registration deadline at 9 p.m. Tuesday. The heightened interest has officials predicting an unprecedented 90 percent turnout on Nov. 4. The Board of Elections will remain open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow, the Columbus Day holiday, and Tuesday to accommodate what officials expect to be a crush of last-minute registrations. "Typically, registration goes up in a presidential election, when there is always more interest," said James E. Massey, director of Harford's Board of Elections.

Maryland voters get their rare chance to have an impact in a presidential primary today, particularly on the Democratic side, where Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are in an exceptionally tight race. Along with serious challenges against incumbent Reps. Wayne T. Gilchrest and Albert R. Wynn in the 1st and 4th Congressional Districts, there's ample motivation for a record-setting turnout at the polls. The reality, of course, is that "record-setting" doesn't have to be all that high.

The political hangover from this month's Democratic primary is beginning to lift at City Hall - and elected officials are getting back to business - but for a handful candidates, the campaign season is still in full swing. Seven Republicans and two Green Party candidates are running in the Nov. 6 general election. Mounting campaigns in a city that is overwhelmingly Democratic, their first battle is trying to convince Baltimore voters that there are legitimate political parties in town whose names don't begin with the letter D. "I don't think the people of Baltimore are concerned about Republican or Democrat or black or white.

Low turnout saps democracy's vitality It was with much dismay that I heard on the local news and read in The Sun that voter turnout for Baltimore's primary election was so low - at just 28 percent of registered voters ("City's voter turnout is lackluster at 28%," Sept. 12). This is appalling, especially in light of the fact that primary day fell on the sixth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States. I believe that it is every American's duty to exercise his or her constitutional right to vote.

WASHINGTON -- Democrats have an overwhelmingly favorable view of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, but she would be soundly beaten if she ran for president against Sen. John McCain, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found. Underscoring the New York lawmaker's vulnerability, the poll also found that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican little known to most voters, would give Clinton a run for her money. Given a choice between McCain and Clinton, half of those surveyed said they would vote for the Arizonian, compared with 36 percent for the former first lady.

Despite aggressive get-out-the-vote efforts in Maryland by both major parties, turnout in Tuesday's election appeared to be no better than average for a gubernatorial election. The unremarkable number put Maryland at odds with a nationwide trend of slightly higher turnouts, according to one national election expert. "I'm surprised," said Curtis Gans, director of American University's Center for the Study of the American Electorate. "You had highly competitive races, very expensive, and by and large respectable people.