The increase in absentee ballot applications is even more pronounced, he said. "We'll probably vote 50 percent-plus more absentees than we did four years ago."
Arlington County's treasurer, Frank O'Leary, a self-described election statistics geek, said absentee ballots are a reliable predictor of election turnouts, and based on this year's demand, he expects 88 to 90 percent of the county's voters to go to the polls. That would top the 1992 turnout of nearly 85 percent, which was the highest in years, he said.
"My sense is that these people are not rushing in here to vote for President Bush," he said. "There is a very strong anti-war sentiment in Arlington and Alexandria and that's somewhat perverse, really, because the No. 1 industry in Arlington is national defense. That's what we do for a living."
The Pentagon is within his jurisdiction as well as numerous defense contractors.
Registrations and absentee demands are up in smaller localities, too. In Covington, registrations were more brisk than they'd been since 1980. In Martinsville, registrations were up slightly even though the city has lost much of its population in recent years with the closure of most of the textile and furniture plants that were once the heart of its economy, said city registrar Ercell Cowan.
In Norfolk, college groups have waged vigorous registration drives, said Elisa Long, the city registrar. In Roanoke County, the young and the old were registering in noteworthy numbers, said registrar Diane Henson. "Surprisingly, we're seeing a lot of older people register for the firs time," she said.
"There's just more interest in this one than in 2000. I don't know why," Henson said. "We've done 700-some-odd (registrations) this month."
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On the Net:
State Board of Elections: http://www.sbe.state.va.us
