(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-05-06 11:17

DURHAM, N.C. - Voter excitement, always up before a presidential election, is pushing registration through the roof so far this year, with more than 3.5 million people rushing to join in the historic balloting, according to an Associated Press survey that offers the first national snapshot.

Figures are up for blacks, women and young people. Rural and city. South and North.

Danielle Wipperfurth, left, of Minneapolis, Minn., gets help from Mary Jo Clark, right, as she registers to vote during a rally for Barack Obama at Davidson College in Davidson, N.C., Thursday, April 10, 2008. Voter registration always goes up in presidential years. But this year it's gone through the ceiling — 3.4 million people rushing to join in the historic election, according to an Associated Press survey that offers the first national snapshot.  [Agencies]

Overall, the AP found that nearly one in 65 adult Americans signed up to vote in just the first three months of the year. And in the 21 states that were able to provide comparable data, new registrations have soared about 64 percent from the same three months in the 2004 campaign.

Voters are flocking to the most open election in half a century, inspired to support the first female president, the first black or the oldest ever elected.

Also, the bruising Democratic race has lasted longer than anyone expected, creating a burst of interest in states typically ignored in an election year.

Some Democratic Party leaders bemoan the long battle, with two strong candidates continuing to undercut each other. But there are clear signs that the registration boom is favoring their party, at least for now.

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"This could change the face of American politics for decades to come," said Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, predicting permanent gains for her party. Republicans, concerned at least somewhat for 2008, say these surges come and go over the longer term.

While detailed data are available from only a handful of states, registration seems to be up particularly strongly for blacks and women.

Among the new voters in North Carolina is Shy Ector, 25, of Durham. She favored Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry while a student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill four years ago, but never actually took the time to make sure she was registered to vote. Barack Obama's candidacy was enough to make sure she did this year, she said.

"I was like 'Oh, now this is a reason to vote. This is different,'" Ector said. "I was inspired and I was excited."

New voters are generally less reliable. So there's no guarantee this year's newcomers will stick around in years to come -- or even cast ballots in November if their candidate doesn't make it.

"I will be very disappointed, and it will take me some time to recover," Ector said of an Obama loss to Hillary Rodham Clinton. "I'm not going to say I'm just going to write off politics for good, but it does make you feel like you're doing all this work for nothing, and nothing's coming to fruition."

Even if some discouraged new voters drop off, the numbers are striking.

Consider Pennsylvania and North Carolina -- where the primary elections hadn't been expected to matter because they occurred so late in the nominating process.

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