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Voter registration rises as election approaches

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There's no doubt that the Presidential election is drawing heavy interest. That interest has drawn a record number of people who have registered online to vote.

The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles' online voter registration system processed more than 214,000 applications during the first two weeks of October. That shattered the previous record set the month before when 140,000 people used the online system.

Locally, Erie County Democratic Elections Commissioner Len Lenihan says more than 8,500 people have registered since the September primary.
 

"There's no doubt that the uptick is significant. And we're looking at record breaking levels of interest in this election."  

Even though there's a lot of interest in the presidential race, Erie County Republican Elections Commissioner Ralph Mohr says overall the number of new voters this year is below where it was four years ago.
 

"What we have seen however over the past month, was that, in Erie County at least, more women are registering than men."

Mohr and Lenihan predict 70-to-90 percent of the county's nearly 590,000 registered voters will turn out on Election Day November 8th.