With deadlines to register to vote in many states today, it appears a record number of people have registered to vote in this November’s election.

The New York Times describes the nationwide “surge” of new voters. (“hordes” to MSNBC – we never knew democracy could sound so menacing!) The Times reports that the “pace is particularly high in urban areas of swing states,” pointing out that the efforts of many progressive and Democratic groups to register new voters seemed to be paying off.

Closer to home, the W. Post reports on the local registration action.

According to the Post story, twice as many new voters registered in Virginia this September than registered in 2000, and in D.C. there are 30,000 more registered voters now than in 2000. (The deadline to register in Maryland is Oct. 12) Most of the people the Post found registering said they supported Senator John Kerry:

Anger at George Bush and his administration’s decision to invade Iraq also propelled William Cavanaugh, 66, a retiree who lives in Burke, into the registrar’s office to fill out his first voter-registration application.

“I just decided that before he declared war on the rest of the world, I wanted to have some say about it,” Cavanaugh said.

Also, although Democrats’ ambitions to win Virginia for Kerry had kept some Republicans nervous, they recently have withdrawn some of their staff in order to focus on other swing states.