Germantown Democratic Organization
“Democrats for Germantown”
President:
Kay Abraham
140 Old Saw Mill Rd.
537-5404
Vice President :
Larry Osgood
537-3504
Treasurer:
Charles Geiger
Po Box 252
537-4702
Secretary:
Virginia Sibbison
54 Hunterstown Rd.
537-1951
Write to us at: gdo@valstar.net or GDO, PO Box 92, Germantown, NY 12526
Registrations Say: It's the Democrats County Now
By John Mason
Register-Star Newspaper
http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2008/12/15/news/news03.txt
COLUMBIA COUNTY - It's only one vote, but it's raising eyebrows: For the first time in many years, and perhaps ever, the number of enrolled Democrats has surpassed enrolled Republicans in Columbia County. Among active voters, there are now 12,890 Democrats and 12,889 Republicans.
"Happy days are here again!" said County Board of Supervisors Minority Leader Doug McGivney, D-Kinderhook, referring to the theme song of Franklin D. Roosevelt's successful 1932 presidential campaign.
The numbers were included in statistics released Wednesday by Acting Democratic Election Commissioner Geeta Cheddie that reflect the 834 voters who changed their enrollment for 2009 by the required date of Oct. 15.
Looking at the grand total of active and inactive voters, Democrats lead Republicans by 348 votes, 14,641 to 14,293. Since Oct. 15, Democrats gained 471 new active members while the GOP picked up 108.
The board's figures also show changes in enrollment figures for the county's other parties. The Independence Party has grown steadily since 1996 when it had only 25 members. In 2000, the party's number had grown to 1,230, in 2006 it was 2,205, in October of this year it was 2,788, and its numbers have now reached 2,876.
Some of its growth may have come from the simultaneous decline of the Conservative Party. The Conservatives peaked in 2000 with 1,631 members and have dropped steadily since then. In October, their numbers were 1,397; now they are at 1,364.
A similar dynamic can be seen between two left-leaning parties, the Working Families Party and the Green Party. In 2002, Working Families had a total county enrollment of 45; since then, it has grown steadily, and presently boasts 190 active and inactive members. The Green Party had 99 members in 2000, grew to 320 in 2004, and then began slowly declining; it's now down to 248.
The new figures for the two biggest parties continue a trend of steady Democratic advances on the Republicans since at least 1973, the first year with figures available from the state Board of Elections. That year, there were 13,271 registered Republicans to 5,888 Democrats, a 70/30 ratio.
Nearly every year thereafter, the gap diminished, from 7,383 in 1973, to 5,332 in 1980, to 3,840 in 1990, to 3,616 in 2000 to 2,142 in 2004 to 688 in 2007 to 14 in October.
