Number of registered voters in Henrico up 4.5% since last October

The number of registered voters in Henrico County has grown by about 4.5% (about 10,000 people) in the past 12 months, according to data provided to the Citizen by Henrico Registrar Mark Coakley. That figure is lower than the percentage of growth leading up to each of the two previous two presidential elections, the data shows.

The county had 234,384 registered voters as of Oct. 1, Coakley said – an increase from the 224,245 it had on the same date last year. The majority of those new voters – nearly 8,600 – have registered during this calendar year.

During the 12-month period from October 2015 to October 2016, just before the last presidential election, Henrico’s base of registered voters grew by 6.7% (about 14,000 voters). During the same 12-month timeframe between 2011 and 2012, it grew by about 6% (about 12,000 voters), according to the data.

County voters so far are taking advantage of the opportunity to vote absentee, which for the first time in Virginia does not require any excuse. In the two-and-a-half weeks since the absentee voting process began in the state, more than 31,000 Henrico voters – about 13% of all those registered – have cast their ballots, either in person, through the mail or by dropping their ballots off in person.

About 19,400 of those people have voted in person, Coakley said.

This summer, Coakley told the Henrico Board of Supervisors that he expected about 85% of eligible voters would cast ballots in the Nov. 3 election and that about half of that number – or roughly 98,000 – would do so through absentee ballots. He told the Citizen Monday that that’s still his prediction.

During the 2016 presidential election, about 16,000 Henricoans cast absentee ballots.

To date, about 64,000 Henrico voters have requested absentee ballots; others may do so through Oct. 23. Ballots may be mailed (they must be postmarked by Nov. 3 and received by the registrar’s office by Nov. 6 at noon); returned in person to the registrar’s office at the western government center or eastern government center (voters don’t need to wait in the same lines as those who are voting absentee in person, Coakley said; dropped in an outdoor collection box at either location anytime before Nov. 3 at 7 p.m.; or submitted in person Nov. 3 by 7 p.m. at the voter’s regular polling place.

About 28,000 Henrico voters have requested absentee ballots in the past three weeks, according to the data.

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The Citizen has compiled in its 2020 Voters' Guide all the information you need to know about how to register to vote – and cast your ballot – in this year's elections.