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Registrant surge

● Pima County residents are registering to vote at a pace that could set records by year's end. As of Monday afternoon, just hours before last night's midnight deadline to register for the Sept. 7 primary, there were 119,618 voter forms filed this year, including 38,549 new registered voters. During the year 2000, 145,301 forms were filed, including 44,389 new voters. "We're almost equal to what we did the whole (2000) presidential year," said Chris Roads, the county's registrar of voters. "We'll be there for sure before we get to the presidential election." Roads said Monday afternoon that there were roughly 7,000 forms that had been turned in but not yet processed. He expects new registration and update totals will surpass 200,000, the most ever processed by the Recorder's Office. As of Monday morning, there were 391,701 people registered to vote in Pima County. That includes 159,117 Democrats, 130,060 Republicans and 97,506 others. Lorena Randon, 20, a UA psychology student, said she decided to register this week in part because her aunt has lectured her about why it's important to vote and had been pestering her to do so. But she has other reasons. "I've been talking to my parents a lot because of the war and everything. They encouraged me to," she said. Randon said she's now interested in politics because of the war in Iraq and the presidential race. She registered as a Democrat. Sarah Ewing, 18, a Republican, registered to vote last year. She said her political beliefs were influenced by her sister and grandmother, who both volunteered for local Republican candidates. Encouraged by her high school government teacher, she said she wanted the chance to vote long before she was eligible. "I think it's real important for women to vote. It's a privilege for me to vote and I think I should use that privilege," Ewing said. The last day to register for the Nov. 2 general election is Oct. 4. - Joseph Barrios, 573-4241 or jbarrios@azstarnet.com ... By the numbers 23 Number of presidential elections since Arizona became a state in 1912 15 Number of presidential elections won by Republicans in Arizona 8 Number of presidential elections won by Democrats in Arizona

... Quip of the day

● "I actually think God does pick our presidents. He just didn't count on Katherine Harris in Florida." - Michael Moore on HBO's "Real Time With Bill Maher"