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An election, in the end, is simply a game of numbers.
And the numbers in Crittenden County and across Kentucky spell bad news for Democrats. Since President Obama became his party’s nominee in the summer of 2008, the GOP in the commonwealth has grown at a pace nine times that of its counterpart.
Final figures from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office before next month’s election show Democrats in May 2008 outnumbered Republicans by more than 600,000. But since that time, the GOP has closed the gap by more than 250,000 voters.
Locally, party majority switched back to Republicans a couple of years ago, after almost 40 years with Democrats holding that title. The GOP majority continues to grow, too.
Since Obama won the general election in 2008, Republicans in Crittenden County have added 592 to their ranks while 421 Democrats have jumped ship. That’s a swing of more than 1,000 voters in eight years.
Since October of last year, 10 of the county’s 12 voting precincts added Republicans, while two lost. Marion Precinct No. 3 grew Republican ranks the most – 30 voters. Voters in that territory poll at Marion Baptist Church.
Meantime, 10 precincts saw Democratic numbers fall, one added voters – albeit only three – and another stayed steady. The sole area to gain was Marion Precinct No. 6, which polls at St. William Catholic Church.
Currently in Kentucky, a record 3.3 million residents are registered to vote.
Democrats still maintain a significant majority of 51.2 percent to 40.5 percent over Republicans, despite GOP growth since May 2008 of 284,183 to Democrats’ 31,483.
Republicans in the state, despite the growing unpopularity of the man at the top of their ticket, added 22,700 since the middle of last month.
Third-party and “Other” registrations account for 8.3 percent of the voters in Kentucky.
