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Efforts to get citizens registered to vote ramp up today
It's National Voter Registration Day and there's a massive effort to encourage Americans to make sure their voices are heard on Election Day.
ATLANTA - With just 7 weeks before the November election, some 200 Emory University students registered to vote during the National Voter Registration Day Celebration at the Atlanta campus Tuesday.
"We've got an incoming class that is about 2000 students, and they want to register to vote now that they live in Georgia," Emory University student Gabriella Lewis told FOX 5's Deidra Dukes.
Similar events are being held across the country ahead of the midterm elections, to encourage Americans to get out and vote.
"This is an exciting day for Georgia but also for this country," said democratic strategist Tharon Johnson. "The fact that we are calling on all Georgians and all Americans to get registered to vote if you're not registered today."
Johnson also encouraged people to use the opportunity to check their voter registration status.
"So many people have actually moved, getting divorced, changing their name," Johnson said, "so what this day actually does is remind people to check your registration."
Georgia's gubernatorial and Senate races are once again in the national spotlight.
The latest Marist Poll released Tuesday found U.S. Senator Rev. Raphael Warnock leads republican challenger Herschel Walker by 5 percent statewide.
In Georgia's gubernatorial race the poll showed Governor Brian Kemp leading democratic challenger Stacy Abrams by six points.
Marist's Dr. Lee M. Miringoff stated, "Well right now there is a little bit of odd ticket splitting going on in Georgia, which I don't think we are seeing elsewhere nearly as much."
Miringoff said there appear to be a greater number of voters crossing party lines this election.
"And that may have to do with a couple of things," said Miringoff. "Abrams not doing as well among men, and Walker not doing as well among independent and suburban voters, so that creates this moment for male voters and independent voters and suburban voters to be for Warnock and Kemp."