By Reid Forgrave
Enquirer staff writer

AMELIA - Greater Cincinnatians are swarming into county offices at an extraordinary pace to register for the presidential election in their battleground home state.

"It's been busier than we have ever seen," said Bob Mosketti, director of the Butler County Board of Elections since 1990. "And this is early, so that makes it even more unusual."

By Friday, two full months before Election Day and a month before the registration deadline, Hamilton County alone had already registered 34,000 new voters. Butler has registered more than 16,000 new voters this year; Warren County more than 10,000, and Clermont has 7,500 new registered voters.

In Kentucky, voter registration has increased by about 35,000 statewide so far, said Les Fugate, spokesman for Secretary of State Trey Grayson. Boone County has added 3,715 voters since last November, while Campbell County has registered 76 new voters this year. Kenton County has registered 988.

Both presidential campaigns are focusing a lot of attention on Ohio as a crucial state in the tight race between President Bush and Sen. John Kerry after the photo-finish presidential election in 2000 between Bush and Vice President Al Gore.

"2000 plays a big role in it because of the closeness of that election," John Williams, director of elections in Hamilton County, said. "Both sides are very motivated."

Connie Bare, chairwoman of the Clermont County Republican Party, said volunteers are registering people at party offices in Batavia at a clip of 100 people a day.

"It just seems to me there's a lot of interest in this election on both sides," she said. "Lots of people are coming out to vote who aren't political but are concerned about this election."

Dianne Kelly considers herself an independent voter. The mother of three grown children had never volunteered in a political campaign before this year. But she is spending almost every evening and weekend making phone calls in support of Kerry and registering voters at the bustling Clermont County Democratic headquarters in Batavia.

"This year is so important that I decided I needed to become more active," she said. "I just jumped at the chance to volunteer because I felt this is something I could do to make sure George Bush doesn't get another four years."

Eric Kelso, a 23-year-old employee of the Game Swap video game store in Eastgate Mall, is another political novice who has invested a lot of his time in similar activity - except he's working at the county's Republican headquarters just across Main Street from where Kelly volunteers, making phone calls to register voters and convince them that staying the course with Bush is the right choice.

"I've always believed my vote counts, no matter how many people are voting," Kelso said. "But this year is going to be a year where everyone's vote is really going to make a difference."

10- to 12-hour days

Employees at boards of elections across Southwest Ohio have been putting in 10- to 12-hour days for at least a month now, and they expect the work increase as the Labor Day holiday ushers in the traditional stretch drive of the campaign season.

Montgomery County, which includes Dayton, has topped 25,000 voter registrations this year.

Local elections officials predict voter turnout in Southwest Ohio to be between 75 percent and 85 percent. Turnout was below 64 percent statewide in the 2000 election.

The office of Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell doesn't predict turnout until a week before the election, after collecting registration information from all 88 counties.

"If voter registration activity is reflective of what the turnout is going to be, I would say the state's boards of elections are going to be very busy on Nov. 2," said James Lee, a spokesman for the Secretary of State's office.

For Cliff Johnson, 34, the campaign has already gotten heated in Clermont County.

"I've already had my yard signs stolen twice," said Johnson, who is volunteering for the Kerry campaign. "This is only going to get more ugly. It's that everyone believes the other guy is evil and your guy is good."

2000 voter turnout by county

Percentage of registered voters who voted in the November 2000 presidential election:

• Butler County: 64.3%
• Clermont County: 62.4%
• Hamilton County: 65.6%
• Warren County: 72.6%
Source: Ohio Secretary of State's Office

Estimates of registered voters

Estimates of registered voters in southwest Ohio counties (voter registration deadline is October 4):
• Butler County: 221,886
• Clermont County: 125,000
• Hamilton County: 522,199
• Warren County: 115,231
Source: County boards of elections

Deadline is Oct. 4

The deadline for registering to vote in the Nov. 2 general election in Ohio and Kentucky is Oct. 4. New voters may register in many locations throughout each county, or by mail. Contact your local county board of elections for sites and hours. Most elections boards have registration forms on their Web sites.

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Enquirer reporter John Kiesewetter contributed to this report. E-mail rforgrave@enquirer.com