Yakima County Auditor Anticipating New Voter Registration

With all the talk about changes possibly coming to the way city council members are elected as a result of the federal voting rights case in Yakima you'd think more people may be registering to vote. But that hasn't happened...at least not yet says Yakima County Auditor Charles Ross. He says in 2014 4,947 people registered to vote. "When you divide that by 12 it breaks down to roughly 412 people per month. We're seeing exactly the same trend continueing this year. We had 416 in January. 424 people registered in February and 406 people in March." So while Ross says there hasn't been a spike in registration,  that could change in the near future. He says the office could see an uptick in registrations after the candidate filing period is closed in May. He says in 2008 during the Barack Obama campaign year Yakima County saw some 10,000 new registered voters. Ross says a healthy presidential campaign attracts voters and that could happen again in 2016. You can register to vote online at the Yakima County Auditors office website or at the office in the Yakima County Courthouse.