State and local

officials want to remind you that Tuesday, Oct. 10 is the last day you

can register and be eligible to vote in the Nov. 7 General Election.

Registering

has never been easier.

"People

can register at all libraries, at city halls, at our office and the Department

of Public Safety," said Carolyn Combs, Fayette's chief registrar.

And Georgia

Secretary of State Cathy Cox said that her office is working to encourage

thousands of unregistered Georgians to get on the voter roll before the

deadline.

Kroger is distributing

voter registration forms in all 149 of its Georgia stores, she said. The

postage paid, mail-in forms are one of the quickest and easiest ways to

register, requiring answers to just a few questions and a signature.

Kroger will

make the forms available at the customer service desk. In selected stores,

the firm also will distribute a Spanish registration guide for Spanish-speaking

customers.

Or visit the

secretary of state's web site at www.sos.state.ga.us and complete

an on-line form that can then be printed, signed and mailed to the state's

Elections Division or to the Fayette County elections office.

You can also

register at any state driver's license testing facility, the Department

of Family and Children Services office, or any military recruitment center.

"Even

as the size of Georgia's voter roll has expanded, there are still millions

of eligible citizens who are not yet registered," Cox said. "Georgians

face critically important choices in November, including selecting a president,

a United States senator, 11 members of Congress, two public service Commissioners,

numerous county and judicial offices and every member of the General Assembly."

Locally, one

state Senate seat will be on the ballot, along with a County Commission

seat, a Board of Education seat and the clerk of Superior Court. Also,

Fayetteville residents will decide a liquor question, and the Board of

Education will have a bond issue for new schools on the ballot.

Cox noted that

throughout recent electoral history Georgia has ranked at or near the

bottom in the percentage of eligible citizens who participate in elections.

Nationally, voter turnout trends have shown a steady decline over the

last several election cycles.

Cox said that

interest in the 2000 elections appears to be on the upswing. A recent

voter registration drive at an Atlanta Braves game organized by her office

registered 241 Georgians. A similar event earlier this summer registered

only a handful of Braves fans.

According to

current U. S. Census Bureau projections, nearly 39 percent of Georgia's

5.9 million eligible citizens are still not on the active voter roll.

As of Aug. 1, 3.6 million Georgians were registered.

Fayette County

usually has a higher percentage of its populace registered, said Combs.

As of Sept. 1, 48,636 were registered.

For those who

will be out of town Nov. 7, absentee ballots are now available in the

registrar's office, Combs said. You can vote in the office anytime before

election day, or mail your ballot in. Friday, Nov. 3 is the last day the

registrar's office can mail out absentee ballots, she added.