As the voter books closed this week, the good news was that despite new registration requirements and a barrage of negative campaign advertising, Kansans still care enough to register and, hopefully, vote on Nov. 4.

According to preliminary numbers released by the Kansas Secretary of State’s office, the state gained about 8,370 voters between the August primary and Tuesday, the registration deadline for the Nov. 4 election. The state now has a total of about 1,743,790 voters.

The latest registration numbers show a decline of 8,970 unaffiliated voters. Republicans picked up 12,265 new registrants, while Democrats picked up 4,813 statewide and Libertarians gained 262 voters. Statewide, 44.6 percent of voters are registered as Republicans, 24.5 percent as Democrats, 2.1 percent as Libertarians and 30.2 percent as unaffiliated.

It’s not a surprise, that the breakdown is a little different in Douglas County, which had an increase of 833 voters between the August primary and Wednesday. Douglas County Clerk Jamie Shew says county voters traditionally split about evenly among Democrats, Republicans and unaffiliated, but recently the total of unaffiliated voters has been rising. In the most recent figures, Democrats gained 768 voters and now represent 34.3 percent of county voters; Republicans gained 504 voters and now have a 28.7 percent share. However, even with a decline of 473 voters, the unaffiliated category still is the county’s largest, with 35.8 percent of the voters.

Shew said his office is working to collect proof-of-citizenship information to complete registrations for about 900 county residents, a number that has swelled recently because of local voter registration drives. Statewide, he said, about 23,000 voter registrations remain “in suspense,” awaiting proof of citizenship. Those voters can complete their registrations by presenting a birth certificate or other documentation up to the day before the election, he said, but bringing those documents to the polls on Election Day will be too late.

One discouraging note for Douglas County is a downward trend in total voter registration. For the 2008 presidential election, voter registration spiked at 83,175 and, by the midterm election of 2010, had fallen to 79,820. The county’s current registration of 75,760 is about 5 percent below the 2010 figure.

Even though this is a midterm election, Kansas has a number of important and hotly contested races on the Nov. 4 ballot. It’s too late to register for that election but, if you’re registered, it certainly isn’t too late to become educated and cast a ballot. County registration numbers may be down, but we hope voter turnout and participation still will be high.