It's been three years since city resident Eugene Freeman voted in an election.

This year, he and his wife, Glenda, decided it was time he got back into the electoral game.

"I felt I need to now," the National Novelty Brush Co. employee said Monday afternoon. "The way the economy's going and what's happening around the world today, everybody needs to pitch in and do their part."

With a 5 p.m. deadline looming Monday to register to vote in the Nov. 4 presidential election, Freeman arrived at the county's Office of Voter Registration, 150 N. Queen St., around 4 p.m.

And the father of 11 children made it clear there is a single issue guiding his vote this year — the economy.

"I know there are things going on across the water, but I can't be concerned about that — or too concerned, anyway," Freeman said.

"I work, and I work hard, but sometimes it seems like you're working harder than they're paying you.

"You have to work one paycheck to the next, and that's not how we should be doing it. Not here in America."

Freeman was just one of hundreds of people who flocked to the Office of Voter Registration on Monday to sign up to vote, file a change-of-address notice or pick up an absentee ballot.

Mary Stehman, who heads the county office, said Lancaster County has a record number of registered voters eligible to participate in next month's election.

According to Stehman, more than 323,000 people in the county were registered to vote as of late Monday afternoon.

The previous record was 312,878 in 2004 — the last presidential election.

According to local and state statistics, Democrats have boosted their numbers by more than 25 percent since this time last year.

There were 102,175 registered Democrats here as of Monday morning, an increase of 7,221 since the primary.

Republicans, on the other hand, have seen their ranks thin.

There were 175,227 registered Republican voters here as of Monday morning — up nearly 1,900 since April but down 1,090 from a year ago.

The number of minor-party voters and independents stayed at 45,000, about the same as last year.

Although the GOP is the top party in Lancaster County, there are about 1.1 million more Democratic voters than Republicans statewide, due in large part to massive registration rallies the party has sponsored in recent months.

City resident Michelle Ross has never voted in an election.

But after watching President Bush run the country and the economy into the ground over the past eight years, she said, it was time for her to have her say in the electoral process.

So she went to the county office Monday afternoon and registered to vote.

Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate who is running against Republican Sen. John McCain, inspired her to register, she said.

"There's finally someone worth voting for," Ross said. "Obama seems to be someone who wants to change everything — not just one thing here and there."

The chance to vote for Obama also drew Manheim Township High School senior Yesenia Valentin, 18, downtown to register.

"I want Barack Obama to win," she said.

Valentin's mother, Judith Irizarry, said she has instructed her daughter that "this is our future, and we have a say in our future.

"If she doesn't vote, then she really doesn't have a say in anything," Irizarry said.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com