Democrats picked up 588 additional registered voters in Nye County since Jan. 1, according to figures from the Nye County clerk's office.

Some of the increase was attributed to residents registering on the day of the much hyped Nevada presidential caucus Jan. 19.

Clerk's office figures show 8,266 registered Democrats in Nye County as of Wednesday, up 290 from 7,976 Democrats as of Jan. 31 and 588 more than the 7,678 on the voters registration rolls Dec. 31, 2007.

Republicans actually lost 14 voters in Nye County, dropping from 9,547 registered voters Jan. 31 to 9,533 as of Wednesday. But they realized a net gain of 81 voters from Jan. 1 through February.

Democrats also could have drawn from the rolls of non-partisans, which show a drop in registrations from 2,839 to 2,799 in February and a drop in 54 voters since the new year.

The Independent American Party showed a gain of eight voters in February and 48 since the beginning of the year. The IAP had 1,060 registered voters in Nye County as of the end of February.

The clerk's office figures represent only the number of active voters on the rolls.

Nye County Democratic Party First Vice-Chairman Loyal Scarlett recalled turning in 120 new voter registration forms himself after the presidential caucus.

"A lot of people just went up to the clerk's office and registered. There were a lot of them that didn't come through our office," Scarlett said.

It remains to be seen whether the newly registered Democrats just wanted to participate in the presidential caucus as "Democrats for a day," only to switch their party affiliation back for the primary and general election later this year, or whether they intend to remain Democrats.

"Right now we don't know. Everything's going to be kind of in a holding pattern until after the national convention in Denver in August," Scarlett said.

Nevada State Democratic Party spokesperson Kirsten Searer said the purpose of the early Nevada caucus was to bring attention to Nevada issues but also to help organize for the upcoming presidential election.

"Not only have we seen the biggest swing in voter registration that the state has seen in decades -- maybe ever -- but Democrats are going to use the caucus to identify precinct captains and volunteers throughout the state," Searer said.

Figures from the Nevada Secretary of State's office show the number of registered Democrats statewide increased by 1,646 voters from February 2007 to January 2008. Republicans lost 10,553 voters.

Democrats increased their edge over Republicans from 10,252 voters in February 2007 to 25,234 more registered voters statewide by January 2008. Statewide there were 507,721 active registered Democrats on the rolls in January 2008 compared to 482,487 Republicans.

Searer said the Nye County figures indicate not many Republicans switched to the Democratic party for the caucus, but she concluded a number of first-time voters registered as Democrats.

"We're hoping that many of these newly-registered voters and people who switched parties will stay with the Democrats because they're tired of eight years of George Bush and they want a change," Searer said.

Nye County Republican Party activist John Timmerman noted Republicans still outnumber Democrats in Nye County by over 1,000 voters. The Republicans hold the edge among active voters 9,533 to 8,266 according to the latest figures, an advantage of 1,267 more voters. But that's been whittled down from a 1,774 advantage at the start of the year.

"The fact is the Republican Party we have in Nye County has been getting ready for our convention. We're getting ready for the state convention. Everybody's concentrating on that. After the convention we're going to be concentrating on registration, getting behind the Republican candidate," Timmerman said.

"It's our intent to absolutely win the election with Republicans both in Nye County and the state and nationally," he said.

Timmerman added the state Republican Party also became more organized this year. "We definitely have a much larger organization because we have almost every precinct covered with precinct captains who are very involved in organizing the party."

Voters who want to register, or want to switch their party affiliation, have to send in their mail-in registration before July 12 to be eligible to vote in the primary Aug. 12. They may register in person up to July 22.

The deadline to register by mail before the Nov. 4 general election, or switch their party affiliation, is Oct. 4 or in person by Oct. 14.

If the current party registration figures stand, there will be 461 more Republicans eligible to vote in the August primary this year than in August 2006 and 543 more Democrats. There would be 76 fewer non-partisan voters this year based on February figures.

By comparison, Nye County planners estimate the county gained 2,280 total residents from June 30, 2006 through Dec. 31, 2007.