State elections officials say 306,215 Virginians have registered to vote since the beginning of the year.

Board of Elections Secretary Nancy Rodrigues says that's a seven-percent increase in total voters. Nearly 4.9 million Virginians are now registered to vote as of Thursday. The pattern of new registrations appears to favor Democrat Barack Obama, and the largest percentage increase was in heavily Democratic Richmond.

The deadline to register to vote is 5 p.m. Monday.