The primary election for the 2016 presidential election has triggered a never-before-seen flow of activity with people registering and/or changing their party affiliations.

When voter signups for the primary concluded on Monday, Carbon County's voting rolls soared to 40,149 people, the first time ever that the number of registrants exceeded 40,000.Of those, however, only 34,466 people are eligible to vote for candidates within the Democratic and Republican parties.The remaining 5,683 can vote in the primary election on April 26, but only on two questions that appear on the ballot.The voting rolls increased by 962 more than the 39,187 who were eligible to vote in the General Election of 2015.The Democratic Party continues to have the voter registration edge over the Republican Party, but the edge has decreased.Currently, there are 18,212 registered Democrats and 16,254 registered GOP members, an advantage of 1,958 for the Democrats.Previously, the Democratic edge was 3,279, with 18,309 to 15,030.Statistical reports generated at the county's elections bureau by Lisa M. Dart, director, show a number of eye-opening revelations, including:• 1,084 people changed their party registrations.• 557 Democrats changed their registration to the Republican Party, compared with 88 Republicans who opted to join the Democratic Party.• 593 voters who were Democrats last year are now either Republicans or signed up for other affiliations, compared with 122 former Republicans now being registered differently.• 22 Democrats changed to no affiliation, as did 17 Republicans;• 97 people who had no affiliation previously are now Democrats, as are 77 previously nonaffiliated voters who are now Republicans.• 22 Libertarians changed to Republican.• 87 people whose party registration was listed as "other" joined the Republican Party, while 53 voters who had "other" party registrations changed to the Democratic Party.The detailed report also shows the following:• Democrats to Republican, 557; Democrats to Libertarian, 2; Democrats to no affiliation, 22; Democrats to other, 12.• Republicans to Democrat, 88; Republicans to Libertarian, 5; Republicans to no affiliation, 17; Republicans to other, 12.• Libertarians to Democrat, 9; Libertarians to Republican, 22; Libertarians to no affiliation, 2; Libertarians to other, 1.• Other to Democrat, 53; Republican, 87; Libertarian, 2; No affiliation, 10.The county's breakdown of voters by registrations:Democratic, 18,212; Republican, 16,254; no affiliation, 3,015; Independent, 1,037; nonpartisan, 934; Libertarian, 257; no party, 217; Green, 66; Other, 33; None, 24; Constitutional, 14; Conservative, 13; Independence, 12; Liberal, 8; Halloween and Reform, 5 each; Constitution and Independent Democrat, 4 each; Consumer's, Not Sure and Patriot, 3 each; Birthday, Blank, Neutral, Undecided and Unknown, 2 each; and American, Anarchist, Any, Bi-Partisan, Bull Moose, Foedero Civis Witch, Independent Republican, Moderate, Open, Right to Life, Socialist, Socialist Party USA, Tea, Unaffiliated, United We Stand and Who I Think Is Best, 1 each.