Election day is less than six weeks away and the deadline to register to vote in Georgia's General Election is Oct. 9th. But in at least one part of the state fewer Georgians are getting ready to vote.

The Northwest Georgia counties of Floyd, Bartow, Chattooga, Polk, Gordon, Walker, Catoosa and Dade have lost more than 10 thousand registered voters since the last presidential election. That’s according to new data from the Secretary of State.

UGA Demographer Doug Bachtel says Georgia has one of the poorest voting records of any state in the nation—and apathy among voters has grown since the last presidential election:

“It’s a combination between low education attainment level, high minority population and a long term history of not being able to participate in the polls.”

Floyd County elections supervisor, Evon Billups, attributes the dip in North Georgia voters to the poor economy and a wave of young voters moving away for school:

“Because kids leave and they go to college or they leave for jobs and they’re just no longer in the county anymore. And that way, they’re not on our rolls, when they go off to college, they’ll register where they are.”

In the 2008 Presidential election there was a 52% turnout for Georgia voters and it was the first time in 160 years that a majority of registered voters in Georgia voted for President.

Tags: Secretary of State, voters, voter registration, parker wallace