Heavy registration in urban counties has swelled North Carolina's voter rolls.

More than 400,000 new voters, including a large number of young and black citizens, have registered, bringing the state's total to a record 6 million.

"Voter registration has eclipsed all records, no doubt about it," said state elections director Gary Bartlett.

Democrats are the apparent beneficiaries, helping Barack Obama make the state an unexpected battleground. Republican John McCain's campaign says it isn't worried.

Overall, Democrats have an overall edge in registration, with 2.7 million to 2 million Republicans. Of the new voters, 48 percent are Democrats, 21 percent Republicans and nearly a third independents. By comparison, in 2004 Democrats made up 39 percent of new voters and Republicans 34 percent.

Black people, who make up about 22 percent of the state's population, account for more than 30 percent of new voters. (N&O)

Clarification: An earlier version of this post misstated the number of new voters. While  there are 600,000 new voters, the net increase is about 400,000. That's because around 200,000 voters were removed from the rolls because they moved, died or committed a felony.